Men's Lacrosse Earns Thrilling Win Over Dean Wednesday, 7-6

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – It was an instant classic on the USJ Lacrosse Field, as the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's lacrosse team knocked off the second-highest scoring team in the conference, 7-6, in a barn-burner against the Bulldogs of Dean College, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) home match Wednesday afternoon.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Dean 6, Saint Joseph 7
Records: Dean 10-3 (6-3 GNAC), USJ 6-8 (3-5 GNAC)
Location: USJ Lacrosse Field | West Hartford, Conn.

The Blue Jays held the Bulldogs to a season-low six goals, a team that averages nearly 14 goals per game (second only to Norwich in the GNAC). Dean sports two of the top-five scorers in the league as well in sophomore attack Diego Alvarez-Segee (Saugus, Mass.) (47 goals, leads GNAC), and sophomore midfielder Alec Speirs (Old Lyme, Conn.) (35 goals, fifth in GNAC). The duo was held to just one goal, a strike by Alvarez-Segee in the first quarter, while Speirs chipped in with three assists on Wednesday. Junior goalkeeper and captain Trey McCann (Simsbury, Conn.) was spectacular all game long and recorded a season-high 17 saves, including the 300th of his career, to lead the Blue Jays in the triumph.

Freshman attackman Evan Zimnoch (Southington, Conn.) and sophomore attackman Ryan Paltauf (Southbury, Conn.) were the leading scorers for the hosts with two goals each to pace the USJ offense. A trio of others scored one goal apiece. Six different Bulldogs each scored one goal on the day for the visitors.

Clock management was key in this one as the Blue Jays aimed to shorten the game as much as possible. It was highly effective as the Blue Jays held a 3-2 lead at the end of the first half. Dean came out and scored the first two goals of the game, but two critical late-quarter goals were huge for USJ to swing the momentum. Junior midfielder Evan Baden (Burlington, Conn.) found the back of the net with three seconds left in the first quarter to get the Blue Jays on the board and cut the deficit in half, 2-1, after the opening period. Zimnoch tied the match, 2-2, four minutes into the second quarter and then capped the first half with a clutch shot from way outside with only 15 ticks on the timer to give the Blue Jays their first lead of game, 3-2, entering the intermission.

Defense did its part to start the second half, holding the Bulldogs to just one goal in the third quarter. Then, the onslaught began in the fourth period with five goals in total, as the Bulldogs quickly got back in the game and regained the lead, 6-5, with 13:10 to go. The visitors strung together three-straight goals in less than a minute span to reclaim the lead in a blink of the eye. Saint Joseph was relentless though, refusing to quit, and answered by scoring back-to-back goals in less than two minutes after the barrage by Dean. Junior long stick middie Sebastian Fusco (Berlin, Conn.) tied the game, 6-6, with a pole goal with 12:56 left to play in regulation, before junior middie Noah Mocksfield (Colchester, Conn.) fired a missile from way downtown for the go-ahead and what would end up being the game-winning goal moments later.

Saint Joseph needed 11:17 of defense if it wanted to pull off the upset, and it did just that, clamping down and forcing the Bulldogs into some mistakes. The visitors also seemed a little off in the period, as a few makeable opportunities went wide or were gobbled up by McCann. With 0:46 left, Dean launched its final attack. The Bulldogs shot once, twice, three times, but each time it was saved by the junior captain, none more important than the last which came with just four second remaining before the final horn sounded.

PLAYER QUOTE [Trey McCann]
"We tried to not get too high or too low. The defense held the whole game. They put me in the position to make a save at the end there. It's all thanks to them. I take a lot of pride in my role. My job is to make the saves when I am called upon. Our defense is really good, and we waited for our moment to shine. I think we did that. We are finding our path here at the end of the season."

COACH QUOTE [Andrew Fink]
"Our kids come out every single day and play hard. We had a gameplan, and we are not backing down from anyone. It just turned out that our gameplan was dead-on. This time, the bounce went our way. I am super proud of our guys for always competing. That's the difference. Moving forward we need to do a better job of defending our home field. This was a great opportunity on learning how to close a game. It didn't happen on offense the way we wanted, but the defense did it."

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

DEAN – Senior Alexander Govoni (Lakeville, Mass.) took the loss (10-3), allowing seven goals on 17 shots in a complete 60 minutes of action between the pipes.

USJ – McCann improved to 5-7, allowing just six goals and making 17 saves in a complete game. McCann now has 300 career saves.

BATTLE AT THE 'X'

Faceoffs were practically split down the middle, as USJ held a 9-7 advantage overall. Sophomore faceoff specialist Samuel Barbetti (Guilford, Conn.) took all of them for Saint Joseph with nine successful faceoffs out of 16.

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays remain home for its final home match of the regular season, a GNAC contest against the Monks of Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Senior Day. That match will be held on Saturday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m. on the USJ Lacrosse Field. It will also mark the first match between the teams in USJ program history.

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