March 14, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.--The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team held Drexel scoreless for over almost 33 minutes but it wasn't enough as the Dragons downed the Hawks, 6-5, on Saturday at Finnesey Field. Julie Mineweaser led SJU, who had five different scorers, with a goal and assist. Senior goalkeeper Suzy Herlihy made seven saves in the loss.

Drexel (6-1) came out strong to start the game opening a 2-0 lead just 9:40 into the game. The Hawks would answer back with two of their own thanks to Jessica Westlake and Helene Tursi with 15:19 left in the first half.

The Dragons controlled most of the latter part of the first half going on a three-goal run over five minutes to take a 5-2 advantage with 6:02 remaining.

Saint Joseph's (3-4) responded before halftime when Jenna Martino scored with only 19 ticks left on the clock off a Alli MacDonald assist to send the squads into the half at 5-3.

Meghan McDevitt capitalized on a free position shot attempt to get SJU within one at 5-4 with 26:36 remaining. Both teams, however, would fail to find the back of the net for the next 26 minutes.

Drexel broke the scoreless streak when they made it 6-4 with 3:27 to go. The Hawks again answered back when Mineweaser tagged the net just 50 seconds later on an unassisted tally.

Unfortunately for Saint Joseph's, they couldn't find the equalizer as Drexel's Lauren LaBella made a game-high eight saves on the afternoon.

The defensive battle saw SJU lead in shots, 30-23, but Drexel pick up more ground balls, 20-12. Christine Readinger led the Hawks with four ground balls and caused a team-high three turnovers.

The Dragons led in draw controls, 7-5, and were successful on 18 of 20 clears. On the other hand, Saint Joseph's was 13-for-19 in clears.

The Hawks will travel to Villanova on Thursday to take on the Wildcats at 5:30 p.m.