RICHMOND, Va. – The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team defended its title from a year ago, finishing an unblemished conference record after defeating Richmond in a 10-9 heavyweight bout as the Hawks were crowned A-10 regular season champions on Saturday evening.
 
St. Joe's earned the top seed at the Atlantic 10 Tournament next week, securing the top spot with its 10^th win in a row to move to 10-3 (5-0 Atlantic 10). Richmond settles for second for consecutive seasons, falling to 9-5 (4-1 Atlantic 10).
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Mark Watters opened the scoring just three minutes into the contest, dancing around the crease before being shoved into as he finished past the goalkeeper to give the Hawks an early lead on the road.
• The Spiders responded with a goal of their own with under six minutes to play, but neither team were able to generate any more offense as the teams held for a 1-1 tie after the opening 15 minutes.
• Richmond took its first lead of the game before Griffin Mallory was able to slap a Spider midfielder's stick out of his hand, picking up the ground ball and finding Levi Anderson in transition. Anderson dumped a pass into Carter Page, who finished from close range to equalize at 2-2.
• Taking advantage of an extra man, Jesse Jason fired to Matt Bohmer near the crease as the graduate student tucked home before being pushed into the goalmouth, giving the Hawks another one-goal lead.
• The Spiders tied the game with under two seconds remaining in the half as both teams headed to the locker room squared at 3-3.
• Richmond built its lead to as many as 6-3 in the third quarter before Watters added his second goal of the game to cut the Spider run.
• After forcing a turnover in the closing seconds of the third, Levi Verch found Page who twisted and contorted his body to get off a last second shot, the ball finding the back of the net with under a second on the clock to cut the deficit to one heading into the final quarter.
• The Hawks tied the game just seconds into the fourth, Alex Keener picking up a loose ball before taking on a defender as his shot buried into the netting to level the score.
• Page added another as momentum shifted, Colin Campbell finding the senior wide open near the crease to slot home his third of the day and give the Hawks an advantage.
• The Peterborough, Ontario native made it four for his afternoon just minutes later, again beneficiary of an incisive run from Anderson, darting towards the alley before rippling the net again.
• Anderson grabbed his second assist in less than a minute just 40 seconds later, sprinting down the alley before firing to Toron Eccleston, the pass catching the defense sleeping as the midfielder scored to give the Hawks the biggest lead of the afternoon.
• Richmond would grab a pair of goals to reduce the margin, but Bohmer produced an effort from range that fizzed by the goalkeeper and extended the advantage back to two.
• The Spiders grabbed a goal with under four minutes to play and had the last shot of the game to tie the contest, giving it to their top attacker in Dalton Young. Liam Quinn matched the assignment, physical with the attackman over the final seven seconds as the half-attempt mustered from Young comfortably found the netting of Tommy Gross as time expired to give the Hawks the 10-9 victory.

 
 
GAME NOTES

• The Hawks have now won 25 consecutive conference games, winning the Atlantic 10 regular season with an unblemished 5-0 record. St. Joe's have been back-to-back champions of the conference since it introduced men's lacrosse in 2023.
• St. Joe's is on a 10-game win streak, the longest winning streak in the country.
• Carter Page led the Hawks with four goals on the day, moving his season tally to 33 goals. Page also moved to 40 consecutive games with a goal, the third-longest active streak in the country.
• Matt Bohmer added two goals, leading the team with 34 on the season. Bohmer has now scored 146 career goals and moves to 208 career points.
• Mark Watters notched his third game of the year with two goals, adding his tallies with just four shots on the day.
• Levi Anderson added four assists on the afternoon, a season high. His 78 career assists now rank him fifth in proram history, two shy of fourth.
• Toron Eccleston and Alex Keener each added a goal apiece, Keener's first of the season and just the fifth of his career.
• Gavin Tygh produced a 12-21 effort from the face-off, leading the team with 10 ground balls.
• Four different Hawks produced multiple Spider turnovers; Patrick Clemens, Levi Verch, Gunnar Bogorowski and Ryan Bradley.
• Tommy Gross recorded his ninth win of the year in the net, adding eight saves with a .471 save percentage.
• St. Joe's outshot the Spiders by a 39-33 margin, just a 19-17 advantage in shots on goal.
• The Hawks were 17-18 in clears, forcing seven failed clears for Richmond on 24 attempts.
• St. Joe's recorded its third consecutive season with 10+ wins.
• The Hawks are now 3-1 all-time against Richmond, moving to 1-1 on the road.
• The 10 goals is the fewest scored in a win since a 9-7 victory over Merrimack on March 20, 2021.

 
 
UP NEXT

• The Hawks take the top seed into the Atlantic 10 Tournament, facing #4 UMass in the semifinals. The 2024 Atlantic 10 Tournament is being hosted by the Minutemen, with the matchup between the two set for Thursday, April 2 in a 3 p.m. contest.