AMHERST - Reversing the outcome of their regular-season meeting on April 29, Delaware dominated faceoffs and possession as it upset the University of Massachusetts men's lacrosse team Saturday night in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game at Garber Field.

With their 9-7 win, the No. 4-seeded Blue Hens (11-6) earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, while the season likely ended for the No. 3 Minutemen (10-5) who are unlikely to earn an at-large bid. The NCAA Tournament selection show will be broadcast at 9 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

"You have to give them credit," UMass junior defenseman Tom Celentani said. "They played an excellent game and we didn't execute well enough today."

Eight days earlier, the Minuteman dominated faceoffs 15-4 en route to an 11-5 win. But Dan Cooney of Delaware, who was on the losing end of nine of those faceoffs April 29, adjusted and dominated everybody UMass tried against him Saturday. He won 13 of the 19 draws.

"Give Cooney a lot of credit. Last Friday when we played them we controlled the draws," UMass coach Greg Cannella said. "He did a heck of a job tonight. They had possession of the ball for most of the game."

UMass, which trailed for most of the game, briefly led after 1 minute, 11 seconds of the third quarter when Ryan Hantverk smoked a shot from the perimeter past Blue hens goaltender Noah Fossner (nine saves) to break a 3-3 tie.

But Delaware answered with the next three goals, including the first score of a second-half hat trick by Kevin Kaminski, for a 6-4 lead.

Art Kell (two goals, two assists) scored a goal and then set up Will Manny (two goals, one assist) for the equalizer with 9:28 left in the game. But back-to-back goals by Kaminski and another by Sean Finegan of Delaware left the Minutemen behind 9-6 with 3:32 left.

Blue Hen Eric Smith was flagged for taunting after his team's goal and UMass took advantage. Kyle Smith converted an assist from Manny with 2:56 remaining, but the Minutemen never got any closer. They were forced to watch dejectedly as Delaware celebrated its second straight CAA title while its fans chanted "back-to-back."

"It's frustrating especially when you have your chances early and don't come through on them," Cannella said. "Delaware mixed in some zone and it was difficult to score against."

Tim McCormack made eight saves in goal for the Minutemen.

"It's heart-breaking to have this be the last game with this team," Celentani said. "We had something special this year. We could have gone far, but we didn't have it all today."

If the season is over, it was the final career game for Hantverk, Mael Walkowiak, Casey Rahn, Ryan Liebel, Travis Tripucka, Mike Wilus, Stephen Zorkers and Brett Newgaard who are all graduating.

"We had 10 wins this year," Cannella said. "In the climate of Division I lacrosse, that's a great season. We'll tell our guys that. You hope this experience is good for the guys. You hope you can get back in this situation. That's the hard part."

NOTES: Celentani, defenseman Jake Smith and attackman Art Kell were each named to the CAA All-Tournament team. ... The attendance was announced at 1,652.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.