SPRINGFIELD # In its fourth-quarter comeback win over Longmeadow during the regular season, the South Hadley boys lacrosse team scored most of its late goals while a man down.

In Saturday's Western Massachusetts Division 2 title game, the Tigers also found themselves down a man for much of the final quarter, but this time the team with the man-advantage took advantage.

Longmeadow senior captain Garrett Gagne scored four goals in the final 12 minutes of play to lead the Lancers to a 13-11 victory and their second straight sectional title.

"It's tough to establish momentum when things aren't going your way," said fourth-year South Hadley coach Matt Benoit. "I don't think the calls went our way today. But three things you can't control are weather, field conditions and what the officials call."

It was the teams' third consecutive meeting in the final. The Tigers won the crown in 2009.

Top-seeded South Hadley saw this season conclude with a 15-5 record. No. 3 Longmeadow (15-6) will face the central Massachusetts champion in the state semifinals Tuesday night at Foley Field in Worcester.

The Tigers had two-goal advantages at four separate times in the game, but could never push the lead to three. The Lancers scored six of the last eight goals in the contest.

"There were times when we forced the ball a little too much, but overall I thought we played some pretty good offense," South Hadley senior captain Luke DiLisio said. "Usually we come out in the fourth quarter and win the game, but they really came out firing and were able to come back."

With seven minutes, 36 seconds remaining in regulation, senior Tigers midfielder Zak Guenther took the ball on a restart, raced around and through the defense, then unleashed a shot that beat Longmeadow goalie David Walen to tie the game at 10.

But Gagne put in the next three as the Lancers took charge as the result of penalties called on South Hadley. His third straight with 1:33 left pushed the score to 13-10, the only three-goal cushion of the game.

"Those were man-up goals, brought about by questionable calls," Benoit said. "We played pretty well overall, but the lacrosse gods weren't on our side."

Kyle Barsalou also scored four times for Longmeadow.

Guenther scored his fourth goal of the game with 37 seconds left as the Tigers attempted a last-minute rally. But a crease violation called on Chris Menard handed the Lancers possession, and they ran out the final 20 seconds.

Menard had three goals and four assists in the loss. He spent many possessions working the offense from behind the net. Evan Marcus scored twice, including on a well-executed odd-man rush in the first quarter. Menard extended his stick to pick off a pass in the midfield, then took off up the middle before finding Marcus, who faked Walen and put it past him.

That tally gave South Hadley a 4-2 lead, but Longmeadow responded with three unanswered goals to take the lead. The game went into halftime tied 6-6.

"I don't want to talk about unlucky bounces, but we did hit a few posts," said DiLisio. "But at the end of the day, the better team won. It was a good game, and our guys all fought hard."

Sophomore Tigers goalie Justin Pontz made 17 saves in the loss. The Lancers attempted to put shots onto Pontz' body early, but the first-year goalie was up to the task.

South Hadley played all season without Ben Menard, their top faceoff player. Senior Matt Crotty took the bulk of the faceoffs all season, including Saturday, when the Tigers won a little more than half.

"We had some injuries early in the year, and it affected us, with our top faceoff guy going down, then our all-western Mass. defender," Benoit said. "But the guys battled back and we made it this far. This game could have gone either way, and I'm extremely proud of this team."

South Hadley also lost senior defender Dan Covington early in the season to an injury. But the defense stepped up all year in front of Pontz, playing an aggressive style. Tigers junior Connor Doran had a strong game Saturday, and even started up the attack on a few occasions.

"We had to overcome a lot, losing Ben and Dan, but the guys who had to fill in stepped up big-time for us," DiLisio said. "Justin made some really key saves early that kept us in it. I just wish we could have had a better result."

It was the final high school game for South Hadley seniors DiLisio, Guenther, Crotty, Covington, Troy Johnson, Garrett Quatacker, Chad Marcus, P.J. Disley and Tim Gawron.

"I love these seniors, they've been with me since my first year coaching here," said Benoit. "I'll never forget them, they always gave me everything they had."

DiLisio, who will play lacrosse for St. Lawrence University, said, "It's been a ton of fun playing with this program. We had a complete turnaround after going 4-14 my freshman year. This group of seniors stuck with the team, and devoted themselves to improving. It's tough to go out this way, but these seniors deserve a lot of credit."

Michael Wilkinson can be reached at mwilkinson@gazettenet.com.