April 18, 2013
PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team (5-8, 1-4 CAA) will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. this weekend to take on Michigan (0-12, 0-6 ECAC) in non-league action for the first time in program history. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Michigan Stadium.
Video | Live Stats
"This is just their second season in Division I competition," said men's lacrosse head coach Taylor Wray on the Michigan Wolverines. "They are what you would expect from a Michigan team. They play really hard and they're young, just like we are. They're playing almost exclusively freshmen and sophomores and they're hungry for a win. In two seasons so far, they've only had one program win. So they look at us like 'This is a game we have to get.' They're home and we're going to be playing in the 'Big House,' Michigan's football stadium, so it's going to be exciting. They're going to be extremely motivated...We expect it to be a highly contested game."
To listen to the complete interview, please click here.
Michigan (0-12, 0-6 ECAC) enters this Saturday's game coming off of a now-cancelled game against Detroit on April 17. The game was halted due to severe weather at the 6:42 mark of the second quarter. The Wolverines trailed the Titans of Detroit, 4-3. During the season, Michigan also tackled SJU opponents Penn State (L, 11-6), High Point (L, 13-10), and Delaware (L, 12-5).
On the season, Kyle Jackson (15g, 7a), Mike Hernandez (11g, 9a), and Thomas Paras (10g, 4a) lead the Wolverines in scoring while Gerald Logan has picked up a team-high 33 ground balls. Brad Lott is .463 (82-of-177) from the faceoff while Gerald Logan (0-12) sports a .554 saves percentage and 12.09 goals-against average in 7:14.54.
Last time out, the Crimson and Gray fell to CAA-opponent Delaware, 11-6, on April 13 at Finnesey Field. Sophomore attack Matthew Sarcona (2g) and junior midfielder Jake Hall (1g, 1a) led five Hawks in scoring while sophomore defender Will Farrell picked up five ground balls and caused one turnover. Senior captain Ted Hospodar took over the face-off late in the game, going 4-of-10 (.400) from the X. Sophomore goalkeeper Dustin Keen made 13 saves in a full 60:00. For a complete recap from the game, please click here.
Freshman attack Pat Swanick leads the Crimson and Gray attack with a team-high 23 points (17g, 6a). Sophomore midfielder Michael Dougherty (12g, 6a), sophomore attack Matthew Sarcona (12g, 5a), junior midfielder Johnny Simanski (7g, 6a), and sophomore attack Matthew Franchak (7g, 2a) round out the Hawks' top-five on the offensive end of the field.
"They've really stepped up this year and they've worked hard on their game to improve," said Wray of his leading scorers. "The key thing is that guys are hungry to get better. There is certainly some exciting stuff in Swanick being our leading scorer. His biggest strength is his quickness...If he can continue to get stronger physically, the ceiling is really high for him because he's an intelligent player and he's a worker...They've stepped into the fold for us. We're excited about where we can go. We can still continue to get better this season."
Farrell leads the team in ground balls (38) and caused turnovers (21) while junior midfielder Will Abbott has gone .462 (91-of-197) from the face-off and picked up 32 ground balls.
"Will has really started to step up and I feel like he's gaining some confidence as the season goes on," said Wray. "He went 8-for-15 against a player from Hofstra who is one of the best in the country, so each of those games where you perform well against a high level of competition builds confidence."
In 13 starts, Keen (5-8, 1-4 CAA) boasts a .551 saves percentage and 9.09 goals-against average in 726:11.
