March 28, 2013
PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team (4-6, 0-2 CAA) will host Massachusetts (5-4, 0-1 CAA) in its first home CAA game of the season this Saturday, March 30.
Game Notes
Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Finnesey Field.
Live Stats
Saint Joseph's will look for its first win against Massachusetts in program history as the Hawks stand 0-2 all-time against the Minutemen. On March 31 of last season, the Crimson and Gray fell, 15-3, against then-nationally-ranked #2 Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass. Kyle Williams had two assists in the game while Johnny Simanski and Billy Annesley picked up two ground balls each.
Massachusetts enters this Saturday's game coming off of a 13-11 win over Hartford this past Saturday. Kyle Smith registered a single-game career-high six goals, including the final pair of UMass goals, while Joe Calvello finished 16-of-28 from the X and picked up eight ground balls. Goalkeeper Zach Oliveri (5-4) made nine saves on the day.
On the season, Smith leads the Minutemen in scoring with 18 goals while Bobby Tyler has dished out a team-high 11 assists. Calvello leads the team with 46 ground balls and a .575 face-off percentage while in nine starts, Oliveri sports a .583 saves percentage and 8.38 goals-against average.
In league play, Massachusetts fell to then-#18 Penn State, 7-5, on March 16.
Last Time Out: Despite registering three of the game's final five goals, the men's lacrosse team fell to cross-city rival #14/14 Drexel, 16-3, in CAA action this past Wednesday, March 27. Drexel scored the first 14 goals of the game to give the Dragons a commanding 14-0 lead early into the fourth period. Saint Joseph's did get offensive contributions from freshman attack Pat Swanick (2g) and sophomore midfielder Michael Dougherty (1g), but the Hawks would fall to the Dragons, 16-3. Defensively, junior midfielder Will Abbott picked up a team-high three ground balls and went 6-of-15 (.400) from the face-off while sophomore Will Farrell picked up two ground balls and caused a game-high four turnovers for the Hawks. Sophomore goalkeeper Dustin Keen (4-6) took the loss in the net, making five saves and allowing 12 goals in 43:47 minutes of action while senior Chris Moffa replaced Keen in goal for the final 16:13 and made five saves while allowing four goals. Drexel outshot Saint Joseph's 45-30 and held a 26-21 advantage in ground balls while keeping Saint Joseph's to just eight possessions of 21 attempts from the face-off.
In CAA Action... Swanick leads all scorers in CAA games with two goals while Dougherty, senior attack Kyle Williams, and freshman midfielder Bryan Garrahan have recorded one goal apiece. Farrell, Abbott, and Swanick have picked up four ground balls each while Farrell has caused a team-leading seven turnovers in CAA action. Senior captain Ted Hospodar (2gb, 4ct) has also been strong on the defensive end of the field.
Freshman Force: Making nine starts in 10 games played, attack Pat Swanick has proven himself a leader on the offensive end of the field. The freshman leads all scorers with 15 goals and ranks second on the team in assists (5) to total a team-best 20 points on the season. More impressively, after 32 shots, 27 have been on goal for an .844 SOG%. The rookie standout has scored at least one goal in all but two games this season while recording six multi-goal games, two in which he registered hat-tricks. For his three-goal effort against Marquette on March 16, Swanick was named a Colonial Athletic Association Co-Rookie of the Week (3/18).
Starting Seven: Seven Hawks have started all ten games of the season thus far. Sarcona and Franchak have been consistent at the attack while Simanski has taken control in the midfield. Moran, Barrow, and Farrell comprise the starting defensive unit while Keen has made his stake between the pipes.
Perfect 10: The Hawks are 3-0 when scoring 10 or more goals in a game this year. In those three games, SJU outscored its opponents 32-14. 10 goals seems to be the number - the squad is 1-6 when scoring nine or less goals per game.
Winning Early: The pattern seems to be, the earlier the attack, the better the result. Saint Joseph's is 3-1 when leading and 0-4 when trailing after the first period.
Home Is Where The Heart Is: Saint Joseph's is 3-1 this year when playing on Finnesey Field compared to 0-5 when competing as the away team on the road.
Welcome To Hawk Hill: On February 23, freshmen Matt Blasco, Garrahan, and Richard Gabelman each registered their first collegiate goals in SJU's season-opening home victory over VMI. The Hawks welcome 15 freshmen from six states - Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania - to the squad this season.
