Men's Lacrosse Holds Off Saint Joseph's College, Wins Third-Straight Game Saturday

STANDISH, Maine – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's lacrosse team picked up its third-straight victory, taking down Saint Joseph's College of Maine (SJC) during Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) interdivisional play, 13-9, Saturday afternoon at the SJC Athletics Complex in Standish, Maine. With the result, the Blue Jays improved to 5-5 overall and 3-1 in conference play, while the Monks dropped to 3-7 on the year and 1-3 in the GNAC.

KEY MOMENTS 

• The Monks would strike first, taking a 1-0 lead at the 8:28 mark.
• Graduate student midfielder Aidan D'Amato (Tolland, Conn.) quickly fired back, muscling off his defender before rifling a shot into the net, tying the game at 1-1, with seven minutes on the clock.
• SJC would regain the lead though, scoring at the 5:30 mark to hold a 2-1 edge.
• D'Amato again equalized for USJ, corralling a ground ball after his initial shot fired off the post, before throwing the ball over his back and into the net, tying the game at 2-2 with 4:17 left in the first.
• The Monks answered back though, scoring with 12 seconds left in the quarter to hold a slim 3-2 edge entering the second quarter.
• Graduate student midfielder Kevin Carr (West Hartford, Conn.) equalized the game at the 12:59 mark, faking out the SJC netminder before netting his first goal of the game, leveling the score at 3-3.
• Graduate student attackman Evan Baden (Burlington, Conn.) would establish USJ's first lead of the game at the 11:17 mark, fighting his way through numerous SJC defenders, before firing the ball into the net, giving USJ a 4-3 lead.
• Baden wasted little time netting his second goal of the game, scoring a minute later after picking up a ground ball after a save from the SJC goaltender, before firing a shot into the net, increasing the lead to 5-3.
• Carr quickly increased the advantage to 6-3, scoring a solo goal with 9:55 left in the half.
• Carr then turned provider, picking out a pass to senior midfielder Christian Decker (Bristol, Conn.) who converted his shot during a man-up chance, extending the gap to 7-3 at the 7:23 mark.
• The Monks put a stop to the Blue Jays momentum, scoring during their own man-up opportunity, closing the deficit to 7-4 with 4:13 left in the half.
• However, Decker would come up clutch for USJ during a man-up chance, netting his second goal of the game to reestablish a four-goal edge, 8-4, at the 2:56 mark.
• The Blue Jays then beat the buzzer to end the half, as D'Amato corralled a rebound before quickly firing his shot into the net to send USJ into the break with a 9-4 lead.
• D'Amato continued his stellar game, receiving a pass from Baden before scoring his fourth goal of the game to increase the USJ lead to 10-4 at the 9:29 mark in the third quarter.
• The Monks would respond at the 6:18 mark though, closing the gap back to five, 10-5, with 6:18 on the clock.
• Decker would fire back, rounding out his hattrick with a goal at the 3:04 mark, extending the lead to 11-5. However, SJC would cancel out the goal, scoring at the 1:29 mark to close the deficit to 11-6 entering the fourth quarter.
• The late goal sparked a comeback attempt for the Monks, as the hosts scored three-straight goals to open the fourth, closing the gap to two, 11-9, with 6:19 left to play.
• However, Baden and Carr would score back-to-back goals to close out the game, securing the victory for USJ, 13-9.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Baden paced the team with five points off three goals and two assists.
• D'Amato netted a team-high four goals.
• Senior defenseman Jay Kajander (Reading, Mass.) corralled a team-high four ground balls.
• Sophomore Benjamin Bausch (Holliston, Mass.) was the main face-off man, posting a 6-for-15 mark at the "X".
• As a team, the Monks bested the Blue Jays at the "X", posting an 18-for-25, clip.
• Graduate student Trey McCann (Simsbury, Conn.) played all 60 minutes in the cage for USJ, picking up the win (5-5) after tallying a season-high 20 saves.

UP NEXT

The Blue Jays round out a quick two-game road swing with a visit to Newton, Mass., on Wednesday, April 9 for a GNAC South Division matchup against Lasell University. Opening faceoff against the Lasers at Grellier Field is slated for 6:00 p.m.

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