DAVENPORT, Fla. – Saint Joseph's College (2-2) rallied past Wentworth Institute of Technology (2-2), 12-10, in non-conference men's lacrosse action at Northeast Regional Park on Wednesday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Wentworth put up the game's first goal at the 10:25 mark of the first quarter, but Saint Joseph's answered with four-consecutive strikes with a Tyler Brewster (Merrimack, N.H.) marker lifting the Royal Blue to a 4-1 lead heading into what turned out to be an action-packed second stanza featuring 11 goals.
The Leopards opened the second quarter with three tallies in a matter of two minutes with a man-up goal from Andrew DiPalma (West Orange, N.J.) knotting the contest at 4-4 with 10:34 before the break. The Monks responded with three unanswered scores of their own, including a pair from sophomore Zack Hamilton (Pepperell, Mass.) to reclaim the three-goal (7-4) advantage with 3:15 left in the period.
The see-saw battle ensued, as Wentworth rattled off four-straight markers in the closing two minutes to claim an 8-7 edge before Hamilton notched his third goal of the quarter with nine seconds on the clock to send the game into intermission with an 8-8 score on the board.
The Panthers netted a pair of goals in the first five minutes of the third period to claim their first – and only – two-goal lead of the afternoon. The Monks proceeded to shut down the Wentworth offensive attack for the remainder of the game – a span of 24 minutes and 53 seconds – while hitting pay-dirt four times, including twice off the stick of freshman Devin Linscott (Nashua, N.H.), to claim the victory.
TEAM STATS:
Wentworth held the lead in shots (45-32), ground balls (47-46) and face-off wins (17-9) and cleared successfully on 22 of 27 attempts. Saint Joseph's was 14-28 on clearing attempts.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC sophomore Logan Skinner (Irving, Texas) made 14 saves, including eight during the nearly 25-minute scoreless span in the second half, with seven ground balls in the victory while Wentworth sophomore Randy Ryan (Clinton, N.J.) turned away seven shots in the setback.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Hamilton scored four goals on five shots
- Linscott tallied two goals and an assist with three ground balls
- Sophomore Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.) contributed a goal, three assists, six ground balls, and a pair of caused turnovers
- Senior Daniel Cunningham (West Islip, N.Y.) added a goal and an assist with three ground balls
- Senior Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) and freshman Troy Bottari (Nashua, N.H.) chipped in with a goal and three ground balls apiece
- Senior defender Cornelius Koch (Quincy, Mass.) notched three ground balls and three caused turnovers
- Junior Shane Fors (Kalamazoo, Mich.) was 8-24 on face-off attempts with a pair of ground balls
LEADERS – WENTWORTH:
- Junior Kyle Doner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) scored three goals with three assists and three ground balls
- Senior Jacob Eldred (Goffstown, N.H.) netted three goals with an assist
- DiPalma and Ben Coakley (Flemington, N.J.) added two goals apiece
- Danny Bartosiewicz (North Grafton, Mass.) picked up a game-high eight ground balls
- Sophomore Tom Rockwell (Andover, Mass.) was 8-12 on face-offs with three ground balls
- Freshman Radu Stancescu (Suffern, N.Y.) went 9-14 on face-off bids with three ground balls
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 1-2 all-time versus Wentworth Institute, which defeated the Monks by a 19-13 score in Florida last spring (3/8/18).
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's is back in action next Wednesday with a non-conference home game versus Maine Maritime Academy. Opening face-off is slated for 5:00 PM.
