LEXINGTON, Va. – The Hawks scored the first five goals of the game and led by four scores or more for the entire 60:00 as the Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team (2-2) defeated VMI (0-4) for its first road win of the season at Drill Field #2 on Wednesday afternoon.
Sophomore attack Mike Rastivo scored a game-high four goals and added an assist while graduate student attack Ryan McGee tallied five points on two goals and a game-high three assists. Seven of SJU's 11 scores were assisted, led by McGee (3A) and sophomore midfielder Anthony Joaquim (2A).
Saint Joseph's fired off 15 shots and held VMI to three in a first period that saw the Hawks take a commanding 6-1 lead. SJU tore off on a 5-0 run, initiated by McGee's tally just 2:03 into the game. McGee would then assist on Rastivo's first goal of the game just over one minute later with 11:52 remaining in the first. Freshman attack Chris Blewitt then registered back-to-back (10:25, 6:07) goals, the second off a helper from McGee, before junior attack Pat Swanick closed out the run with a score at the 5:41 mark. Joaquim assisted on the opening and closing goals of the run.
VMI got on the board with 1:23 to play in the first, but Rastivo scored his second goal of the game on a dish from Blewitt with 12 ticks on the scoreboard to close out the first period.
Neither team scored in the second period as the Hawks took a 6-1 lead over the Keydets into the halftime break.
VMI scored just 1:37 into the third to close its deficit to four goals, 6-2, but sophomore midfielder Ray Vandegrift scored on a helper from Rastivo to extend SJU's lead back to five, 7-2, with 10:40 to go. Rastivo's third score of the game just 1:24 later extended the Hawks' advantage to six before an unassisted goal (3:39) from junior midfielder Bryan Garrahan gave SJU a seven-goal lead - its largest of the game at that point - to close out the third.
The Keydets tacked on another score 3:35 into the fourth, but a VMI pushing penalty at the 8:07 mark presented the Hawks with a man-up situation, and McGee found Rastivo 18 seconds into the EMO to extend SJU's lead back to seven, 10-3.
The final score of the game came from McGee to push SJU's lead out to eight - the biggest of the game - with 1:04 to play, and that score would stand as time expired.
For the game, Saint Joseph's owned a 41-21 advantage in shots, including a 15-3 first period and 11-4 third period; Rastivo (8) and Swanick combined for 15 of SJU's total shots. The Hawks held a 28-23 edge over the Keydets in ground balls and were good for 14 of 15 clear attempts, only failing the final attempt of the game. Saint Joseph's additionally held VMI to just 50% (11-of-22) in clear attempts.
The Hawks only turned the ball over 11 times to match their season-low total of the season.
Sophomore Mike Lanham went 6-of-12 from the X and while senior defenseman Will Farrell grabbed a team-high five ground balls.
Freshman goalkeeper Pat Dallon (1-1) made a career-high 12 saves in the full 60:00 in his first collegiate start in net. The rookie made a combined six stops in the first three periods and saved six shots in the final 15:00.
Saint Joseph's returns to action next Tuesday, March 3 at Drexel. Opening face-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Vidas Field.
