Second-Half Surge Sends Blue Jays Past Saints, 12-5

BOSTON, Mass. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's lacrosse team kept its foot on the gas pedal, pulling away in the second half en route to a 12-5 victory in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest with Emmanuel College (EC), at Roberto Clemente Field Tuesday night. 

Saint Joseph was led by senior attackman and captain Owen LaPorte (Farmington, Conn.), who equaled the entire Emmanuel team with five goals. His 26 goals is now third best in the conference. Sophomore attackman Noah Mocksfield (Colchester, Conn.) was not far behind with three as well. Five different Saints scored a goal each for Emmanuel, which was shut down by the tenacious zone defense of USJ in the second half.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Saint Joseph 12, Emmanuel 5
Records: USJ (4-4, 3-3 GNAC), EC (2-5, 2-4 GNAC)
Location: Roberto Clemente Field | Boston, Mass.

COACH QUOTE [Andrew Fink]
"It was a great team effort tonight. Owen [LaPorte] stepped up big time putting it in the back of the net. Our zone defense was amazing. Guys ran super hard...a total team effort."

KEY MOMENTS

• The Saints struck first with a goal by junior Jack Tierney (South Portland, Maine) to take a 1-0 lead, but the Blue Jays cashed in on a three-minute locked-in equipment penalty late in the quarter, scoring three straight man-up goals. LaPorte and Mocksfield found the back of the net during the surge. The team would never trail again.
• Mocksfield opened the scoring in the second quarter with USJ's fourth straight man-up score to make it 4-1, before sophomore Evan Baden (Burlington, Conn.) scored just 27 seconds later to put USJ ahead 5-1 with 13:28 to play in the half.
• Over the final 8:30 of the second period, the Saints regrouped and outscored USJ 4-1 to pull within a goal at 6-5 heading to the break. EC got goals from sophomore Derek DelVecchio (Saugus, Mass.), sophomore Ryan Castle (Boxford, Mass.) freshman Thomas Quigley (Marblehead, Mass.) and sophomore Drew Chant (Warwick, R.I.), while 'The X-Man', freshman faceoff Samuel Barbetti (Guilford, Conn.) found the net for Saint Joseph to account for the halftime score.
• The game stayed at 6-5 through the first five minutes of the third quarter, before LaPorte scored his third man-up tally of the evening, moving the count to 7-5.
• The Blue Jays pulled away over the final three minutes in the third, scoring four goals in a span of 1:58 on the clock to carry an 11-5 cushion into the final quarter.

GAME NOTES

• The Blue Jays, who entered Tuesday night 9-of-47 in man up situations (19%), went 5-for-8 with a man up vs. Emmanuel, including four in a row.
• It marks the second game in a row the Blue Jays have had more than 30 turnovers. They are 1-1 in those games.
• First time in program history USJ has shutout an opponent in two quarters (and in this case, an entire half).
• First-ever meeting between the two squads.

NUMBER TO KNOW

1 – This is the first time this season USJ has gone on to win when not scoring first.

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

USJ – Sophomore Trey McCann (Simsbury, Conn.) earned the win in goal with 10 saves on the night in a full 60 minutes of action (4-4).

EC – Freshman Eric Anderson (Sparta, N.J.) played well in defeat, stopping a career-high 15 saves between the pipes (0-2).

BATTLE AT THE 'X'

Barbetti made his presence known Tuesday night, as the Blue Jays won 13 of 19 faceoffs with zero faceoff violations.

UP NEXT
The USJ men's lacrosse team continues its five-game road trip to cap the 2021 season with their first back-to-back games of the year. They head next to Albertus Magnus for a matchup with the Falcons on Wednesday, April 21. The opening faceoff is once again set for 7:00 p.m. under the lights.

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