Saint Joseph’s Tops Anna Maria, 10-8

STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph’s College (10-2, 4-0 GNAC) outlasted Anna Maria College (3-8, 1-3 GNAC), 10-8, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men’s lacrosse contest at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.

The victory extends the Monks’ program-record winning streak to nine games and ties the team high-water mark for wins in a season.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Saint Joseph’s rallied from an early 1-0 deficit with four unanswered tallies, including a pair from senior Daniel Cunningham (West Islip, N.Y.), to claim a 4-1 advantage with 13:33 left in the second quarter.

The Monks carried a 6-3 cushion into halftime and led 7-4 through three frames before the conference counterparts combined to net eight goals in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Brendan Martin (Nashua, N.H.) opened the final period scoring with an unassisted strike at the 9:21 mark to make it an 8-4 game, but the AMCATS answered with three of the following four goals, as a Kory Fortier (Oxford, Mass.) marker cut the visitors’ deficit down to 9-7 with 2:02 on the clock.

St. Joe’s added some much-needed breathing room 14 seconds later however, as sophomore Zack Hamilton (Pepperell, Mass.) registered his 18th goal of the season to lift his team to a three-goal cushion with time running out for the visitors.

RECORD BREAKER:

With an assist on Cunningham’s man-up goal with 5:46 left in the first quarter, sophomore attack Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.) broke the Monks’ single-season assists record. Puleo, who currently ranks 11th in NCAA DIII in assists per game (3.0), now has 35 assists this spring, breaking the mark of 34 originally set by Spencer Hunt in 2010.

THE KEEPERS:

SJC sophomore Logan Skinner (Irving, Texas) was again outstanding in goal for the Royal Blue with 15 saves in the triumph. Anna Maria senior goalie Paul Schwartz (Staten Island, N.Y.) turned away 16 shots in the losing bid.

TEAM STATS:

The Monks held advantages in shots (54-39) and ground balls (28-15) while both squads won 11 face-offs on the afternoon.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH’S:

·         Martin scored two goals with an assist and three ground balls

·         Puleo registered a goal and two assists with a pair of ground balls

·         Senior Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) netted two goals on eight shots with two ground balls

·         Cunningham chipped in with a pair of tallies on five shots

·         Junior Shane Fors (Ledyard, Conn.) picked up four ground balls and was 7-for-12 on face-off attempts

·         Freshman Troy Bottari (Nashua, N.H.) added a goal with three caused turnovers

LEADERS – ANNA MARIA:

·         Eric Glover scored a game-high four goals on 10 shots

·         Brandon Pavoni scored twice with an assist, three ground balls, and three caused turnovers

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the victory Saint Joseph’s improves to 8-0 all-time versus Anna Maria College.

SENIOR MOMENT:

Prior to the contest a brief ceremony was held to honor the program’s nine seniors: Cunningham, Finn, Raymond Emery (Abington, Mass.), Ian Forbes (Dover, N.H.), Cornelius Koch (Quincy, Mass.), Tyler Retalic (Framingham, Mass.), Steve Reyes-Pineda (Revere, Mass.), Tyler Torrey (Gray, Maine), and Peter Wood (Gloucester, Mass.). With this group on the field, the Monks have posted a 31-31 overall record with a 14-15 record in conference play.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph’s returns to action next Saturday with a conference contest at Emmanuel College. Opening face-off is slated for 1:00 PM.