Bower sets NCAA DII Caused Turnovers record in Men's Lacrosse finale

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College men's lacrosse team closed its 2024 season with a 15-6 setback against Saint Michael's College on Wednesday, April 24. During the game, freshman defender Ries Bower set the NCAA Division II record for caused turnovers in a single season.

AIC ends the campaign with a 5-10 record and 1-8 NE10 mark.

Cristian Reyes netted two early goals for the Purple Knights, but Jack Bamford took advantage of a penalty to get AIC going; Callan Dent then tied the game on a feed from Seven Gillingham, although the visiting squad scored the next goal to take a 3-2 lead into the break.

In the second, AIC lit the lamp twice early to take the lead, as Carter Linkletter set up Bamford and then Gillingham scored. Once again, the Purple Knights responded with a run, scoring four times before the stoppage for a 7-4 lead at the break.

Saint Michael's controlled the tempo in the second half; AIC scored once in each quarter, with both goals on special teams. Dawson Long caught a pass from Gillingham in front of the net on a third-period man-up opportunity, while Bamford completed his hat trick in the fourth while man down on a feed from Bower, who had won a ground ball from the faceoff. 

Bower came into the game with 54 caused turnovers on the season, tied with Kevin DeBenedetto of Saint Anselm College, who set the Northeast-10 Conference record in 2010, and one back of Michael Jensen of Coker University, who had 55 this season, for the most ever in Division II history. He snagged two in the second frame to pass both and take sole possession of the record, and added one more in the fourth to finish with 57.

AIC set several other team and individual records on the season. As a squad, the Yellow Jackets reached five wins for the first time in program history, and scored a team-record 10 man-down goals; the Yellow Jackets lead the country in man-down goals, and Dawson Long's five is the program and NE10 record for shorthanded strikes in a season. As a team, the 170 goals and 122 total assists were both program bests, as were the 196 caused turnovers. Apart from Bower, Linkletter also passed what had been the previous team caused turnovers mark with his 33 on the year; the duo are 1-2 in the NE10 this season. Tyler Goode also tied the team's single-season assists mark with 25.