PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Theodores '25
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Moravian University (3-3) defeated Saint Joseph's College (4-3), 15-8, in a non-conference men's lacrosse contest on Wednesday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks held a 2-0 lead after the first quarter when sophomore Matt Denman (Brentwood, N.H.) and grad Xavier Michaud (Wales, Maine) struck for the visitors at the 11:45 and 9:52 marks, respectively.
The SJC lead evaporated - and then some – in the second quarter when Moravian netted eight unanswered goals en route to taking an 8-2 lead into intermission.
Losing 9-2 early in the third period, the Monks received goals from Will Levesque (Marlow, N.H.) and Tim Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) to cut their deficit to 9-4 with 9:15 left in the quarter, but the Greyhounds all but put the game away by netting three of the game's following four goals, securing a 12-5 lead heading into the fourth frame in the process.
The Monks continued to fight back and received goals from grad Nathanial Girardin (Brunswick, Maine) and Michaud in the opening three minutes of the fourth, but Moravian kept the Royal Blue at bay with goals from Dan Kelly and Aaron Judge 90 seconds apart to put the game out of reach with 5:25 left.
TEAM STATS:
Moravian held the lead in shots (49-33), shots on goal (31-17), ground balls (47-40), and face-off wins (20-7) on the afternoon.
THE KEEPERS:
The Monks split the game in goal, as junior Liam Greene (Mansfield, Mass.) made seven saves and gave up eight goals in the first half and freshman Reed Wescott (Windham, Maine) posted nine stops in the second stanza.
Moravian netminder Thomas Lee picked up the win after allowing eight goals with eight saves in 57:02 between the pipes while Sean Boyer turned away the only shot he faced in mop-up duty.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Goodfellow tallied two goals, three assists, and three ground balls
- Denman added a goal and an assist with five ground balls
- Girardin registered two goals and three ground balls
- Michaud added two goals on four shots
LEADERS – MORAVIAN:
- Trevor Dzama tallied three goals, four assists, and a pair of ground balls
- Dan Kelly added four goals, an assist, and three ground balls
- Connor James chipped in with three goals and two assists
- Gannon Mesko won 20-of-27 face-off attempts and picked up seven ground balls
- Mike Sickler notched three ground balls and four caused turnovers
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the loss Saint Joseph's falls to 0-4 all-time versus Moravian University.
NEXT!
The Monks return to New England and on Saturday will play at Johnson & Wales University in an 11:00 AM conference contest.
