Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/23/24
From Press Release
Jorden Concordia posted 18 saves as the St. Joseph’s women’s lacrosse team never trailed in its contest against #25 UConn, staving off a late comeback attempt from the Huskies to earn an 11-10 upset victory Friday afternoon on Sweeney Field.
The win gave St. Joe’s (1-2) its first of the season, while dropping UConn to 0-3. The victory was the fifth in program history against a ranked team, the fourth consecutive season knocking off a nationally ranked opponent.
Lisa Ross led the Hawks with four goals and three assists while Maddie Yoder 9Springfield-Montco) had three goals and five draws, while sarah Groark (Episcopal Academy) and Alex Capozzoli (Episcopal Academy) each had a goal and and assist. Megan Sanelli (Methacton) scored once for St. Joe’s.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Groark opened the scoring for the Hawks, connecting on her first strike of the season. Yoder finished on a Ross assist, giving the Hawks a quick 2-0 lead in nearly two minutes. Neither team found the back of the net over the remainder of the opening quarter.
Ross turned from provider to scorer in the second, pushing the early St. Joe’s lead to 3-0.
After UConn opened its account a minute later, the Hawks used goals from Capozzoli and Ross once more to grow a 5-1 advantage.
The visitors scored three unanswered to cut the deficit to one, but Ross tallied her first-half hat trick with a goal with 10 seconds remaining on the clock as St. Joe’s entered the break leading 6-4.
On the other end of the half, Fuhrman and Yoder led St. Joe’s to three goals start the half, making it four unanswered strikes from the Hawks to hold a game-high five-goal lead.
The Huskies slowly built their way back into the game, outscoring the Hawks 5-1 over a 10 minute span that pushed into the fourth quarter and cutting the deficit to 10-9 with under 12 minutes to play.
An immediate response came through Sanelli, the freshman recording her first goal of her career to give the Hawks a two-goal cushion.
UConn answered back two minutes later, scoring with 8:02 on the clock to once again put pressure on St. Joe’s.
The Hawk defense answered to its task, holding the Huskies off the board for the next eight minutes. A flurry of chances from the visitors happened in the final two minutes, Concordia standing tall as she did all game with her 18th save of the afternoon coming with 30 seconds remaining.
The senior jumped on the ground ball as the Hawks were able to run out the clock and escape in an 11-10 thriller.
