PHILADELPHIA – Sophomore attackman Chris Blewitt scored the game-winning goal with 1:46 left in overtime to send the Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team to a 10-9 win over Bryant in Northeast Conference action on Sweeney Field on Saturday afternoon. With their sixth straight win, the Hawks improve to a program-best 9-2 overall (4-0 NEC) while Bryant falls to 7-4 overall (2-1 NEC). The victory moves Saint Joseph's into first place in the NEC.
The Bulldogs led 9-8 with 43 seconds remaining in regulation when Saint Joseph's junior goalkeeper T.J. Jones (9-2, 4-0 NEC) made his 14th save of the day to keep the game at a one-goal differential.
After a successful clear and subsequent timeout with 10 seconds to play, sophomore attackman Kyle Cain found attackman Mike Rastivo for the junior's sixth goal of the game and 100th of his career to force the game into overtime.
Saint Joseph's won the overtime face-off possession but turned the ball over, allowing Bryant to clear. However, junior midfielder Anthony Joaquim stripped Bryant's Tom Kennedy of the ball and scooped up the ground ball to regain possession for the Hawks.
Once in their offensive third, Cain would once again dish out a game-changing pass, this time to Blewitt, for the game-winner.
"What a game," said head coach Taylor Wray following the win. "I'm speechless right now. Their guys really jumped on us early. They play really fast, and unless you see that every day, it's hard to get used to the transition game that they play. We battled right back . . . There were some unbelievable clutch plays made by guys on both teams . . . Danny Manning really battled at the face-off X and T.J. Jones made 14 saves. The feed from Kyle Cain to Chris Blewitt for the game-winner was spot on. There was great execution on the things that we put in the huddle both at the end of regulation and overtime. I'm really proud of our guys."
Bryant had jumped out to an early lead, scoring three straight goals over the first 3:58 en route to a 4-1 advantage after the first quarter.
The Hawks battled back to outscore the Bulldogs 3-1 in the second quarter to trail by just one goal, 5-4, heading into the halftime break. Rastivo scored three of SJU's four first-half goals.
Senior midfielder Kevin Forster scored at the 13:53 mark of the third quarter to tie the score, 5-5, and junior defenseman Connor Kubikowski was the difference-maker in putting the Hawks ahead. Kubikowski battled for the ground ball to win possession for the Hawks on the ensuing face-off and tore down the field to fire off his first collegiate goal, which put the Crimson and Gray ahead, 6-5, with 13:27 to play in the third.
Bryant would score back-to-back goals (11:16, 3:10) to close out the third quarter with a 7-6 lead.
Rastivo scored just 2:08 into the fourth quarter to tie it back up, 7-7, and neither team would score again for exactly seven minutes before Rastivo put away his fifth goal of the game with 5:52 remaining in regulation to give the Hawks the 8-7 edge.
Bryant scored twice over a span of 1:13 (3:23, 2:10) to own a 9-8 lead entering the final minutes, leading to Rastivo's equalizer with 10 ticks on the scoreboard to send the game into overtime.
For the game, Bryant outshot Saint Joseph's (40-28) and won the ground ball battle (30-26), although the Hawks earned all three ground balls of the overtime period. The Bulldogs won 14 of 22 face-off opportunities on the day.
SJU went 1-of-9 from the X before junior face-off specialist Danny Manning came in to win seven of the final 13 face-off oportunities for the Crimson and Gray.
Kubikowski and sophomore defenseman Austin Smith recorded a team-best four ground balls apiece while sophomore midfielder Davis Stoner earned three ground balls and a team-best three caused turnovers on the day. Starting defenseman Shane Taggert earned three ground balls and two caused turnovers while Joaquim added three ground balls.
Jones made 14 saves in the full 62:14.
Saint Joseph's returns to action at Robert Morris next Saturday, April 23. Opening face-off in Moon Township, Pa. is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Junior attackman Mike Rastivo passed Jeff Baxter (1997-00) and Drew Foley (1994-97) to move into sixth on SJU's all-time career goals list.
