PHILADELPHIA – Sophomore attackman Kyle Cain ripped off a career-high five goals as the Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team rolled past Manhattan, 16-9, at Sweeney Field on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Hawks improve to 2-0 on the season.
Senior midfielder Kevin Forster added three goals and two assists while sophomore attackman Chris Blewitt chipped in with a goal and four assists as well.
"It's great to be 2-0," said head coach Taylor Wray following the game. "Our guys played hard today. I thought we started the game with a good energy. One of the things we wanted to focus on was winning the ground ball battle, and we did that . . . We have a huge test coming up against St. John's on Wednesday."
The Hawks scored six of the game's first seven goals as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead at the 11:45 mark of the second period, paced by two goals each from sophomore midfielder Davis Stoner and Forster.
Manhattan (0-4) scored its second goal of the half at the 9:54 mark to close to within four goals, 6-2, but SJU strung together a trio of scores from junior midfielder Ray Vandegrift, Forster, and Cain to extend the Hawks' lead to seven goals, 9-2, heading into the halftime break.
The third period saw SJU outscore Manhattan 4-3 to put the score at 13-5 heading into the final period.
Cain scored his fifth goal of the day to start the fourth period (10:37) while Blewitt followed up with a score to put the Hawks up 15-5 heading into the final 8:57.
Manhattan and SJU would each score again from the Jaspers' Chris Sammarro (8:03) and Saint Joseph's sophomore attackman Jason Kelly (4:36), as the Hawks would keep their 10-goal lead heading into the final 4:36 of regulation.
The Jaspers put together a trio of consecutive goals over a span of 43 seconds to pull to within seven, 16-9, by the 3:24 mark, but that score would stand as time expired.
For the game, Manhattan held a slight 34-31 edge in shots while Saint Joseph's dominated in ground balls, 37-14. The Hawks were also 19-21 in clear attempts.
Junior Mike Lanham went 17-for-23 from the X - his second consecutive game with 17 face-off wins - to go with 10 ground balls.
Junior goalkeeper T.J. Jones (2-0) made seven saves and allowed just six goals in 55:25 in net. Sophomore Pat Dallon came in for the final 4:35.
Saint Joseph's will next host St. John's on Wednesday, March 2, at 4:00 p.m.
