Who else but the KCAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year?

Michael Shakerin netted a double-overtime goal to give St. Ambrose (13-1) a 10-9 victory over Benedictine College (9-4) Thursday afternoon in Atchison, Kansas. With the win, the Bees move on to the conference championship on Saturday. This is the first time in program history that SAU has advanced to the championship game.

Shakerin was the first to score in the game, giving SAU a quick 1-0 lead just over a minute into the contest. Justin O'Marrah got on the scoresheet next with 11:36 remaining in the period. Three minutes later, Benedictine would get a goal from Jordan Rodriguez to cut the lead in half. Shakerin would score his second of the day with 3:38 left to go. After a Nolan Hayes save, Joseph Henderson found Cole Danner to give St. Ambrose a 4-1 advantage heading into the second.

Goals were hard to come by in the second quarter. Hayes made two saves before the Ravens found a goal with eight minutes left in the quarter. Hayden Latham would get the only goal for the Bees in the period. After causing a turnover and collecting the ground ball, Latham raced downfield and fired a shot past the goalie for a 5-2 Ambrose lead with 1:11 left. Benedictine would net a goal with just 25 seconds left to cut into the lead.

The Ravens came out of the break strong, scoring three straight goals to take a 6-5 lead with 5:02 left in the third. The Bees would tie it up almost three minutes later as Sam Kerr would find Danner for his second of the day.

With the game tied 6-6 heading into the fourth, Benedictine would strike first with a goal from Brady Guck. But SAU would answer quickly, scoring just 30 seconds later as Shakerin passed to Danner for the goal. Michael Keating would add his name to the scoresheet with 8:34 remaining getting a feed from Christian Dimaano to put St. Ambrose ahead by one. The Ravens would get the goal back as Jack Kandoth scored for BC. Shakerin would respond with his third goal of the day to give the Bees a 9-8 lead with 5:55 to go. But Kandoth would find the back of the net again to tie it up with less than five minutes remaining. Hayes made two saves to keep the game tied, and O'Marrah had his shot saved, and the teams would go to overtime.

Hayes finished with 16 saves in the win. BC outshot SAU 47-41. Hunter Northway won 13 of 24 faceoffs.

The Bees had the first three chances in overtime, but attempts from Danner and O'Marrah were off the mark. Hayes made a great save with 43 left to keep BC off the board and another at the very end to force double overtime. St. Ambrose needed just one shot this time as Shakerin would get the golden goal for the 10-9 victory.

St. Ambrose advances to take on Columbia College on Saturday, April 24th at 1 p.m. in the 2021 KCAC Men's Lacrosse Championship Game. In the regular season, Columbia defeated SAU 12-8 on March 21st.