FRANKLIN, Mass. – Saint Joseph's College (2-5, 1-0 GNAC) scored four goals in the closing 2:02 and junior Tim Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) netted the game-winner 1:21 into overtime in an 11-10 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse victory at Dean College (3-1, 0-1 GNAC) on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The SJC offense sputtered in the first half and faced a 7-2 deficit heading into the third quarter. The Monks netted four of the first five goals after the break, including a pair from freshman Tiger Hopkins (Leeds, Maine), to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 8-6 with 2:38 left in the penultimate period.
The hosts received goals from Jaden Wise and Diego Alvarez-Segee to stake a 10-6 cushion with 11:18 remaining in the fourth frame and the four-goal lead held for over nine minutes.
The Monks chipped away at the deficit with a Noah Tierney-Honan (Dracut, Mass.) strike at the 2:02 mark and freshman forward Matt Denman (Brentwood, N.H.) hit pay dirt twice in a matter of 19 seconds to make it a one-goal game with 1:17 on the clock.
Dean won the ensuing faceoff, but Hopkins forced a turnover and Head Coach Bill Cosentino immediately called a timeout. Having an attack plan after the short discussion, the Monks saw senior Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) take a pair of shots with the first being turned away by Dean keeper James Rollins and the second, with 28 seconds left, careening off the post.
Tierney-Honan picked up the ground ball on Lacy's shot off the iron and quickly reset the offense, just in time for senior Xavier Michaud (Wales, Maine) to net the game-tying goal with 10 seconds left.
The Bulldogs won the faceoff to kick off extra play and had the first scoring chance, as senior goalie Brannon Gilbert (Gray, Maine) denied a shot taken by Tyler Benedetto six seconds into the OT period. The Monks then cleared the ball out of their end and, after Lacy and Tierney-Honan steered shots off target, Goodfellow lifted the Royal Blue to victory with perhaps his biggest collegiate goal to date, an unassisted marker with 3:39 on the OT clock.
TEAM STATS:
Dean held the lead in shots (35-33), shots on goal (23-18), ground balls (37-31), and faceoff wins (17-7) while Saint Joseph's posted a 22-15 lead in caused turnovers on the afternoon.
THE KEEPERS:
Gilbert made 13 saves in the victory while Rollins posted seven stops for the hosts.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Goodfellow netted two goals with three assists
- Hopkins added two goals and two assists with a pair of caused turnovers
- Denman scored twice and picked up four ground balls
- Michaud produced two goals, three ground balls, and three caused turnovers
- Sophomore Anthony Samiotes (Hampstead, N.H.) picked up six ground balls and seven caused turnovers
LEADERS – DEAN:
- Alec Speirs scored three goals with three assists and four ground balls
- Alvarez-Segee put up three goals with a pair of ground balls
- Greg Centeio added two goals and an assist
- Benedetto was 17-fo-24 on faceoffs with 11 ground balls
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the win, Saint Joseph's evens up the all-time series at one win apiece. The Bulldogs edged the Monks by a 10-7 score in Standish last spring.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will play a non-conference game at University of Southern Maine on Wednesday at 4:00 PM.
