PHILADELPHIA – Drexel's Matthew Varian scored the game-winning, buzzer-beater goal as the Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team dropped a 10-9 heartbreaker to the Dragons on Saturday afternoon on Sweeney Field. The loss gives the Hawks (3-1) just their first of the season while Drexel improves to 1-3.
Sophomore attackman Chris Blewitt scored three goals for the Crimson and Gray while junior attackman Mike Rastivo and senior midfielder Kevin Forster added one goal and two assists apiece. Junior face-off specialist Danny Manning won a career-high 18 wins in 22 opportunities from the X.
With 1:32 remaining in regulation, Manning won his career-best 18th face-off possession of the day, and sophomore defenseman Austin Smith scooped up his career-best fifth ground ball of the game to give the Hawks the offensive advantage.
However, SJU would turn the ball over with 41 seconds to play, and after a pair of blocked shots (:17, :10) from the Dragons, Varian found the back of the net as time expired to give the Dragons the victory.
Tied 4-4 at halftime, Drexel scored a pair (9:35, 8:29) to jump out to a 6-4 edge to start the third period, but the Hawks responded with five straight to earn a 9-6 advantage heading into the final 9:52 of regulation.
Forster factored into the first three of those goals as he assisted on sophomore midfielder Kevin Reidinger's score (3rd, 5:58), scored an unassisted goal (3rd, 1:50), and assisted on Blewitt's third of the day (4th, 14:10). Rastivo followed up with a goal at the 12:51 mark of the fourth period before redshirt sophomore midfielder Hayes McGinley put away his first goal as a member of the Crimson and Gray at the 9:52 mark.
Drexel answered the run as Joe Rainoldi (6:16) and Varian (5:52) scored within 24 seconds of one another to close to within one score.
13 seconds into a 30-second clock warning, the Hawks turned the ball over to give the Dragons possession back with 2:01 to play. Out of a timeout, Rainoldi netted Drexel's equalizer with 1:32 remaining in regulation to bring the score to an even 9-9.
For the game, Saint Joseph's owned a 42-33 advantage in shots and 31-27 edge in ground balls to go with a dominant 18-of-22 face-off possessions from Manning. Smith added five ground balls while junior midfielder Anthony Joaquim contributed four ground balls and a team-high three caused turnovers.
Junior goalkeeper T.J. Jones (3-1) made nine saves in the full 60:00.
Drexel's Rainoldi kicked off the game's scoring at the 11:04 mark of the first period, but Blewitt netted a goal during a 30 second clock warning to even the score, 1-1, at the 9:22 mark.
The Dragons then scored back-to-back goals (7:09, 5:12) to jump ahead, 3-1, but Rastivo found Blewitt with 4:05 to play in the first to close SJU's deficit to one goal, 3-2, heading into the second period.
Drexel's Robert Frazee extended the Dragon's lead, 4-2, with a goal at the 13:58 mark, but Smith netted his first collegiate goal to keep the Hawks to within one, 4-3, with 11:38 to play.
With just nine ticks remaining on the clock before the halftime break, Rastivo found sophomore attackman Kyle Cain, who put away the 4-4 equalizer to close the first half.
Saint Joseph's returns to action this Tuesday, March 8 at Virginia, currently ranked 17th in this week's national poll. Opening face-off at Klöckner Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
