PHILADELPHIA – Saint Joseph's never trailed in its contest against #25 UConn, staving off a late comeback attempt from the Huskies to earn a 11-10 victory Friday afternoon on Sweeney Field.
 
The win gave St. Joe's its first of the season, moving to 1-2 on the year while dropping UConn to 0-3 to start its campaign. The victory was the fifth in program history against a ranked team, the fourth consecutive season knocking off a nationally ranked opponent.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Sarah Groark opened the scoring for the Hawks, connecting on her first strike of the season. Maddie Yoder finished on a Lisa Ross assist, giving the Hawks a quick 2-0 lead in nearly two minutes. Neither team found the back of the net over the remainder of the opening quarter.
• Ross turned from provider to scorer in the second, pushing the early St. Joe's lead to 3-0.
• After UConn opened its account a minute later, the Hawks used goals from Alexa Capozzoli and Ross once more to grow a 5-1 advantage.
• The visitors scored three unanswered to cut the deficit to one, but Ross tallied her first half hat trick with a goal with 10 seconds remaining on the clock as St. Joe's entered the break leading 6-4.
• On the other end of the half, Kate Fuhrman and Maddie Yoder led St. Joe's to three goals start the half, making it four unanswered strikes from the Hawks to hold a game-high five-goal lead.
• The Huskies slowly built their way back into the game, outscoring the Hawks 5-1 over a 10 minute span that pushed into the fourth quarter and cutting the deficit to 10-9 with under 12 minutes to play.
• An immediate response came through Megan Sanelli, the freshman recording her first goal of her career to give the Hawks a two-goal cushion.
• UConn answered back two minutes later, scoring with 8:02 on the clock to once again put pressure on St. Joe's.
• The Hawk defense answered to its task, holding the Huskies off the board for the next eight minutes. A flurry of chances from the visitors happened in the final two minutes, Jorden Concordia standing tall as she did all game with her 18^th save of the afternoon coming with 30 seconds remaining.
• The senior jumped on the ground ball as the Hawks were able to run out the clock and escape in an 11-10 thriller.

 
GAME NOTES

• Jorden Concordia finished one save shy of her career-high, saving 18 shots on the afternoon. Concordia tallied a .643 save percentage, having tallied at least 15 saves in all three of her games this season.
• Lisa Ross matched her career-high in points (7), tying for a career-high in goals (4) while adding three assists on the afternoon.
• Maddie Yoder also populated the score sheet with three goals on the afternoon and a team-high five draw controls.
• Sarah Groark and Alexa Capozzoli each finished with a goal and an assist, while Kate Fuhrman and Megan Sanelli each added a goal on the afternoon.
• The Hawks were outshot 44-29, including a 28-20 advantage for the Huskies in shots on goal. An evenly matched battle on the draws saw St. Joe's edge UConn 12-11 on the afternoon.
• All five wins against ranked teams in program history have come in the last four seasons

 
UP NEXT
The Hawks return to action for the first road game of the season, taking on Villanova on Wednesday, February 28. First draw is slated for 1 p.m.