April 4, 2009

Box Score

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team couldn't muster enough heroics on Saturday, falling to Providence, 5-4, in a quadruple overtime thriller.  Scott Cullinan notched two goals and Erik Hotaling made 12 saves.

In a game that saw defense win out, SJU had to respond to three separate one-goal deficits to send the game into overtime.  Unfortunately for the Hawks, Bobby Labadini's second goal of the day capped the longest game of the season for either team.

Saint Joseph's (4-6, 2-2 MAAC) got on the board first when Charlie Gorman connected with Cullinan just 2:43 into the game. 

Providence (5-4, 4-0 MAAC) went on a quick 2-0 spurt with tallies at 10:34 and 7:14 left to go in the period.  SJU's Tom Dunn notched his only goal of the day off an Alex Lopes assist with 3:35 remaining to tie things at two apiece.

From there on out, just five goals would be scored during the next three periods and four overtimes.  PC struck for the second period's only goal to hold a 3-2 half time lead.

Cullinan's second goal for the game tied it up at three thanks to a Sean Evans assist just four minutes into the third. That would set up a tense fourth period, which saw plenty of heroics on both sides of the field.

Labadini made it 4-3 on an unassisted tally with 3:27 to go giving the Friars a crucial 4-3 lead.  Saint Joseph's exemplified the school's motto, "The Hawk Will Never Die" when Lopes found Gorman in front of the net with just ten ticks left to send the contest into overtime.

After three scoreless frames of overtime that saw just three shots from either team, the fourth overtime would be the penultimate period.

SJU's Ryan Tessler won his fourth faceoff of the afternoon and Keith Belson got the ground ball.  Unfortunately for Belson and the Hawks, he would turn the ball over and PC's Danny Ryan would head the other way.  After a Providence time out, Colin Tigh's shot was saved by Hotaling, but Labadini came back just 15 seconds later to score the game-winner

The Hawks held the shot advantage at 27-20 while PC had a 36-31 edge in ground balls.  SJU was 4-for-4 in penalty kills and nearly perfect in clears, going 24-for-25.  SJU also forced 23 Friars' turnovers, while committing just 21 of its own.

This was the second straight year PC downed the Hawks by the score of 5-4 and the second straight 5-4 win by Providence after defeating Canisius by the same score last week.

Saint Joseph's will return to action next Saturday when the Hawks host Manhattan.  The opening face-off is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Finnesey Field.