April 19, 2013

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. - The women's lacrosse team pulled to within one goal with just over 16 minutes remaining in regulation, but Richmond's 8-2 late second-half run handed the Hawks a 13-6 Atlantic 10 loss on Friday afternoon at Robins Stadium. SJU now stands at 8-7 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

Trailing 5-2 heading into the second half, junior attack Abby Ananian proved to be essential in SJU's next two offensive scores. Just under seven minutes into the half, Ananian dished an over-the-shoulder pass to freshman attack Bianca Angstadt, who bounced a shot into the lower-right corner of the goal to close SJU's deficit, 5-3, at the 23:15 mark.

Neither team would score over the next six minutes until Ananian split a pair of Richmond defenders and rocketed her second tally of the game to bring the Hawks to within one goal, 5-4, with 16:42 remaining in regulation.

However, Richmond (6-10 overall, 3-3 A-10) would score four goals between 16:02 and 14:20 en route to an 8-2 late second-half Spiders run to take the eventual win, 13-6.

Trailing 1-0 at the 24:24 mark of the first, Saint Joseph's junior midfielder Val Paolucci took advantage of gained space from a Richmond foul and hit the back of the net to tie the score at one goal apiece.

Richmond would respond at the 21:41 mark with a goal of its own to put the Spiders back up, 2-1.

Ananian retaliated just over three minutes later as the Hawks gained a free-position attempt off of a Richmond penalty. The junior attack shot directly between two Spider defenders to hit the uppermost part of the net at the 18:35 mark to once again tie the score, 2-2.

From there, Richmond went on a 3-0 run off of extra-man and free-position opportunities that spanned just under 10 minutes to take a 5-2 lead with 15:14 remaining in the first half.

For the half, Richmond held an 11-4 advantage in shots and secured six of eight draw controls. Saint Joseph's held a slight 11-10 benefit in ground balls but were forced into seven turnovers with four coming off of failed clears.

Ananian (2g, 1a) led the Hawks on the offensive end while defensively, senior Alexa Matthews and juniors Michele Granger and Allison Heath combined for 14 of SJU's 25 ground balls.

Freshman goalkeeper Genevieve Giblin (7-7, 2-4 A-10) made five saves in a full 60:00.

For the game, Richmond held a 24-12 advantage in shots and commanded 16 of the game's 21 draws while Saint Joseph's posted a 25-23 benefit in ground balls and turned the ball over one less time than the Spiders (19-18).

Saint Joseph's returns home for its regular-season finale this Sunday, April 21. The Hawks will host George Washington in Atlantic 10 action at 1:00 p.m. on Finnesey Field. Prior to the game, graduate student Meghan McDevitt, and seniors Alisha Aquilino, Matthews, and Maggie Mauer will be honored in a Senior Day celebration.