PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team opened postseason play with a 16-12 win over VCU in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon, advancing to the semifinals for the sixth consecutive season.
 
St. Joe's moves to an 11-6 record, VCU ends its season at 5-13.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Sarah Groark opened the scoring for the Hawks, converting from a free-position opportunity to get the Hawks on the board just over four minutes into the game.
• After VCU responded with a goal of its own, Groark tallied her second of the game with a finish from an Alexa Capozzoli assist.
• Kate Fuhrman added her first goal in her return to the starting lineup before Emma O'Neill finished off a 3-0 run in three minutes for St. Joe's.
• Olivia McCloskey grabbed her fifth goal in the last three games, also tallying from the eight-meter spot to counter a Ram goal to give the Hawks a 5-2 lead after the opening quarter.
• It was the Maddie Yoder show in the second quarter, the junior starting and finishing the scoring for the Hawks.
• Yoder weaved through traffic to score her first of the game, Lisa Ross getting on the score sheet in between a pair of Yoder free position goals to help St. Joe's outscore VCU by one to take a 9-5 lead at the break.
• Bonnie Yu notched her first goal of the day to break up a pair of VCU goals in the first five minutes of the second half.
• The Hawk defense locked down the remainder of the third quarter, Capozzoli and Groark adding goals to help build a 12-7 lead heading into the final frame.
• The Rams looked to charge back into the game, scoring three of the first four goals in the opening four minutes to cut the deficit to three.
• O'Neill found room downhill and sped past her defender to get the Hawks back on the board minutes later, followed by a solo effort from Yu extended the advantage back to five.
• O'Neill capped off the game with a hat trick with under a minute remaining to help the Hawks earn a spot in the semifinals, tallying a 16-12 win on Rooney Field.

 
 
GAME NOTES

• Maddie Yoder paced the Hawks with a team-high four goals, taking 11 shots on the afternoon. Yoder also tallied a pair of caused turnovers, four draw controls and a ground ball.
• Sarah Groark recorded a hat trick, her sixth on the season and third in as many games.
• Emma O'Neill also added three goals, coming on just three shots for a 1.000 shot percentage.
• Bonnie Yu was the last of the four Hawks that scored multiple goals, finishing twice to go with an assist.
• Lisa Ross added a goal and an assist to move to 62 points on the year. Ross' 41 assists is one shy of second-most in single-season history at St. Joe's.
• Alexa Capozzoli moved up in that same category, her two assists giving her 32 on the season to fifth-most in program history.
• Bella Micelli added a pair of caused turnovers, while Sophie Stanislawczyk posted a caused turnover with four ground balls.
• In the net, Jorden Concordia added 11 saves, moving her past last year's season tally and into third with 187 on the year.
• VCU held a marginal advantage in shots with a 35-34 advantage, while the Hawks recorded a 24-23 margin in shots on goal.
• St. Joe's was 7-9 in free-position shots compared to just 1-9 for VCU.
• The Hawks are now 8-1 against the Rams in series history.

 
 
UP NEXT
St. Joe's moves to the Atlantic 10 semifinals, taking on #1 UMass at noon on Friday, May 3. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.