PHILADELPHIA – With a balanced team effort, the Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse squad earned its sixth consecutive win, and third in Northeast Conference action, with a 14-12 victory over Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon on Sweeney Field. With the win, the Hawks improve to 6-3 overall (3-0 NEC) while the Pioneers drop to 5-6 overall (1-3 NEC).

The win sets up a significant NEC showdown with Bryant (6-5, 4-0 NEC) next Saturday.

SJU's starting attack went for seven goals and seven helpers as freshman attackman Shane Fable (team-high 4g, 1a), senior attackman Chris Blewitt (2g, 3a), and graduate student attackman Mike Rastivo (1g, 3a) combined for 14 points on the afternoon and factored into 11 of SJU's 14 scoring plays. Senior midfielder Hayes McGinley added a hat trick while fellow senior midfielders Kyle Cain (2g, 2a) and Jason Kelly (1g, 1a) added scoring efforts out of SJU's starting midfield unit.

Freshman face-off specialist Tyler Green held his own with a 12-of-27 showing from the X while sophomore long stick midfielder Liam Hare turned in three ground balls and a team-high two caused turnovers, which included a string of key plays late in the game.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Mike Adler made 16 saves, including 11 in the first half, to backstop the Hawks to the victory.

"This is an incredible victory today over a really dangerous Sacred Heart team," said head coach Taylor Wray. "I didn't think we were as sharp as we could've been defensively, but a lot of that credit goes to them, because when you make mistakes against that team, they play at a frantic pace and they have some really skilled offensive players that make you pay. Mike Adler with 16 saves today . . . another terrific game from him. I felt like our senior class made some incredible plays down the stretch, whether it was ground balls or execution on man-up. The goal at the end from Chris Blewitt from Mike Rastivo to really put the game out of reach . . . In the end, to win tight games, you need your veteran guys to lead the way, and I thought that we did that today."

Trailing 6-4 at the 6:42 mark of the second quarter, Sacred Heart fired off four unanswered goals to take an 8-6 lead into the 7:55 mark of the third.

However, Saint Joseph's responded with an unanswered, four-goal run of its own as Cain (6:46), Fable (6:27), and Rastivo (5:59) scored in a 47-second span (6:46, 6:27, 5:59) and Fable closed the third quarter with a score on SJU's second consecutive feed from senior long stick midfielder Austin Smith to put the Hawks ahead by two, 10-8, entering the final 15:00 of regulation.

The Pioneers ripped off two in a row (11:53, 9:23) to equalize the score, 10-10, early in the fourth quarter.

Cain then drew a 30-second Sacred Heart penalty after being pushed into the crease, and with 10 seconds remaining on the EMO, McGinley found Cain for the go-ahead score, 11-10, with 7:08 to play.

Sacred Heart's Joe Saggese netted the 11-11 equalizer for the Pioneers with 6:13 to play, but Fable (assisted by Cain) and McGinley (assisted by Blewitt) ripped off a pair (4:49, 3:47) to give the Hawks a slight two-goal cushion entering the final minutes.

Saggese scored his fourth of the day with 3:20 to play to pull the Pioneers to within one, 13-12.

Sacred Heart won the following face-off possession, but Hare forced a Pioneer turnover and gobbled up the ground ball to give possession back to the Hawks. Following a successful clear attempt, the Hawks were hit with a 30-second shot clock warning with 1:23 to play; just 22 seconds later, Rastivo found Blewitt for the clutch goal that would put the Hawks back ahead by two entering the final 61 seconds of play.

Green won his 12th face-off of the day and Smith scooped up the ground ball with less than a minute to play, and the Hawks killed the clock for the 14-12 final.

For the game, Sacred Heart fired off 55 shots compared to SJU's 27 and owned a 37-28 edge in ground balls to go with 17 of 30 possessions from the X. Green turned in a team-high seven ground balls from the X, while Smith (4) and senior short stick defensive midfielder Davis Stoner (5) combined for nine ground balls.

"I'm really happy to be where we are, at 3-0 in the league," added Wray. "We have a huge game coming up against Bryant on our Alumni and Family Day. We hope to see a big crowd there."

Saint Joseph's will host Bryant this Saturday, April 14. Opening face-off is set for 1:00 p.m. on Sweeney Field. In conjunction with the game, the Hawks will host SJU Men's Lacrosse Alumnae and Family Day. Registration can be made online by visiting alumni.sju.edu/mlax. For more information, contact Christina Henderson at 610-660-3280 or chenders@sju.edu.