Sept. 19, 2012

PHILADELPHIA - Goals by sophomore Alex Critzos and senior Tim Brennan, a shutout by senior Andrew D'Ottavi, and an overall brilliance in both offense and defense lifted Saint Joseph's over Rider by a final score of 3-0 on Saturday, September 15. With the win, the Hawks improve their record to 2-4 and tie their total wins record from the 2011 season.

Looking ahead, the squad will travel to Cornell this Saturday, September 22 and Bucknell on Tuesday, September 25. The Hawks are 0-2 all-time against Cornell and 4-3 all-time against Bucknell, dropping 1-0 decisions to both teams in 2011.

The team will have the rest of next week off from games before staying on the road to face Loyola on Saturday, September 29.

Alex's Attack: In a span of 49 minutes, Critzos became the team's leading scorer as he netted two goals, in the fourth and 53rd minutes, against Rider. Classmate Jake Nelson dished a pass to Critzos at the 4:26 mark to earn the game-winning assist as Critzos floated his shot into the left side of the Rider net. Critzos's second goal came at the 53:16 mark.

Andrew's Accolades: D'Ottavi was named the Philadelphia Soccer Six Defender of the Week for the week ending September 17 as he registered his first shutout of the season against Rider. D'Ottavi, who also won this award in September of 2009, made four saves in the victory. The captain has started and played in all six games for the Hawks this season and ranks fifth in the Soccer Six standings with both a 1.98 goals allowed average and a .670 saves percentage (as of September 17). The shutout marks the third of D'Ottavi's career.

NCAA Numbers: The Hawks improved in every category in NCAA rankings since September 9. For statistics ending in September 16, Saint Joseph's moved up in scoring offense (35 places), won-lost-tied percentage (27 places), team goals against average (22 places), total goals (19 places), total points (18 places), save percentage (15 places) and saves per game (two places). The Hawks broke into NCAA rankings in two categories, including shutout percentage and total assists. Additionally, D'Ottavi broke into the individual top 100 in both saves per game and total saves.

Time for Tim(s): Brennan scored his first collegiate goal against Rider. The unassisted goal, a solid shot into the left lower 90, came in the sixth minute of play. The captain has started and played in all six games for the Hawks this season. Freshman midfielder Tim Lazorko tallied the first point of his career on an assist that would result in Critzos's second goal of the game in the 53rd minute of play against Rider. Lazorko has started and played in five of six games for Saint Joseph's.

Third of the Way: At 2-4-0, the Hawks have played six games and are one-third of the way done with the regular season. Critzos leads all scorers with two goals and four points, while Brennan, juniors Pat McGlynn and Jimmy Reilly and sophomore Tommy Brooks have one goal and two points apiece. Nelson and Lazorko have tallied one assist and one point each. Brennan, Critzos, D'Ottavi, McGlynn, Nelson, and junior defender Brendan Reilly have all started all games for the Hawks.