Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/10/15
From press Release
Tied 14-14 in the final minutes of regulation, UVA’s Ryan Lukacovic scored the game-winner with 1:26 to play as the Saint Joseph’s men’s lacrosse team (3-4) dropped a heartbreaking 15-14 contest to #7 Virginia at Klöckner Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Graduate student attack Ryan McGee (3G, 2A) and redshirt junior attack Kevin Forster (La Salle, 3G, 2A) paced the Hawks with five points apiece.
Trailing by two goals with 7:06 to play, the Hawks strung together three consecutive goals to head into the final 4:31 with a 14-13 lead.
Saint Joseph’s freshman attack Chris Blewitt’s eighth goal of the season, assisted by Forster, closed SJU’s deficit to one goal, 13-12, at the 7:06 mark. Just seven seconds later, sophomore midfielder Mike Lanham (Garnet Valley) won his face-off, snagged the ground ball, and tore down the field to fire off the equalizer with 6:59 to play.
Tied 13-13, UVA (5-1) won the ensuing face-off possession and fired off a shot on net, but Saint Joseph’s sophomore goalkeeper T.J. Jones made the save on UVA’s Greg Coholan to keep the score even.
The Hawks then cleared the ball downfield, and after 1:42 of possession, Forster tucked away his third score of the evening to put the Hawks back ahead, 14-13, with 4:31 to play.
Lanham won the following face-off and SJU senior attack Kyle Bruun fired off a shot on goal, but UVA’s Matt Barrett (Malvern Prep) came up with the save in net to keep the Hawks at the one-goal lead. UVA converted on the ensuing clear attempt, and Coholan netted the equalizer for the Cavaliers, 14-14, with 3:17 remaining in regulation. Barrett had 13 saves.
Lanham would win possession for the Hawks from the X once again, but Barrett would again come up with a crucial save, this time on Blewitt’s shot. UVA recovered the ground ball off of the save and successfully cleared en route to Lukacovic’s game-winner.
The Hawks took an immediate timeout after the score and, after Lanham won his 10th face-off of the day, SJU used another timeout to organize its offensive attack with 1:05 on the scoreboard.
The Hawks fired off four shots in a matter of 36 seconds, but the first two would go wide, the third high, and the fourth saved by Barrett with one tick remaining on the scoreboard.
For the game, Saint Joseph’s owned a 47-32 advantage in shots, sparked by a 13-3 first period. McGee (10, 7 SOG), sophomore attack Ray Vandegrift (8), and junior attack Pat Swanick (6) combined for over half of those shots. Virginia held the slight 32-31 edge in ground balls, while SJU sophomore midfielder Anthony Joaquim boasted a game-best six.
The Hawks were a perfect 3-for-3 in extra man opportunities and held the Cavaliers to just one EMO score in three attempts. The Crimson and Gray also turned the ball over just eight times, a season-best for the squad.
Lanham went 10-of-24 from the face-off while classmate Danny Manning went 4-of-8 as the sophomore duo teamed up for a .438 percentage (14-of-32).
Saint Joseph’s senior goalkeeper Dustin Keen (Downingtown West) made four saves and allowed 12 goals in the first 45:00 before Jones (1-2) came in for the final 15:00, making three saves and allowing the final three goals in the loss.
Saint Joseph’s jumped out to a 3-2 lead after the first 15:00 with a combined three-goal effort from Forster and McGee. Forster registered the opening score just 1:26 in and McGee netted his first of the evening at the 9:45 mark to give the Hawks the early two-goal advantage. UVA tallied back-to-back scores just 24 seconds apart (7:59, 7:35) to even out the scoring, but McGee tucked away his second goal of the game with 5:39 remaining in the first to put SJU back on top, 3-2.
After Virginia scored just 1:10 into the second period to once again equalize the score, SJU used a 3-0 run to push its lead out to three goals, 6-3, with 9:06 remaining in the first half. McGee assisted on back-to-back scores as Swanick (St. Joseph’s Prep) scored and sophomore attack Mike Rastivo’s EMO shot hit the back of the net at the 9:18 mark. Following Rastivo’s goal, Lanham won the ensuing face-off, and Joaquim recovered the ground ball and tore down the field to rocket in his third tally of the season to put the Hawks ahead, 6-3, at the 9:06 mark.
The Cavaliers, however, would string together a four-goal run of their own, sparked by the two-goal, one assist efforts of Owen Van Arsdale. UVA tallied a trio (8:33, 6:18, 5:25) within just over three minutes of one another to equalize the score, 6-6, before van Arsdale’s third goal of the game with 35 seconds remaining in the half put UVA ahead, 7-6, heading into the halftime break.
An immediate UVA illegal body check penalty called at the 15:00 mark of the third period set SJU up with a 1:00 EMO, and the Hawks converted as Rastivo found sophomore attack Robert Raucci (Garnet Valley) for the score. Swanick then scored less than two minutes later to give the Hawks a one-goal lead, 8-7, at the 12:51 mark.
The Cavaliers would use another four-goal run that spanned nearly 12 minutes to pull back ahead by three goals, 11-8, with 5:58 left to play in the third.
The Cavs also got two caused turnovers and a groundball from middie Will McNamara (Haverford School).
The Hawks continued to battle back, as Forster scored an EMO goal with 4:21 to play and Swanick added his third score of the game on a dish from Rastivo to pull to within one goal, 11-10, with 3:31 to play in the third.
UVA’s Lukacovic extended the Cavaliers’ lead back to two, 12-10, on his fourth goal of the game at the 2:14 mark to give the Cavaliers a two-goal advantage heading into the final 15:00.
SJU and UVA would alternate goals in the fourth period as McGee (14:15) and van Arsdale (8:26) found the back of the net to keep the score separated at two goals, 13-11, heading into the final 8:26 to play.
Saint Joseph’s returns home to host Michigan this Saturday, March 10. Opening face-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Sweeney Field.
GAME NOTES: Ryan McGee’s 10-shot effort puts him at 320 career shots, just four away from the school record… His five-point effort puts him in a tie for seventh all-time with 137 career points.
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