NASHUA, N.H. – Senior Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.) tallied five goals and five assists and sophomore Zavier Balzano (Otisfield, Maine) scored with 19 seconds left in the first overtime period to lift Saint Joseph's College (5-3, 3-1 GNAC) past Rivier University (2-2, 2-2 GNAC), 16-15, in an action-packed Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse contest on Wednesday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The evenly matched rivals were unable to achieve any breathing room to speak of, as neither team achieved a lead greater than three goals in a game that featured five lead changes and nine tie scores.
The contest stood at a 3-3 tie after the opening 15 minutes and the Monks received goals from Balzano and Puleo in the first four minutes of the second quarter to claim a 5-3 edge. The Raiders rallied with tallies from Michael Ference and Connor Eck to even up the score with 8:04 before the break, but Puleo and sophomore Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) hit pay dirt just 18 seconds apart to help the Monks regain the two-goal cushion four minutes later.
Clinging to a 7-6 lead after the Raiders netted a late goal in the second quarter, St. Joe's offset another Ference marker with strikes from Puleo and Lacy in the first eight minutes of the third period to make it a 9-7 game. The tide turned in favor of the hosts however, as Rivier proceeded to score six of the game's subsequent seven goals en route to securing a 13-10 advantage with 8:31 left in the fourth quarter.
The frenzied final frame, which featured 11 total goals, saw the Monks score four unanswered goals in the following five minutes, as Puleo and classmate Brendan Martin (Nashua, N.H.) netted two apiece during the outburst to lift their team to a 14-13 lead with 3:59 left. Ference answered with his sixth marker of the evening, a man-up goal at the 1:59 mark, to tie the game at 14-14.
With 24 seconds remaining in regulation, senior Glenn Dion (Pembroke, N.H.) scored what could have been the game-winner, but the Raiders won the ensuing faceoff and sprinted to the SJC defensive end, where Dylan McSparren scored to tie the game with seven seconds left and ultimately force extra play.
Rivier opened the five-minute overtime period by winning the faceoff and managed to rip a pair of shots wide, but committed a turnover that proved to be costly, as the Monks cleared their end, set up their offense, and took six shots in the closing two minutes. Rivier keeper Ben Fitzpatrick managed to turn away two of the SJC attempts but was unable to withstand the offensive pressure as Balzano found the back of the net with 19 seconds on the OT clock.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (45-39), shots on goal (28-19) and caused turnovers (19-9) while Rivier posted the advantage in ground balls (23-21) and faceoff victories (20-15).
THE KEEPERS:
SJC junior Michael Janocha (Southampton, Mass.) made four saves in the victory while Fitzpatrick notched 12 saves in the losing effort.
CENTURY MARK:
Already safely atop the SJC leaderboard in career assists, Puleo became the first player in program history to reach the 100-career-assist plateau when he notched the helper on a Martin goal with 5:33 left in the fourth quarter. In 47 career games, the senior attack has tallied 65 goals and 101 assists for 166 points – a total that ranks third in team history.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Puleo tallied five goals and five assists with four ground balls
- Martin contributed three goals and an assist
- Lacy chipped in with three goals and Balzano added a pair, including the winner
- Dion added a goal and two assists
- Senior Alex Osmanski (Abington, Mass.) scored a goal with four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers
- Freshman Adam Enscoe (Rochester, N.H.) was 8-for-18 on faceoff attempts
LEADERS – RIVIER:
- Ference led the hosts with six goals and three assists
- McSparren tacked on two goals and two assists with a pair of ground balls
- Eck added three goals and an assist
- Alan Cozzolino was 20-for-34 on faceoff attempts with 13 ground balls
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the win Saint Joseph's improves to 9-3 all-time versus Rivier University and has now defeated the Raiders in four-consecutive meetings.
NEXT!
The Monks are off until next Wednesday when they travel to Lasell University for a GNAC matchup slated to begin at 4:00 PM.
