FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse squad picked up a 13-9 road win over Sacred Heart in Northeast Conference action at Campus Field on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Hawks improve to 2-3 overall and move to 2-0 in the NEC while the Pioneers fall to 1-5 (0-2 NEC).

"Sacred Heart gave us everything we could handle," said head coach Taylor Wray following the victory. "They are a tough and gritty team, and to travel up there in a day and come away with a win is no easy task. Overall, I was pleased with how our team played. There are still little mistakes that we need to clean up all over the field, but today was definitely a step forward for us."

Senior goalkeeper Tucker Almany (2-0, 2-0 NEC) was the star for the Crimson and Gray, making 14 saves (seven in each half) vs. nine goals allowed in the full 60:00 for his second career win.

"Tucker was very good between the pipes and closed the door when we needed him to," said Wray of his netminder. "He made some exceptional stops. Defensively, we played with some physicality and a little more grit than we'd seen so far this season. Logan [Blondell] (2gbs) is really starting to emerge as a high-end close defenseman for us; his leadership and the vocal presence has been great to see."

Sophomore attackman Matt Bohmer (3g, 2a), junior attackman Ryan Doran (3g, 1a), and sophomore attackman Levi Anderson (3g) each recorded a hat trick while junior face-off specialist Zach Cole went 14-of-22 from the X.

"Offensively, we shared the ball and had a lot of good looks," added Wray. "I like the way our seniors on the first line are playing together. Evan [Campbell], Shane [Fable], and Austin [Strazzulla] are going to get better and better as the season moves forward. We are also starting to see what Tucker [Brown] is capable of doing at that end as he is playing a little more determined and confident."

How It Happened
First Half – Anderson (1Q, 12:33) and junior midfielder Tucker Brown (1Q, 9:32) opened the scoring with back-to-back SJU goals before Sacred Heart tacked on a pair to tie it up, 2-2, with 24 ticks to go in the first quarter.

From there, the Hawks went on a 5-0 run as Bohmer (1Q, :03), Anderson (2Q, 11:30), and Bohmer again (2Q, 9:27) hit the back of the net on unassisted scores and senior attackman Matt Tufano scored twice in a 12-second span on a man-up feed from Doran (2Q, 7:27) and a dish from Ritter (2Q, 7:15).

Sacred Heart scored three of the game's next fourl goals to close to within three, 8-5, with 2:04 left in the second quarter, but Anderson completed his first-half hat trick with 52 ticks to play to send the Hawks into the locker room with a four-goal lead, 9-5.

Second Half – Sacred Heart inched back to within two scores with two quick goals to start the third. However, the Hawks got the response they needed with a 4-0 run on goals from Doran (3Q, 6:24), Bohmer (Q3, 3:58, assisted by Fable), Doran again (3Q, 2:42), and Fable (4Q, 13:56, assisted by Bohmer) to deflate any and all SHU comeback attempts en route to the eventual 13-9 final.

Behind the Box Score
• Fifth-year close defenseman Tyler Makar made his season debut.

"It was awesome to have Tyler back out there for the first time this year," added Wray of his captain. "Getting him some game minutes and back into the swing of things is really going to tighten up our defense.

• Fifth-year defenseman Liam Hare scrapped for four ground balls, while Almany, Doran, and sophomore close defenseman Patrick Clemens were good for three apiece; Clemens also forced two turnovers on SHU's offense.

• The Hawks held the Pioneers to 1-of-7 in extra man opportunities.