March 26, 2009

Game Notes

Virginia Military Institute Keydets
(1-7; 0-2 MAAC)
at
 Saint Joseph’s Hawks
(3-5; 1-1 MAAC)

Game #9 •  March 28, 2009 • Finnesey Field • Philadelphia, Pa. • 1:00 p.m.

VENUE (CAPACITY):    Finnesey Field (600)
SURFACE:    TigerTurf
RADIO:    None
AUDIO/VIDEO STREAMING:    SJU Hawks All-Access Video
SERIES RECORD VS. VMI:    Saint Joseph’s leads 5-4
HAWKS’ NEXT GAME:    April 4 at Providence College, 2:00 p.m.

GAME STORIES

• Saint Joseph’s is looking to post back-to-back wins for the first time in 2009.
• Charlie Gorman’s second period hat trick lead SJU to a wire-to-wire victory at Canisius for first MAAC win.
• Seven Hawks—Sean Evans, Scott Cullinan, Alex Lopes, Joey D’Avanzo, Ian Kelly, Charlie Gorman and Tom Wengenosky—have accounted for all 17 points in league play through two games.
• SJU has scored 10+ goals in the past three and four of the last five meetings against the Keydets.  In that five-game span the Hawks are 4-1.

NOTES

LAST TIME OUT: The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse team took out the Canisius Griffins, 7-6, on Saturday at Demske Sports Complex. Charlie Gorman scored three times and Erik Hotaling made 10 saves to fend off a late Griffs rally.  Saint Joseph's jumped on Canisius early as Joey D'Avanzo and Tom Dunn gave SJU a quick 2-0 lead. The Hawks would lead wire-to-wire. In the pivitol fourth period, Saint Joseph's clung onto a tenuous 5-4 lead. Dunn added his second goal of the day 2:16 into the period to double the lead. Scott Cullinan scored his only goal of the game came just 4:39 later on a Sean Evans' assisted marker. Cullinan's tally gave the Hawks their largest lead of the game.

SCOUTING THE KEYDETS: VMI enters today’s game at 1-7 having suffered five consecutive losses, two of them in MAAC competition.  The Keydets have struggled offensively, scoring more than six goals just once this season (nine, against Presbyterian) and averaging 5.50 goals a game.  On the defensive end VMI hasn’t fared much better allowing 12.76 goals a game. Only twice, against Presbyterian and Providence, have the Keydets kept their opponents out of double digits.  VMI has played  and lost to three top 25 programs—#11 Navy (13-5), #22 Army (17-3), and #1 Virginia (19-3).  Last season VMI advanced to the MAAC Championship game for the first time in program history, falling to Canisius.

KEYDET LEADERS: Tim Moran has the team lead in goals (11), assists (five) and poins (16).  He is helped by Jacob Weimer (11 points), Brett Leonard (11) and Colin Bosse (10).  No other attacker has more than three points on the squad.  In net, Sean McCoy has seen the bulk of play going 1-5 in nearly 295 minutes with a 14.46 GAA and .423 save percentage.  His counterpart, Alex Benedick is 0-2 in 185 minutes with a 10.05 GAA and a 5.37 save percentage.

COMMON OPPONENTS: Outside of MAAC play, where each school plays every conference opponent, the Keydets have faced one non-conference opponent that SJU has seen.  Saint Joseph’s lost to Bellarmine, 8-7, while VMI found a similar result in a 14-6 loss.

STILL MISSING: Dan Marroccoli, a starting defensemen, was hurt in the Lehigh game. Joining him on the injured list are Chad Dudley, Dean Bellos, and Bobby Hurley.  Dudley and Hurley have yet to make an appearance this season, while Bellos hasn’t been available since the Delaware game.  Joey D’Avanzo is listed as probable today after missing last week’s clash with Canisius. Chris O’Neill has been out for two games in Conference play.

HAWKS SUFFER THREE-GAME SKID: The Hawks couldn’t come all the way back against Bellarmine in an 8-7 loss to the Knights at Franklin Field. Erik Hotaling made 16 saves to keep the Hawks in the game. Sean Evans scored a natural hat trick in the fourth to shave a seven-goal Drexel advantage to four, but SJU could get no closer in an 8-4 loss to the Dragons.  The Hawks then opened MAAC play at Siena, allowing the Saints to blow open a 4-3 lead to a 13-4 final score line.   

HISTORIC WIN AGAINST RUTGERS: SJU earned its first victory over an ECAC opponent when the Hawks defeated Rutgers, 10-7 on February 28.  Saint Joseph’s used a 4-1 scoring advantage in the second half to break a 6-6 deadlock with the Scarlet Knights.  It was the first win over Rutgers in six tries as Charlie Gorman led the Hawks with two goals and two assists.  Additionally, Scott Cullinan registered three tallies and Erik Hotaling made nine saves to preserve the win for Saint Joseph’s, which helped Hotaling earn MAAC Defensive Player of the Week.

BEST TRANSFER: As named by Christian Swezey of Inside Lacrosse, Charlie Gorman was announced as the “Best D-III to D-I Transfer” last week for his four-point effort against the Scarlet Knights. Gorman, who spent two years at Dickinson, also provided the game-tying goal at Lehigh. Sean Evans, the team’s leader in scoring, is a transfer as well arriving on Hawk Hill via Towson in 2008.

ESPN THE MAGAZINE: Joey D'Avanzo scored the final goal against Rutgers and SJU's sports photographer, Greg Carroccio of Sideline Photos, LLC caught the action.  D'Avanzo was sprawled out on the side of the net horizontally.  Carroccio's photo made it to ESPN The Magazine's "Zoom" page where D'Avanzo's shot was captured.  This is the second time this season SJU has had its team featured prominently in the pages of a magazine as footage of the Saint Joseph's-Delaware gamae was published in the March edition of Lacrosse Magazine.

EARLY NON-CONFERENCE WRAP: The Hawks are 2-4 in their non-conference slate and have just one game left, a road trip to Penn State on April 25.  Saint Joseph’s openen the season with a 13-2 loss at Delaware but bounced back nicely with a come-from-behind victory at Lehigh.  Sean Evans struck for the game-winner with 34 seconds remaining in the game. Erik Hotaling’s 13 saves earned him MAAC Defensive Player of the Week.  Against Hobart, SJU couldn’t hang with the Statesmen, who are now ranked nationally,  in the fourth period and would fall, 12-7.  The two non-conference wins are the most since 2000.

“MR. CLUTCH”: For his efforts, Sean Evans earned MAAC Offensive Player of the Week and earned recognition by Inside Lacrosse as last week’s “Mr. Clutch.” Evans is responsible for three of the Hawks last five game-winning goals. 

SERIES HISTORY

All-Time Series: SJU leads 5-4
SJU Streak: 1 loss
First Meeting: 3/5/95, VMI 18-9
Last Meeting: 4/5/08, VMI 14-12
Last SJU Win: 4/7/07, 17-10
Last VMI Win: 4/5/08, 14-12
Coach Cullinan vs. VMI: 3-1

Saint Joseph’s will try to win two in a row against Siena for the first time since 2000 when the Hawks beat the Saint, 19-1...The Hawks haven’t won at Loudonville since a 13-11 win on April 27, 2002...This is the second straight year SJU and Siena will open MAAC play against each other.

HONOR ROLL

    Sean Evans
    MAAC Offensive Player of the Week (2/16)

    Erik Hotaling
    MAAC Defensive Player of the Week (2/16, 3/3)

    Tom Wengenosky
    2009 Preseason All-MAAC Selection