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Saint Joseph's Hawks
Saint Joseph's Hawks
Slow Start Stalls Saint Joseph's Men's Lacrosse in 14-12 Loss at VMI

Men's Lacrosse SJU Athletic Communications

Slow Start Stalls Saint Joseph's Men's Lacrosse in 14-12 Loss at VMI

April 6, 2008

Box Score

LEXINGTON, Va. - The Saint Joseph's University men's lacrosse team fell in a hard-fought game at VMI, 14-12, on Saturday afternoon. Led by freshman Scott Cullinan (five goals) and junior Chris O'Neill (two goals, two assists), SJU (2-8, 2-2 MAAC) was unable to overcome two Keydets (4-6, 3-1 MAAC) who scored separate eight-point performances at Foster Stadium.

For the second straight weekend, Saint Joseph's allowed its opponents to jump out to a four-goal lead. In this case, VMI led 3-0 after the first quarter and tallied the first goal of the second quarter for the four-goal margin. The Hawks would fight back with three straight goals by Laurent Dionot, O'Neill and Cullinan.

Eventually, Saint Joseph's would tie the game at six apiece in the third quarter. Cullinan tallied a man-up goal to close the first half at 5-4 in favor of VMI. After an early Keydet tally, SJU scored consecutive goals by Cullinan and Steve Varga to knot it up at 6 with 11:57 to play.

VMI bounced back just six seconds later to give the Keydets the lead once again, a lead they'd never relinquish. That was the first of three straight goals for VMI until Cullinan struck again with another man-up goal with 2:22 to go in the third. Sean Evans got into the act a minute later to cut the lead to 9-8 on an unassisted goal.

The Hawks couldn't sustain the momentum, letting VMI score a goal to end the third and another to open the fourth for another three-goal margin in favor of the Keydets. Saint Joseph's would go on to score three of the next four goals behind shots from Varga, Cullinan and O'Neill to bring SJU within one goal at 12-to-11. The Hawks couldn't muster another equalizer at VMI knocked two more home before Steve O'Brien netted the last goal of the game with 2:16 remaining.

The Hawks will arrive home to take on Providence in a crucial MAAC Lacrosse League game on Saturday, April 12 on Finnesey Field. Face-off is set for 1:00 p.m. Last season, Saint Joseph's fell to the Friars in the MAAC Championship game, 9-4 in Maryland.

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