Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/2/17
Junior attackman Chris Blewitt scored three goals and added two helpers, senior face-off specialist Danny Manning went 11-for-15 from the X, and senior goalkeeper T.J. Jones made 11 saves as the Saint Joseph’s men’s lacrosse team earned its first win of the season with an 8-5 road victory over St. John’s at DaSilva Memorial Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. With the win, the Hawks improve to 1-3 while the Red Storm falls to 0-4.
Leading by just one heading into the second half, the Hawks fired off four consecutive goals from junior midfielder Kyle Cain (11:34), senior midfielder Kevin Reidinger (10:03), junior attackman Patrick O’Brien (8:51), and Blewitt to pull away, 8-3, with 8:00 to play in the third quarter.
St. John’s added a goal with 3:02 to play in the third and added another score late in the fourth quarter to pull to within three goals with 3:39 to play in regulation.
On that scoring play, the Hawks got hit with a trio of slashing penalties which brought junior goalkeeper Pat Dallon into the game. Dallon made a save on the doorstep to keep the Hawks ahead by three.
For the game, the Hawks owned a 40-33 advantage in shots and 28-20 edge in ground balls. Manning added four ground balls from the circle while senior defenseman Connor Kubikowski was good for four ground balls and two caused turnovers and senior defenseman Shane Taggert reocrded a game-high three caused turnovers.
The Hawks’ defense also was led by Charles Giunta (Penn Charter) and Brendan McNicholas (Avon Grove). Jason Kelly (Salesianum School) scored once.
Senior goalkeeper T.J. Jones (1-3) made 11 saves compared to just five goals allowed in 58:51, all but a minute and change due to the slashing penalty late in the fourth quarter.
The St. John’s defense also was solid, led by several Philly grads. Dante Addona (Episcopal Academy) had two caused turnovers and a groundballs and freshman Pat Smyth (Springfield-Delco) had two groundballs while Tim Kiel (Central Bucks West) also was a starter.
The Hawks had jumped out to an early 4-0 lead by the 13:07 mark of the second quarter, but St. John’s scored three in a row to head into the halftime break trailing by just one score.
Saint Joseph’s closes out its three-game road stretch at Manhattan this Saturday, March 4. Opening face-off at Gaelic Park in Riverdale, N.Y. is slated for 1:00 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Saint Joseph’s improves to 2-0 all-time against St. John’s… Junior attackman Patrick O’Brien scored a season-high two goals in his first start as a Hawk… Senior goalkeeper T.J. Jones extends his school-record, career-victories total to 27.