Men's Lacrosse Drops GNAC Opener To Lasell Saturday, 6-3

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's lacrosse team left it all out on the field against the defending champions of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC), the Lasers of Lasell University (LAS), but ultimately fell by a score of 6-3 in both team's GNAC opener Saturday afternoon on the USJ Lacrosse Field.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Lasell 6, Saint Joseph 3
Records: LAS 2-5 (1-0 GNAC), USJ 3-3 (0-1 GNAC)
Location: USJ Lacrosse Field | West Hartford, Conn.

A trio of Blue Jays scored a goal each: senior attack Matt Guerin (East Longmeadow, Mass.), junior midfielder Evan Baden (Burlington, Conn.), and junior midfielder Benjamin Green (Chelmsford, Mass.). A pair of Lasers had two goals each: senior middie David Burke (Cohasset, Mass.), and senior attack James Anderson (Medway, Mass.).

The Blue Jays got fired up scoring the first goal of the contest on an unassisted strike by Baden. The Lasers, with all of their experience, quickly answered and wound up scoring five straight goals over the next three periods. This game was played to a slower pace on both sides of the aisle, each team waiting for their best shot. Down 5-1, USJ went back to work and scored two of the next three, continuing to fight until the final horn, but Lasell relied a lot on its senior stopper Alex Beauchemin (Westfield, Mass.) who made some critical stops between the pipes that led to the win.

COACH QUOTE [Andrew Fink]
"We were there. I am super happy with our team. We wanted to come back out, show some fight, not be afraid, get after it, defending champs or not, we needed an all-out effort. I think the guys gave it everything they had. It was close, the guys were trying to get one more goal and a quick faceoff and make it a one-goal game, but overall the guys came to play today. We take away a lot of respect, and I think we can take this game and go into the other GNAC games with far more confidence than we have ever had."

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

LAS – Senior stopper Alex Beauchemin (Westfield, Mass.) improved to 2-4 with the win, allowing three goals and making a game-high 14 saves in a full 60 minutes of work.

USJ – Junior goalie and captain Trey McCann (Simsbury, Conn.) was dealt the loss (2-3), allowing six goals on 16 shots (10 saves) in a complete outing between the pipes.

BATTLE AT THE 'X'

Faceoffs were all Blue Jays, 9-4. Sophomore faceoff specialist Samuel Barbetti (Guilford, Conn.) led the way with all nine of them on 13 attempts.

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays hit the road for their next three contests, starting with the AMCATS of Anna Maria College on Wednesday, March 23 at 6:00 p.m. in GNAC action. Saint Joseph won its only ever meeting with Anna Maria last season, 19-13.

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