Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/14/09
Sean Evans (Henderson) scored his fourth goal of the game with 34 seconds left to give visiting St. Joseph’s a stunning 9-8 victory over Lehigh Saturday in non-conference action.
St. Joseph’s (1-1) found itself down 8-6, the largest deficit of the game for either team, with over 11 minutes remaining. Scott Cullinan (West Chester East) scored his second goal of the game with 10:53 thanks to a Chris O’Neill (Bishop Shanahan) assist to bring the Hawks within one.
Just 1:18 later, Charlie Gorman notched his first SJU goal to knot the game at eight apiece to set up a nail-biting finish.
In a bit of a role reversal from a year ago where the Hawks let a lead slip away against Lehigh, St. Joseph’s capitalized on their opponents’ miscues. Alex Lopes made the key pass to Evans’ goal with 34 seconds remaining for the 9-8 win.
Erik Hotaling was strong in net for the Hawks with 10 saves and seven goals against. His counterpart, Morgan Haller made eight saves, while allowing nine goals. Griffin Ferrigan made one save and let in one goal off the bench for St. Joseph’s.
Joey D’Avanzo added a goal for the second consecutive game, and O’Neill also scored once.
For the game SJU outshot the Mountain Hawks by a 39-37 edge and had a 36-32 advantage on ground balls. Saint Joseph’s capitalized on five Lehigh penallties, scoring on two man-up opportunities.
Ryan Tessler had one of his best showings for the Hawks, winning 14 of 20 face-offs and picking up seven ground balls. Tessler won every faceoff in the fourth stanza going a perfect 7-for-7.
Ricky Cornetta led Lehigh with two goals and two assists while Chris Lubin added two goals.
The Hawks will take on Hobart in SJU’s home opener on Saturday.
Villanova 8, Rutgers 4
Tim Driscoll scored three goals, Matthew Fritts added two and goalie and Anfrew DiLoreto posted 13 saves as th Wildcats opened with an impressive victory over the Scarlet Knights.
Chris Aitken (Haverford School), Chris MacDonald and Mark Scioscia added one goal apiece for Vilanova while Paul Webber had three assists. A Wildcat defense led by Eddie DiDonato and Bryan McCartney held Rutgers to one goal in each period.
Virginia 13, Drexel 7
Garrett Billings pumped in five goals and added two assists to lead the host Cavaliers to an easy victory over the Dragons in a season opener.
Kevin Stockel led Drexel with three goals.
Robert Morris 12, Penn State 11
Corbyn TaoBrambleby scored his third goal of the game with three minutes to play in the second overtime, lifting the hosts to a victory in a season-opener.
Chris Hogan had four goals for the Nittany Lions while Rob Forster (La Salle) added three goals, Matt Mackrides (Malvern Prep) added two and Jack Forster (La Salle) had a goal and three assists. Billy Loyd (Unionville) added one goal for Penn State and Drew Adams (Springfield-Delco) made 11 saves.
Notre Dame 10, Loyola 9
Duncan Swezey (Haboro-Horsham) had three assists to lead the Irish to a victory. Jake Willcox (Malvern Prep) scored once for Loyola. Senior long stick midfielder P.T. Ricci (Conestoga) scooped six groundballs for Loyola.
UMBC 14, Delaware 9
Pat Lombard (La Salle) and Kevin Kaminski (Strath Haven) scored once each for the Blue Hens (1-1) in their non-conference loss.
Army 17, VMI 3
Rob McCallion (Episcopal Academy) had two goals and two assists to help No. 22 Army open with an easy win.
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