Men's Lacrosse Drops Heartbreaker At ECSU Wednesday, 16-15

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's lacrosse team dropped a heartbreaker to the Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) Warriors, 16-15, on a snow-filled Wednesday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Saint Joseph 15, Eastern Connecticut 16
Records: USJ (1-2), ECSU (1-1)
Location: Rick McCarthy Field | Willimantic, Conn.

The Blue Jays were led by sophomore attackman Ryan Paltauf (Southbury, Conn.), who had a career-high five goals in the contest. A trio of Blue Jays added three goals each: junior midfielder Noah Mocksfield (Colchester, Conn.), senior attack Matt Guerin (East Longmeadow, Mass.), and junior midfielder and captain Evan Baden (Burlington, Conn.). Junior midfielder Shane Haggerty (Stamford, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal for Eastern after a true back-and-forth battle in the heart of Wednesday's snow storm. The shot went down with 21.1 seconds to go, giving the Blue Jays one last chance, however ECSU won the ensuing faceoff and was able to run out the clock to pick a win in its home opener.

The contest featured 13 ties and had an overtime-like feel written all over it practically from the opening faceoff. After Paltauf netted a pair of goals in the final two minutes of the third quarter to tie the game for the tenth time, the teams alternated goals the rest of the way before Haggerty's second goal of the match gave ECSU its first one-goal home win since a 14-13 Little East Conference overtime decision over Massachusetts Boston nearly two years ago.

With the score tied at 15-all in the final minute, Saint Joseph took three shots at the Warriors' net, one of which was blocked, the second of which sailed wide, and the third was stopped by junior goalie Nick Collazo (Park Ridge, N.J.). After a successful ECSU clear, it appeared that the Warriors had given the ball back to Saint Joseph, but maintained possession and a timeout was called with 34.7 seconds left.
 
ECSU's sophomore Zacharie Appolon (Stamford, Conn.) began possession at the top right of the cage following the timeout, raced to his left, and threw back up top to freshman Brycen Kennedy (Southington, Conn.). Kennedy relayed the ball to Haggerty stationed up top and to the right of the cage. With only one defender in front of the goal, Haggerty ripped a low, left-handed shot that found the bottom left of the net for the game-winning goal.

COACH QUOTE [Andrew Fink]
"This was an amazing game, in a snow storm no less. It was back and forth constantly, neither of us were going to let up. It would have been really great to get the win, but it also shows just how far we have come from last season."

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

USJ – Junior goalkeeper and captain Trey McCann (Simsbury, Conn.) took the loss (1-2) making 10 saves with 16 goals allowed in a full 60 minutes of action.

ECSU – Junior goalie Nick Collazo (Park Ridge, N.J.) picked up the win (1-1), allowing eight goals and making six saves in 30 minutes of work in the second half. The first half was played by freshman goalie Sam Davies (Newington, Conn.), who allowed seven goals with 11 saves in 30 minutes between the pipes as well.

BATTLE AT THE 'X'

The Blue Jays had the upper hand in the faceoff department, taking 20-of-34 on the day. Sophomore faceoff specialist Samuel Barbetti (Guilford, Conn.) led the way with 18 of them on 29 attempts.

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays will hit the road again for another non-conference game, this time against Castleton on Friday, March 11 at 3:00 p.m. Fans can head over to www.usjbluejays.com to catch the action live.

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