PHILADELPHIA – The best men's lacrosse team in Philadelphia resides on Hawk Hill.
 
Saint Joseph's gritted out an 11-10 win over #17/16 Penn on Tuesday afternoon on Franklin Field, completing a three-game sweep in the last 11 days over Drexel, Villanova and Penn to finish unbeaten on the season against city rivals.
 
The Hawks have won six-consecutive games, moving to 6-2 on the season. Penn dropped its first loss at home this year, falling to 4-4.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The teams traded the first 11 goals of the game, St. Joe's starting out on the front foot after Ryan Bradley intercepted a pass and went the length of the field before finishing cleanly to put the Hawks ahead.
• Penn responded less than a minute later to level the score as the pendulum continued to swing to each side of Franklin Field. Goals from Mark Watters, Collin Campbell and Richie LaCalandra were each countered with a goal from the Quakers as the teams went into the quarter break level at 4-4.
• LaCalandra played creator in a feed to Michael Gaughan from 15 yards out before the hosts once again found an answer within 30 seconds to notch the game at 5-5.
• Ben Dutton took his turn to find the back of the net, LaCalandra tallying the assist yet again, to give the Hawks its sixth lead of the day.
• For the first and only time of the evening, the Hawks scored consecutive goals after Dutton tallied his second of the day in quick succession after a LaCalandra behind-the-back feed before the Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. native took the matter in his own hands for his fifth point of the game with the third-consecutive goal in under three minutes for the Hawks to go up 8-5.
• Penn rallied with the last two goals of the opening half, cutting the deficit to 8-7 as the teams entered the locker room at the break.
• Returning to the pattern of the opening 25 minutes of the contest, each team traded swings of momentum as both defenses tightened up in the second half. More than 10 minutes elapsed in the third quarter before the Hawks struck for their lone goal of the stanza through Braedon Chayes.
• After Penn leveled the score entering the fourth quarter, the Hawks opened the final frame with a goal from Griffin Mallory in an extra-man opportunity to re-establish the two-goal lead.
• Ben Dutton's hat trick gave the Hawks an 11-9 lead with just over three minutes to play before Penn responded to get within one goal once more with 2:06 to play.
• The Quakers won the ensuing faceoff and created two shot attempts in the final two minutes, one hitting the crossbar and the other going wide to give the hosts under 10 seconds to find an equalizer. The defensive pressure from the Hawks forced Penn into a late turnover as time was expiring to stave off the late rally and earn the sixth-consecutive victory in the 11-10 win.

 
 
GAME NOTES

• Ben Dutton has recorded a hat trick in each of his last four games, his fifth of the season in the win over the Quakers. His 22 goals on the season ranks t-6^th most in program history for a freshman.
• Richie LaCalandra added another five-point game on the year, registering 5+ points in each of his last four games. LaCalandra recorded three assists while adding two goals, leading the team in points (27) and assists (14).
• Griffin Mallory has collected points in each of his last four games from midfield, tallying a goal and an assist.
• Carter Truesdell registered his second point of the season, earning his first assist since the season opener.
• Braedon Chayes scored his fourth goal of his debut season for the Crimson and Gray in the win.
• Michael Gaughan scored his fourth goal of the year, the defensive midfielder registering a career-high after scoring three goals in each of the last two seasons.
• Ryan Bradley has scored two pole goals in the last two games after opening his career with 25-consecutive games without a goal.
• Levi Verch added two caused turnovers and two ground balls for his team-leading 21 forced turnovers on the year.
• Conor Trant finished 11-23 from the faceoff with nine ground balls.
• Tommy Gross recorded five saves for his fifth win of the season in the cage.
• Penn held a 33-27 advantage in shots but the Hawks produced a 23-15 margin in shots on goal.
• SJU was perfect (2-2) in extra-man opportunities while finishing 19-20 in clear attempts.
• St. Joe's has now won two games in a row against Penn for the first time in program history. The Hawks are 4-17 all-time against the Quakers. It is the eighth one-score game in series history.

 
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks return home on Saturday, March 22 to host Providence on Sweeney Field. The first faceoff is set for noon.