Oct. 10, 2012
PHILADELPHIA - A 2-1 loss to Duquesne and a 4-2 loss to St. Bonaventure last weekend handed the Hawks their first two losses of Atlantic 10 conference play. However, Saint Joseph's played tight games, forcing overtime against Duquesne and preserving a 2-2 tie until the 84th minute against St. Bonaventure, demonstrating a Hawk team that can prove to be a threat in conference action.
Up ahead, the squad takes to the road this weekend to compete at Massachusetts on Friday, October 12 and Rhode Island on Sunday, October 14.
The Hawks are 4-15-2 all-time against Massachusetts and 5-17-0 all-time against Rhode Island. Saint Joseph's dropped a tight 1-0 decision to the Minutemen of Massachusetts in 2010 but defeated the Rams of Rhode Island 2-0 in 2010 in a match that saw junior midfielder Pat McGlynn record his first collegiate assist on Saint Joseph's first goal. Massachusetts is 3-5-2 overall and 0-1-0 in the A-10 entering Friday's game against Saint Joseph's while Rhode Island (2-6-2 overall, 1-0-0 A-10) will play Temple on Friday evening.
Next weekend marks the squad's final weekend at home as the team hosts St. Louis on Friday, October 19 and Butler on Sunday, October 21. The Hawks will honor their seniors prior to Sunday's game.
Andrew's Accomplishments: Senior goalkeeper Andrew D'Ottavi recorded ten more saves last week to rank him 41st in the nation with 49 total saves on the season. His average of five saves per game last week also improved his national rank in saves per game, improving him to 56th nationally with 4.45 saves per outing. NCAA rankings were not the only place where D'Ottavi improved - the captain's second save of the game against Duquesne tied him for 6th all-time at Saint Joseph's for career saves with 238, and his third save of the game, which came at the 34:05 minute-mark, pushed him past Eric Bowman (1990-91) to put D'Ottavi into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time career saves list. D'Ottavi has made 246 career saves, just 10 shy of Brian Benedict's (2005-10) career-record of 256.
Critzos's Charge: Sophomore forward Alex Critzos scored two of Saint Joseph's three goals this weekend, one against Duquesne and one against St. Bonaventure. Tied 0-0 with Duquesne in SJU's Atlantic 10 home opener, Critzos scored Saint Joseph's only goal of the game, hitting the left side of the net in the 31st minute. Trailing 1-0 against St. Bonaventure, Critzos was once again good for SJU's first goal, this time into the right side of the goal, to tie the score at 1-1 in the 55th minute. After his two-goal, four-point week, Critzos leads the team in scoring with four goals and nine points, tying his season-high record in goals while seven games still remain this season.
Lazorko on the Loose: Freshman Tim Lazorko has been nothing short of dominating in his last four starts, proving to be a threat on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. This week, Lazorko assisted both of Critzos's goals and netted one for himself, an equalizer against St. Bonaventure in the 67th minute of play. Lazorko ties for first on the team in points (nine) and assists (three) and ranks second on the team in goals (three).
Soaring Starters: Three veteran starters have already surpassed or have come close to surpassing career/season-highs with seven games still remaining in the 2012 season. With four goals and one assist, Critzos already tallies nine points this season compared to his total of eight points for the entirety of last season. With two goals and three assists, sophomore midfielder Jake Nelson surpasses his season-high in assists and stands at seven points, just one point less than his total of eight points from 2011. McGlynn has recorded five points this season, one shy of his total number of points (six) from his freshman and sophomore seasons - combined.
