April 26, 2009

Box Score • Photo Gallery

PHILADELPHIA--The #3 Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team was unable to stop Massachusetts' second-half comeback, falling to the #1 Minutewomen, 15-14, in overtime at Geasey Field on Sunday. SJU, in the Atlantic 10 Final for the first time, held a seven-goal first-half lead and Jessica Westlake led all Hawks with four goals on the afternoon.

Saint Joseph's (10-8) was up 13-8 in the second half after a Westlake goal was scored with 21:11. From there on out, it was all UMass, who scored seven of the final eight markers for the win. Helene Tursi's tally with 11:34 to go was the final goal of the game for the Hawks, which were up 14-12 at the time.

Jackie Lyons (five goals, three assists, Championship MVP) scored four of the last five Minutewomen goals including the game-tying goal with 3:16 left in regulation and the game-winning goal with just 8.9 ticks left on the clock.

In the first half, after UMass went up 2-0, SJU went on a huge run registering 10 of 11 goals to run out to a 10-3 lead with 3:29 remaining. All of that was done while the Hawks went 0-for-14 in draw controls.

During that 10-1 run, Jenna Martino scored all three of her goals, while Tursi added two of her three. Additionally, Meghan McDevitt had two markers and Julie Mineweaser, Jen Peters and Westlake added one apiece. Abby Renninger, Grace Dinn, Westlake and Martino had on assist each in that span.

UMass (11-7) answered back with three in a row to make it 10-6 with 1:44 remaining. Westlake's second of the afternoon gave the Hawks a little breathing room with just 12 seconds remaining in the half. The tally was assisted by Helene Tursi's seventh of the season.

Massachusetts and SJU traded two goals each to open the half, leaving the game at 13-8 with 21:11 to go. Westlake provided both goals to open the half off assists by Peters and McDevitt.

Suzy Herlihy made six saves in the loss, four of which came in the first half.

UMass set a new A-10 Championship record with 28 draw controls on the day, besting the previous record of 16 in the first half alone as they held an edge in that category, 17-1 in the stanza. SJU picked up six for the game.

The Minutewomen out-shot SJU. 30-26, for the game, but the Hawks had three golden opportunities in the overtime that didn't get past UM's Katie Florence (seven saves).

SJU held an enormous edge in ground balls (21-10) and were successful on 19 of 20 clears. Additionally, the Hawks forced UM into 20 turnovers, while Saint Joseph's committed just 11. Hawk defenders caused 12 of the 20 UMass turnovers with Jontell Lyons leading the way with four.

The Hawks' season ends with the loss in the final, which was their first trip to the title game ever. They set records for most wins, goals, points, shots and Martino notched her single-season record 57th goal of the year and ended the season with 78 points, also a record. Westlake's career ends as the program's all-time leader in appearances as today was her 65th game.

Notes:
• Altogether, six Hawks were named to the All-Tournament Team, the most of any school as there were only 12 participants on the squad. Captains Suzy Herlihy, Jenna Martino, Abby Renninger, and Meghan Cullinan were a part of the team as well as seniors Helene Tursi and Jessica Westlake.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Jackie Lyons, UMass (Most Outstanding Player)
Suzy Herlihy, Saint Joseph's
Sam Tajirian, Richmond
Holly Drown, UMass
Jenna Martino, Saint Joseph's
Helene Tursi, Saint Joseph's
Abby Renninger, Saint Joseph's
Meghan Reddy, UMass
Meghan Cullinan, Saint Joseph's
Merritt Cosgrove, UMass
Audrey Joy, George Washington
Jessica Westlake, Saint Joseph's

• Saint Joseph's record-breaking season ends with single-season records for goals (208), points (285), shots (538), wins (10), A-10 wins (5) and the first A-10 Championship game appearance.
• Jenna Martino set new marks in single-season goals (57) and points (76). She ranks third all-time in both categories.