NEWARK, Del. – Trailing 9-1 after the opening 12:45, the Crimson and Gray stormed back to outscore the Blue Hens 13-7 in the final 42:15, but the Hawks' comeback attempt came up just short as the Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse squad (0-2) fell to Delaware (2-1), 16-13, at Delaware Stadium on Tuesday evening.

"Credit to Delaware," said head coach Taylor Wray following the game. "They came out ready to play, and we didn't. I need to find a way to make sure our team is ready to play from the first whistle. We were slow to start at Towson, as well. It is something that needs to be addressed in practice each day. I've gotten text messages from friends and supporters of the program complimenting us for fighting hard and trying to mount a comeback, and while I'm pleased that our team fought hard, that is the minimum expectation . . . The issues have nothing to do with effort on game day, but more to do with being mentally prepared and with decision-making during the game. You can't dig yourself the type of hole we dug today and expect to come out on top."

Saint Joseph's face-off specialist Zach Cole went 72 percent from the X, winning 22 possessions in 32 attempts for just two wins shy of his single-game career high for face-off wins (24 at St. Bonaventure, Feb. 2019). Cole went 15-of-21 in the first half, which included a 10-of-12 second quarter, and 7-of-11 in the second half and scrapped for 14 total ground balls to pace the Hawks in the comeback attempt.

Sophomore attackmen Matt Bohmer (team-high 4G) and Levi Anderson (3G, 1A) led the Hawks on the offensive end with four points apiece while senior midfielder Austin Strazzulla added a pair of unassisted scores.

Graduate student goalkeeper Jack Zullo (0-2) made six saves vs. 12 goals allowed throughout the first quarter (full 15:00), third quarter (full 15:00), and fourth quarter (first 12:00). Senior goalkeeper Tucker Almany saw time in the second quarter (full 15:00) and fourth quarter (final 3:00).

Mike Robinson put away nine goals for the Blue Hens.

How It Happened
Q1 – Delaware scored seven goals on 16 shots and held the Crimson and Gray to just one score, junior midfielder Tucker Brown's first goal as a Hawk (8:11), to take a 7-1 advantage through the opening 15:00.

Q2 – The Blue Hens tacked on two more to open the second quarter and extend their lead by eight, 9-1, at the 12:43 mark before the Hawks went on a 5-1 run to close their deficit to four, 10-6, at the 4:39 mark on two goals from Anderson (12:15, 5:10) and three goals from Bohmer (11:32, 6:56, 4:29). Delaware responded with two more goals to close the half, but Strazzulla converted 15 seconds into an EMO to keep the Hawks within four, 12-7, at the halftime break. SJU outshot Delaware 23-8 (15-5 shots on goal) in the second quarter in big part due to Cole's 10-of-12 performance from the X.

Q3 & Q4 – Delaware scored first in the third quarter (9:41) to go back up by six, 13-7, but SJU went on a 3-0 run as senior attackman Matt Tufano (6:40) and Strazzulla (2:16) closed the third and Anderson (11:02) opened the fourth to inch to within three, 13-10, with just over 11 minutes remaining in regulation. From there, the Blue Hens scored three of the game's next four goals - with Bohmer's fourth (7:04) sandwiched in between - to take a convincing 16-11 advantage into the final 4:09. The Hawks tacked on two more in the final seconds on goals from senior long stick midfielder Sean Voelkel (:37) and senior midfielder Evan Campbell (:01).

Behind the Box Score
• Cole has now racked up 306 career face-off wins and 199 career ground balls through 21 career games to move into second on SJU's list for face-off wins (dating back to 2004) and fourth on SJU's all-time list for ground balls, surpassing Joe O'Donnell '00 and Marc Reynolds '05.
• Campbell made his first start of the season on the first midfield line.
• Almany, senior face-off specialist Billy Jardeleza, and sophomore long stick midfielder James Peters made their season debuts.