STANDISH, Maine – Sophomore Aidan Sullivan (Burlington, Conn.) scored with 53 seconds remaining in the first overtime period to lift Emmanuel College (2-8, 1-4 GNAC) past Saint Joseph's College (3-9, 1-4 GNAC), 13-12, in a hotly-contested Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse game at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks maintained the lead for most of the contest, but the Saints claimed their first advantage of the afternoon on the heels of a 4-0 fourth quarter run and punched home the winner in overtime.
Junior Noah Tierney-Honan (Dracut, Mass.) kicked off the fourth frame scoring with a man-up goal to lift the hosts to an 11-8 cushion with 13:05 left to play, but Emmanuel junior Ryan Castle (Boxford, Mass.) struck with a man-up goal of his own three minutes later to jumpstart the visitors' scoring surge.
Sophomore Robert Favuzza (Saugus, Mass.) netted the game's following two goals to knot the contest 11-up with 2:49 on the clock and Sullivan gave the Saints their first lead of the day with a tally 97 seconds later. SJC junior Max Lacy (Salisbury, N.H.) re-tied the contest – and ultimately forced extra play - when he scored his fourth goal of the day off a slick pass from Calvin Heline (Amesbury, Mass.) at the 23-second mark.
Both teams had scoring chances denied by the opposing keeper in overtime. SJC netminder Brannon Gilbert (Gray, Maine) turned away a shot taken by junior Drew Chant (Warwick, R.I.) at the 3:12 mark and Emmanuel goalie Eric Anderson (Sparta, N.J.) returned the favor on a Heline shot 50 seconds later.
Gilbert turned away a Thomas Quigley (Marblehead, Mass.) shot with 1:13 left, but the Saints maintained possession and Sullivan registered the game-winner off a Castle feed 20 seconds later.
TEAM STATS:
Emmanuel held the lead in shots (41-37), ground balls (33-26) and face-off wins (16-12) while Saint Joseph's posted an 11-8 advantage in caused turnovers and both teams steered 26 shots on goal.
THE KEEPERS:
Gilbert made 13 saves for the Monks while Anderson notched 10 stops for the Saints.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Lacy scored four goals and added a pair of caused turnovers
- Tierney-Honan and Xavier Michaud (Wales, Maine) produced two goals and an assist apiece
- Senior Wyatt LeBlanc (Arundel, Maine) added a goal and four assists
- Sophomore Timothy Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) chipped in with two goals and a pair of ground balls
- Junior Eli Arsenault (Saco, Maine) contributed with six groundballs and two caused turnovers and freshman Anthony Samiotes (Hampstead, N.H.) added four ground balls
LEADERS – EMMANUEL:
- Quigley enjoyed a fine game with three goals, five assists, two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers
- Castle scored three goals with two assists
- Favuzza tallied three goals and an assist
- Sullivan registered two goals and an assist
- Senior David Roa (Warwick, R.I.) won 13-of-22 face-off attempts with nine ground balls
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will play at Lasell University on Wednesday in a GNAC contest slated to start at 4:00 PM.
