PAXTON, Mass. – Sophomore Tiger Hopkins (Leeds, Maine) scored seven goals with three assists to help launch Saint Joseph's College (8-7, 5-3 GNAC) past Anna Maria College (2-13, 1-8 GNAC), 24-9, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse contest on Wednesday evening.
MILESTONE MET:
With seven points (three goals, four assists) in tonight's victory, senior attack Tim Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) became just the second player in SJC men's lacrosse program history to reach the 200-point plateau for their career. Goodfellow entered the game versus Anna Maria seven points shy of the milestone and hit the mark when he was credited with an assist on a Tiger Hopkins goal with 11 seconds left in the second quarter.
In just 47 career games spanning two-plus seasons, Goodfellow has tallied 105 goals and 95 assists for 200 total points. The only player ahead of him on the Monks' career points list is Michael Finn '19, who scored 169 goals with 41 helpers for 210 points in 67 contests over four full seasons.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks came out of the gates firing with three goals – two from Hopkins and another from Goodfellow – in the opening three minutes. The AMCATS responded with two quick strikes from Aiden Foster, but St. Joe's capped the first frame with a 4-1 run and held a 7-3 advantage going into the second stanza.
The second quarter featured 13 goals with 10 being scored by the Royal Blue. In the first three minutes, Anna Maria netted two of the first three goals of the period to draw within three goals (8-5), but Saint Joseph's answered with a 9-1 surge as Hopkins hit pay dirt twice in the final 36 seconds of the half to lift the Monks to a comfortable 17-6 cushion heading into intermission.
A total of 11 different SJC players found the back of the net in tonight's lopsided triumph.
TEAM STATS:
The Monks held the lead in shots (51-32), shots on goal (33-24), ground balls (38-30), caused turnovers (12-11), and face-off wins (17-16) in the conference victory.
THE KEEPERS:
Saint Joseph's split time with a pair of freshmen in the cage tonight, as starter Reed Wescott (Windham, Maine) made five stops and allowed six goals in the first half and Nic Michaud (Wales, Maine) turned away 10 shots while yielding three tallies in the second stanza.
Anna Maria also deployed a pair of netminders in the loss, as Nicholas Lopez made seven saves in the first half and Christian Williams posted a pair of stops in the second period.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Hopkins paced the offense with seven goals and three assists with a pair of ground balls
- Goodfellow netted three goals with four helpers and two ground balls
- Freshman Brandon Cavicchi (Kingston, Mass.) scored four goals with an assist and three ground balls
- Grad Xavier Michaud (Wales, Maine) and sophomore David Cook (Upton, Mass.) netted two goals apiece
- Nathaniel Girardin (Brunswick, Maine), Will Levesque (Marlow, Maine), and Matt Denman (Brentwood, N.H.) chipped in with a goal and an assist apiece
- Freshman Zander Kirk (Bath, Maine) won 16-of-27 face-off bids and picked up six ground balls
- Sophomore Nick Wesley (Peabody, Mass.) contributed an assist, six ground balls, and three caused turnovers
LEADERS – ANNA MARIA:
- Foster scored three goals on five shots with two ground balls
- Hank Gittines notched three goals on 10 attempts
- Nathan Powers went 16-for-33 on face-offs with eight ground balls
- Tommy Girard added a goal and two assists
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the result, Saint Joseph's improves to 12-0 all-time versus Anna Maria College.
NEXT!
The Monks have a pair of games remaining on the 2024 regular season schedule, starting with a 1:00 PM GNAC game at New England College on Saturday and closing out with a 4:00 PM conference contest at Emmanuel College on Wednesday.
The GNAC Tournament begins on Saturday, April 27th.
