Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/27/22
From Press Release
The nation’s leading faceoff specialist, Zach Cole (Lenape), went a perfect 21-of-21 from the X on Saturday afternoon to lead Saint Joseph’s to a 12-6 win against conference foe Wagner. The Hawks advance to 7-2 overall and 2-0 NEC, while Wagner drops to 2-5, 0-2 NEC.
With his performance, Cole becomes the only DI faceoff specialist to go perfect in 20+ attempts this season. His 21-of-21 is tied for the sixth-best performance in DI history. Cole now has 173 wins and 54 losses for a percentage of 76.2. the NCAA record was set last year by Lehigh’s Michael Sisselberger at 79.5 percent.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The teams traded the first two goals of the game before the Hawks tallied two-straight to go up 3-1. Wagner scored one more in the first with 1:20 left to end the frame down 3-2.
SJU started the second period outscoring the Seahawks 3-1 over a 3:01 span to boost the lead to 5-2. Another goal for each team brought the score to 8-4 at the half.
St. Joe’s started the third with a 2-1 advantage up to the 11-minute mark to go up 10-5. After nearly seven and a half minutes of scoreless lacrosse, the home team claimed the final score of the stanza for a 10-6 game.
The Hawks held their opponents off the scoreboard in the final frame and added two more of their own to win 12-6.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE:
Cole finished with a game-high 15 ground balls and one caused turnover.
St. Joe’s all-Philly defense of Joe Burnham (La Salle), Logan Blondell (Southern Lehigh) and Pat Clemens (Springfield-Delco) had a big day, holding Wagner to six goals. Blondell had two groundballs and Burnham had one.
Matt Bohmer continued his hot start to the season and led all scorers with four goals. He added an assist for a game-best five points.
Carter Page notched three scores and a helper for a four-point outing. He scooped up a career-best seven ground balls and caused one turnover.
Levi Anderson (2A), Shane Fable (1G, 1A), and Colin Reich (1G, 1A) all tallied two points.
Austin Strazzulla, William King, and Tucker Brown each scored once with Mac McLaughlin (Springsode Chestnut Hill Academy) rounding out the scoring efforts with an assist.
