The Providence College men’s lacrosse team captured the regular-season championship of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) outright for the first time in its history en route to finishing with an 8-8 record this spring. The Friars’ season also was highlighted by their fifth consecutive appearance in the postseason MAAC Tournament.

By defeating Canisius, 8-6, at home on April 30, the Friars won the regular-season title for the second time ever, as they tied for the championship in 2003. The victory over Canisius gave PC a 7-1 conference record.

Leading the way for the Friars was Jonathan Hollister ’05 (Longmeadow, Mass.), who scored four goals, giving him 23 goals for the season. Bennett Murphy ’08 (Princeton, N.J.) notched two goals, while Brendan Ryan ’07 (Chatham, N.J.) and Sean Kirwan ’05 (Drexel, Pa.) scored the others.

The Friars’ march to the regular-season title was aided significantly by a dramatic 10-9 victory over previously undefeated Manhattan in a road contest on April 27. 

On May 6, PC’s season came to a close in a 9-5 loss to host Marist College in the semifinals of the MAAC Tournament in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. During the contest, Mark Rotella ’05 (Smithtown, N.Y.) recorded his 500th career face-off victory. He won 11 of 16 faceoffs in the game and finished his career with 508 wins in 898 attempts for a .566 winning percentage.