PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team recorded just its third win in program history over #12 Penn on Tuesday evening off the back of a sensational 15-save performance from Tommy Gross on Franklin Field.
 
Entering the series 2-17 all-time against the Quakers, the Hawks recorded its first win over Penn since 2018 in a 12-11 win on Franklin Field, all three wins in the series coming on the road. The win over the Quakers marks the fourth victory in a row on the season, St. Joe's moving above .500 for the first time this year to sit at 4-3 on the campaign. The hosts drop to 5-3 on the season.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hawks struck first as Levi Anderson opened the scoring with a strike in the opening four minutes.
• After the Quakers leveled the score, Matt Bohmer used a strong pick to get past his defender and fire low and away from the goalkeeper before Toron Eccleston found space in the alley to fire home as the Hawks built a 3-1 lead.
• Bohmer double his tally with a wraparound strike before Carter Page entered the score sheet as the senior picked up a ground ball near the goalmouth and tucked in the rebound to force a Penn timeout after building a 5-1 lead.
• Entering the second period with a 5-2 advantage, the Hawks built upon the lead just under six minutes into the frame as Eccleston netted his second of the day after a spin move allowed the midfielder to be able to create distance to fire to the top corner.
• Just a minute later, Mark Watters scored his third goal of the season to push the score to 7-2 in favor of the visitors.
• Eccleston completed his hat trick to help give St. Joe's a five-goal lead headed into the break at 8-3.
• Page increased the lead to a game-high six in the opening minute of the third quarter, Watters grabbing his second goal of the day to restore the advantage midway through the period.
• As both offenses continued to look to get out of first gear out of halftime, it was the Quakers that tallied a 3-0 run that continued halfway through the final quarter.
• Despite the hosts finding more and more of an attack, Tommy Gross thwarted the Penn offense from building any real momentum as the sophomore goalkeeper recorded six of his career-high 15 saves in the final frame to keep the Quakers at bay.
• With Penn narrowing the deficit to three, Page finished off his hat trick after Griffin Mallory delivered his pass on a platter from behind the goal with three minutes remaining.
• The Hawks sealed the game as Anderson broke away from a double team and fired into an empty net with 1:55 on the clock, delivering St. Joe's its fourth victory in as many games.

 
 
GAME NOTES

• Matt Bohmer (126) sits within striking distance of the program record in goals scored, his two strikes on the afternoon pushing him within three of matching assistant coach Mike Rastivo's school record of 129. Bohmer also added an assist on his evening.
• Carter Page has now scored in 34 consecutive games, recording a hat trick to improve on his team-high 19 goals this year. Page moved into third all-time in scoring with 121 goals, surpassing Randy McNeill's mark of 120.
• Toron Eccleston also added a first half hat trick in the win, his second hat trick of the year and fourth game with multiple goals.
• Mark Watters doubled his goal return on the year with two tallies against the Quakers, matching his career-high set earlier this season when finding the net twice against #2 Duke.
• Levi Anderson added two goals in the win and is now tied fourth in program history along with McNeill at 120.
• Jesse Jason's six-game streak with a goal to start his campaign ended, but the redshirt freshman continued his point streak with an assist.
• Gavin Tygh went 13-23 from the face-off, tallying five ground balls on his evening. Levi Verch led the team with six ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.
• Gross moves to 4-0 on the year behind a career-high 15 saves, recording a .682 save percentage in the win.
• The Hawks held a 43-36 advantage in shots and a 28-22 advantage in shots on target. St. Joe's has outshot its opponent in all seven games this year.
• St. Joe's recorded its first win against a ranked program since the 2018 season, when it defeated both #18 Robert Morris and #20 Penn.
• The win is just the fourth win in program history over a ranked foe, all four coming under the tenure of head coach Taylor Wray.

 
 
UP NEXT

• The Hawks wrap up non-conference action with a road trip to Providence on Saturday, March 23 in a noon matchup.