WHITTIER, Calif. – Whittier College (1-0) defeated Saint Joseph's College (2-1), 13-6, in a non-conference men's lacrosse contest on Tuesday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Whittier opened the game with five unanswered goals before freshman Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) scored off a Wyatt LeBlanc (Arundel, Maine) pass with 3:49 left in the second quarter.
Juniors Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.) and Glenn Dion (Pembroke, N.H.) lifted the Monks to within three goals (6-3) with consecutive markers in the third frame, but the Poets answered with a pair of strikes to put the hosts back on top by five.
Whittier opened up a 10-4 advantage with goals from Chandler Badon and Ronan Dooney early in the fourth frame before senior Shane Fors (Ledyard, Conn.) and Puleo hit pay dirt to make it a 10-6 game with 4:48 remaining. The Poets proceeded to put the game out of reach with three straight tallies to close out the contest and account for the 13-6 final.
TEAM STATS:
Whittier held the advantage in shots (45-27), shots on goal (28-14), ground balls (31-21), and caused turnovers (16-9) and won 12 of 21 face-offs while successfully clearing on 15 of 16 tries. The Monks went 13-16 on clear bids in the setback.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC senior netminder Edward Hellier (South Portland, Maine) turned away 15 shots in the loss while Whittier keeper Austin Mann posted eight stops in 59:13 minutes of play. Backup Kelly Petro was untested in 47 seconds of relief duty.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Puleo scored two goals with a pair of ground balls
- Fors was 6-16 on face-off attempts with a goal and four ground balls
- Senior defender Joseph Mooney (Kennebunk, Maine) registered three caused turnovers
LEADERS – WHITTIER:
- Dooney tallied two goals and four assists with two ground balls
- Cam Bentley added two goals and an assist
- Jacob Berggren picked up six ground balls with five caused turnovers
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
Last night's contest between the Monks and Poets was the first-ever between the institutions' men's lacrosse teams.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will face Houghton College at Whittier tomorrow at 3:00 PM EST.