DUDLEY, Mass. – The Saint Joseph's College men's lacrosse team (1-0) kicked off the 2020 season with a 10-6 victory at Nichols College (0-2) on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The non-conference contest stood at a 3-3 tie heading into halftime and the Monks struck twice early in the third quarter, as senior Shane Fors (Ledyard, Conn.) scored just nine seconds in directly off a face-off win and freshman Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) netted his second of three goals on the day at the 12:13 mark to make it a 5-3 game.
With the teams trading a pair of tallies apiece over the next 13 minutes of play, the two-goal cushion remained until St. Joe's rattled off three unanswered markers, as junior Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.) hit pay dirt at the 11:59 mark of the fourth quarter and sophomore Devin Linscott (Nashua, N.H.) found the back of the net twice in the closing 10 minutes to put the game out of reach.
THE KEEPERS:
Senior Edward Hellier (South Portland, Maine) was outstanding in his debut for Saint Joseph's with 23 saves and a team-high six ground balls in the victory. Nichols netminder Griffin Jasin turned away 14 shots in a losing effort.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held slim leads in shots (45-44), ground balls (28-26) and caused turnovers (8-6) while Nichols posted advantages in face-off wins (11-9) and shots on goal 29-24 on the afternoon. The Monks were 19-for-25 on clear attempts with 24 turnovers while the Bison cleared successfully on 18 of 23 tries with 16 turnovers.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Lacy scored three goals, including a man-down marker, with a pair of ground balls
- Linscott also netted three goals on seven shots
- Junior Tyler Brewster (Merrimack, N.H.) scored twice on 10 shots
- Puleo registered a goal and an assist
- Graduate Daniel Cunningham (West Islip, N.Y.) added a pair of assists
- Fors scored a goal with three ground balls and was 9-for-20 on face-off attempts
- Junior Alex Osmanski (Abington, Mass.) was key for the Monks on clearing attempts and tallied an assist, three ground balls, and two caused turnovers
- Junior Jason Barrett (East Sandwich, Mass.) picked up four ground balls
- Freshman Connor Bogdanski (Southington, Conn.) delivered a pair of caused turnovers
- Freshman Michael Delaney, Jr. (Milford, Conn.) was also instrumental for the Monks' clearing game and added a ground ball in the victory
LEADERS – NICHOLS:
- Hunter Ferreira scored five goals on 15 shots, including 10 on goal
- Cian Keohane scored a goal with two assists
- Eavn St. Arnauld scooped up six ground balls
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
For the Monks, today's win is the program's first in three tries, as Nichols topped the Royal Blue by a 15-6 score in 2018 and posted a 13-9 triumph over St. Joe's last February.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will host Husson University on Tuesday in a non-conference contest slated to begin at 4:00 PM.
