April 7, 2007

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team got three goals and four assists from senior attacker Mike O'Neill in a 17-10 victory over the VMI Keydets at Finnesey Field on Saturday. Graduate student Alex McColough added two goals and an assist, while junior Steve Varga took over the team lead by scoring five goals, giving him 13 for the season. The Hawks are 4-0 in conference play, their best start since the 2000 season, when they finished 9-0 in the MAAC.

VMI (1-9, 0-4 Metro Atlantic) started the scoring just over a minute into the game. SJU then tallied three goals in 40 seconds to take a lead they would not relinquish. After Chad Dudley scored the equalizer, Varga and McColough scored their first of the game. All three goals were assisted by Mike O'Neill, as was SJU's fourth goal, which was scored by Steve O'Brien. The Keydets closed the gap to 4-3 with 5:11 left in the first quarter, but the Hawks scored three of the next four to take a 7-4 lead into the second quarter. SJU got second-quarter goals from sophomore Alex Lopes, Varga, and McColough to take a 10-6 lead at the half.

Saint Joseph's (4-6, 4-0 Metro Atlantic) came out firing in the third quarter, with sophomore Ben Osborne scoring just 12 seconds into the half. O'Neill and O'Brien added scores to take the lead to 13-6 after three. Both teams scored four times in the fourth, with sophomore Chris O'Neill tallying two goals.

Junior Kevin Hill and freshman Brett Leonard scored three goals apiece to lead VMI. Sean McCoy had 10 saves between the pipes. For SJU, sophomore RJ Bopf made his first start of the season, and recorded eight saves. Freshman Chase Stewart also made one save for the Hawks.

SJU returns to the field on Wednesday, April 11 when they travel to Bethlehem, PA to take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The opening face-off is slated for 7:00 PM.