PHILADELPHIA – Junior standout Zach Cole went 18-of-19 from the X and the Hawks outscored the Warriors 8-3 in the second half as the Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse squad earned a 9-7, come-from-behind Northeast Conference victory over Merrimack in the Crimson and Gray's 2021 home opener at Sweeney Field on Saturday afternoon. With their third consecutive win, the Hawks even out at 3-3 (3-0 NEC) while the Warriors fall to 2-3 (1-2 NEC).

The first face-off of the game went out of bounds, in favor of Merrimack. Following that play, Cole won the remaining 18 face-off opportunities of the day and scrapped for 14 ground balls to lead the way for SJU.

Senior attackman Matt Tufano (2g, 3a) led the offense with five points, followed by junior attackman Ryan Doran's one-goal, two-assist performance and a hat trick from sophomore attackman Levi Anderson. Sophomore attackman Matt Bohmer hit the back of the net twice while junior midfielder Tucker Brown added the other goal for the Crimson and Gray.

Senior goalkeeper Tucker Almany (3-0, 3-0 NEC) made eight saves - five in the first half and three in the second - in the full 60:00 for his third collegiate win in net. Alongside Almany on the defensive end, fifth-year long stick midfielder Liam Hare scooped up four ground balls while junior short stick defensive midfielders Cole Peters and Adam Ritter and sophomore close defenseman Patrick Clemens went for three ground balls and two caused turnovers apiece.

How It Happened
Q1 & Q2 – Merrimack's Grant Laman (Q1, 12:34) got the Warriors on the board first before Tufano found Anderson for the man-up equalizer just 71 seconds later (Q1, 11:23). Merrimack then scored three more times on a pair of EMO opportunities (Q1, 2:42 and Q2, 8:56) and Jack Rooney's second of the game (Q2, 3:22) to take a 4-1 edge into the halftime break. Despite the Hawks landing nine of their 17 total shots on goal in the first half, Merrimack goalkeeper Henry Vogt made eight saves to keep SJU at a three-goal distance through the opening 30:00.

Q3 – The Hawks came out of the halftime break on fire, scoring three consecutive goals in a 111-second span as Bohmer scored an unassisted goal (Q3, 14:02) before Doran fed Brown (Q3, 13:10) and Tufano (Q3, 12:21) to equalize, 4-4. Laman responded with his second of the game for the Warriors (Q3, 5:42) before Anderson completed his hat trick with back-to-back goals (Q3, 4:36, assisted by Tufano and Q3, 1:54) to put the Hawks ahead by one, 6-5, entering the fourth. 

Q4 – Merrimack scored two of the first three goals of the fourth (Q4, 12:45 and Q4, 7:47), with a Tufano goal sandwiched in between (Q4, 9:13, assisted by Ritter) to equalize, 7-7, midway through the final quarter. However, Doran (Q4, 7:06) and Bohmer (Q4, 2:37, assisted by Tufano) scored the go-ahead and security goals en route to the victory.