March 29, 2008

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team fell behind early and never recovered, losing 7-6 to Canisius (3-3, 3-0 MAAC), on Saturday at Finnesey Field. SJU (2-7, 2-1 MAAC) was led by senior tri-captain Steve Varga, who scored three straight goals and added an assist for a four-point day. Alex Lopes dished three assists for the Hawks.

Saint Joseph's faced several hardships over four quarters including inept defense, taking poor penalties and not converting open shots. Nevertheless, the Hawks were undeterred, fighting back from two four-goal deficits before finally falling to the Golden Griffins.

Canisius stormed out of the gates with four straight goals in the first quarter by Nick LoCoco, Michael Blocho, Adam Jones, and Tom Hensel. Despite a Scott Cullinan man-up goal to start the period for Saint Joseph's, Canisius answered back with a man-up goal of their own by Blocho to put the Griffs ahead 5-1 with 12:47 remaining in the second quarter.

SJU fought back when Varga netted his first goal of the game with 8:31 remaining in the second quarter on a goal assisted by Lopes. The teams went into the halftime break, 5-2, in favor of Canisus

In the midst of the third period, the Hawks were able to stave off Canisius as Saint Joseph's took four penalties in less than two minutes to give the Griffs two separate up-two men situations. Canisius converted on none of the four penalties and the Hawks escaped the onslaught.

The Lopes-Varga tandem worked again with 3:19 to go in the third period, as Varga scored his second goal of the game to pull the Hawks within two, at 5-3. Saint Joseph's received a major boost late in the period when Varga dove after a rebound to make a most spectacular goal, batting it home past Canisius goalkeeper Chris Courteau, to get SJU within one goal, 5-4, at the end of three periods.

The Griffins were emphatic in their reply as just 39 seconds had passed by in the fourth quarter before Jones tallied his second goal of the game. Jones looked to have put the game away with 7:43 remaining in the fourth period, to give Canisius a seemingly commanding 7-4 lead.

On the ensuing face-off, the Hawks secured possession, raced down the field and Cullinan received a pass from Varga, which he rifled home to regain SJU's momentum. After a few back-and-forth possessions, senior tri-captain Steve O'Brien scored off a Lopes assist with 3:36 remaining.

Saint Joseph's survived a tense Canisius possession, which didn't secure an insurance goal, but let the Hawks have two more chances to tie the game. Lopes missed on a far-away shot, but SJU caused a Canisius turnover and Chris O'Neill powered a shot on goal, but Courteau was up to the task.

Saint Joseph's will travel to Lexington, Va. Next week to take on the Keydets of VMI. Face-off is set for 1:00 p.m.