PHILADELPHIA – Momentum shifted back and forth throughout Wednesday afternoon's matchup with #17 Navy before Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse overcame a five-goal deficit at the end of the third quarter to knock off its second ranked foe of the season in a 14-13 comeback win on a rainsoaked Sweeney Field.
 
The Hawks led by as many as four goals in the first half before the Midshipmen used an 11-2 run, holding the Hawks scoreless in the third quarter, to take a 12-7 advantage into the final frame. With the comeback victory, the Hawks move to 5-5 on the season while Navy falls to 8-3 on the year.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• St. Joe's scored early and often after an initial strike from Navy gave the visitors an opening lead, Emma O'Neill countering that with a goal from a free position attempt inside of two minutes.
• Sarah Groark scored two of the next three goals, Maddie Yoder also getting involved off a rebound a putback to put the Hawks up 4-1 at the media timeout.
• Kate Fuhrman completed a 5-0 run from the Hawks off of Alexa Capozzoli's third assist of the quarter, opening to as many as a four-goal lead in the early stages before a pair of Midshipmen goals in the final 90 seconds of the opening quarter cut the SJU lead to 5-3.
• As conditions worsened with a steady rain entering the area, the visitors opened the second frame with a pair of goals on the other side of the break to extend the four-goal run, eliminating the Hawk lead.
• Fuhrman's second tally of the game after a Lisa Ross feed found her wide open near the goalmouth pushed the Hawks back in front, but only momentarily as Navy found a response moments later.
• Bonnie Yu drove past her defender into open space to tuck away her first goal of the game, giving the Hawks a halftime lead at 7-6.
• Out of the locker room and into the second half, Navy would hold the Hawks scoreless as it piled on six goals over the third quarter to grow a 12-7 lead, looking to create breathing space en route to its ninth win of the season.
• The Hawks had other ideas, as Groark completed her hat trick to take advantage of a player-up opportunity to find the back of the net and lead a charge.
• Capozzoli, who played provider for most of the game, called her own number after picking up a ground ball off a shot attempt, wheeling around to face goal and tucking it to the top right corner for her only goal of the game.
• A goal from O'Neill drew the Hawks within two, forcing the Midshipmen into a timeout with just under 12 minutes on the clock.
• Navy drew a response from its timeout, extended its advantage to 13-10 before being quickly countered by two goals in 40 seconds from Yoder and Yu.
• With under six minutes to play, Yoder duplicated her success from the free position just moments prior, adding her second from eight meters out and her third of the game to eliminate the deficit.
• Notched at 13-13, the Hawks once again found its offense as it had all day through the stick of Capozzoli. The sophomore backed down her defender before finding a cutting Fuhrman, who cleanly caught the pass and tucked it beyond the Navy goalkeeper to put the Hawks in front for the first time since the opening minutes of the half.
• Navy had the final chance of the game, finding room for a shot before being denied by St. Joe's standout goalkeeper Jorden Concordia as the Tewaaraton Award watch list selection proved her mettle to deny the shot. The ground ball was fended off and recovered by the Midshipmen, but Bella Miceli forced a turnover from the visitors after taking a charge to earn possession for the Hawks with under a minute to play.
• St. Joe's was able to fend off the pressure within its own half, coolly running out the clock before the entire bench cleared as time expired to celebrate its second win over a ranked program of the season in a 14-13 dramatic comeback win.

 
 
GAME NOTES

• Alexa Capozzoli led the Hawks with six points, including a career-high five assists to help pace the Hawk attack.
• Three different Hawks recorded hat tricks, including a hat trick from Sarah Groark. Groark was on the receiving end of three of the five Capozzoli assists, earning just her second hat trick of the season.
• Maddie Yoder also earned three goals on the year, two of her three helping spark the fourth quarter comeback including the tying goal from the free position attempt with under six minutes to play. Yoder leads all Hawk scorers with 23 strikes on the year.
• Sophomore Kate Fuhrman was the last to complete the hat trick, doing so with just over three minutes to play as Fuhrman recorded her first game-winning goal of the season and just the second of her career. Fuhrman sits just one goal shy of Yoder's team-setting pace with 22 goals on her season.
• Bonnie Yu added two goals on her afternoon, drawing her to within one point shy of her 100^th of her career. Yu also tied with a team-high two caused turnovers and helped the Hawks to six draw controls.
• Emma O'Neill added two goals to her afternoon for her third multiple goal game from the midfield.
• Jorden Concordia continues her strong campaign with another double-digit save effort, recording 10 saves on the afternoon on a .435 save percentage.
• The Hawks fought against a small 33-27 shot advantage in favor of the Midshipmen, including a 23-21 effort in shots on goal from Navy.
• Navy more than doubled St. Joe's in draw controls (21-10), but the Hawks used a 7-2 advantage in the fourth quarter to help spark its comeback.
• St. Joe's has now six games against ranked teams with the win over #17 Navy, its second win of the season against a ranked opponent after beating #25 UConn earlier this year.
• The two wins over ranked teams is just the second time in program history that the Hawks recorded multiple ranked wins, 2022 the only other year it has happened after defeating #18 Richmond and #13 UMass on the way to an A-10 Championship.
• All six wins against ranked teams have come since 2021, all under the direction of head coach Alex Kahoe. Kahoe earned her 91^st win of her career after setting the program record in the win over George Washington.
• The Hawks move to 2-3 all-time against Navy, including a one-goal decider in the 2022 season against a Midshipmen team that was receiving votes in the poll. Three of the five games in the series have been decided by one goal.
• Two of the three defeats on the season for the Midshipmen have come against Philly foes, Drexel also defeating Navy earlier this year.

 
 
UP NEXT
St. Joe's returns to the Atlantic 10 for a lacrosse doubleheader on Sweeney Field, the women the second half of the action with a matchup against crosstown rivals La Salle on Saturday, March 30. First draw is slated for 3:30 p.m.