Owings Mills, Md. – A second half rally by the third-seeded St. Mary's College of Maryland men's lacrosse team fell short in the semifinals of the 2012 Capital Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament as the Seahawks succumbed to a 10-8 loss to second-seeded Stevenson University Wednesday night.

Junior midfielder Taylor Cook (Hollywood, Md./St. Mary's Ryken) pulled St. Mary's (10-6) within 8-7 at 13:38 as fellow classmate Stew D'Ambrogi (Severna Park, Md./Severn School) picked up his second assist of the game.  D'Ambrogi then found the back of the net himself for the equalizer at 9:27.  Junior attacker Tyler Reid (Clinton, Conn./Xavier) notched his third goal of the game less than two minutes later to give the Mustangs a 9-8 edge with 7:41 left in the game.

First-year Stephen Banick (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Catholic) tallied his second goal of the contest with 1:30 on the clock for the 10-8 Stevenson lead.  The Seahawks won the ensuing face-off but then committed two turnovers with senior goalkeeper Ian Bolland (Mountain Lakes, N.J./Mountain Lakes) picking up the last ground ball and killing off the last 15 seconds.

Stevenson (14-3) advances to Saturday's tournament championship game at top-seeded Salisbury University.  Salisbury defeated fifth-seeded York College of Pennsylvania, 19-6, in tonight's other semifinal action.

D'Ambrogi finished the night as the Seahawks' leading scorer with career-highs of two goals and three assists for five points while sophomore midfielder Gordy Long (Monkton, Md./St. Paul's School) scored twice.

Stevenson claimed a 1-0 lead at 8:08 as first-year Pat Candon (Long Beach, N.Y./Holy Trinity) found the back of the net with the Mustangs' first shot of the game.  St. Mary's tied up the game at 3:16 as senior attacker John Dehm (Trumbull, Conn./Middlesex School [Mass.])  notched a man-up goal off an assist from junior attacker Patrick Mull (Fallston, Md./Fallston).  Senior midfielder Justin Lea (Elkridge, Md./Mount Saint Joseph) returned the lead to the Mustangs with an unassisted goal at 1:24.

The Mustangs owned a four-goal lead at 7:38 of the second period and the score remained a 5-1 Stevenson advantage at halftime as the Mustangs were held to three shots and committed two turnovers.

Mull and Dehm switched roles in cutting Stevenson's lead to 5-2 at 13:25 in the third quarter as Mull finished off Dehm's pass.  The Mustangs scored consecutive goals in a 1:12-minute span to stake a 7-2 lead at 6:07.  St. Mary's quickly responded with back-to-back goals in a six second span with tallies from Long and D'Ambrogi for a three-goal game at 4:35.  Reid answered for Stevenson at 1:35 before Mull and Long closed the gap to two in the final 27 seconds of the stanza.

Junior midfielder Albert Mitchell (Shrewsbury, Mass./Saint John's) dominated the face-offs tonight as Mitchell won 14-of-20 at face-off X.  Mitchell and senior long-stick middie Peter Windsor (Towson, Md./St. Paul's) each scooped up a game-high five loose balls.

Shots were equal at 28 apiece while Stevenson posted a 31-27 edge in ground balls.

The St. Mary's defense killed four of six Mustang extra-man opportunities while senior goalie Stu Wheeler (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School) came up with nine saves, including six in the second half.