STANDISH, Maine — Freshman Tiger Hopkins (Leeds, Maine) set a new program record with nine assists to defeat Saint Joseph’s College (1-5) in a non-conference at New England College (0-4), 19-2 , bringing over the men’s lacrosse contest at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
The win made SJC head coach Bill Cosentino – now in his seventh season at St. Joe’s – the most successful coach in Saint Joseph men’s lacrosse history. With 42 wins in more than six seasons (including two suspended due to the pandemic), he has surpassed former head coach Mike Edgar, who was the Monks’ first touchline general and won 41 contests in six full seasons.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks made it 2:15 after kick-off as senior Max Lacy (Salisbury, NH) scored his first of four goals in the afternoon. St. Joe’s led 6-0 after the first quarter and saw Will Levesque (Marlow, NH) and Lacy score 47 seconds apart after 10 minutes in the second verse to put the hosts to an 8-0 lead to lead.
The Pilgrims scored their only two goals of the game in a 1:06 span when Thomas Norton (Mansfield, Mass.) lead his team 4:11 with a man-up shot against Devon Saeger (Chester Springs, Penn.). the break and Sam Crary (Newburyport, Massachusetts) made it an 8-2 game after catching a Matt Daley pass 66 seconds later.
Freshman Matt Denman (Brentwood, NH) ended the short NEC run at 2:17 in the second quarter when he scored his second goal of the game on a pass from Tim Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.).
St. Joe’s continued to storm the scoreboard with seven goals in the third period, capping the game with man-up goals from Lacy and Goodfellow and an equal score from Hopkins in the fourth frame.
TEAM STATISTICS:
Saint Joseph’s had significant advantages in shots (63-15), shots on goal (43-8), ground balls (35-27) and turnovers (29-6), while the Pilgrims won 16 of 25 faceoffs in a non-conference pitch. NEC committed 43 turnovers, 14 of them without reason, while the Monks spit 20 times in triumph.
THE GUARDIANS:
SJC senior Brannon Gilbert (Gray, Maine) allowed two goals and deflected four shots in 49:55 between the whistles to earn the win, while sophomore Liam Greene (Mansfield, Mass.) had two stops in 10: 05 scored by Mop. Duty.
Connor Almstrom (Cumberland, RI), the NEC runner-up, played well on the return with 21 saves in 51:25 at the net. Sophomore Hunter Sutcliffe (Warwick, RI) conceded a goal and made three saves in 8:35 of relief.
GUIDE – ST. JOSEPH:
Hopkins had two goals and nine assists, breaking the previous SJC record of eight assists set by three players, most recently Jonathan Horgan ’12 in a win over UMaine-Farmington on March 23, 2011. Goodfellow had three goals and four assists Lacy scored four goals in five shots Senior Xavier Michaud (Wales, Maine) scored two goals and grabbed three balls on the floor Levesque added two goals Freshman Nick Wesley (Peabody, Mass.) grabbed 10 balls on the floor and gave up six losses to sophomore Anthony Samiotes (Hampstead, NH) contributed four groundballs and seven turnovers conceded while Senior Connor Bogdanski (Southington, Connecticut) contributed four groundballs and five turnovers conceded
EXECUTIVES – NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE:
Sophomore Cam Hebert (Plantation, Fla.) won 16 of 25 faceoff attempts and grabbed nine groundballs. Freshman Jackson Kain (Plattsburgh, NY) nabbed five groundballs, junior Thomas Doe (Windham, NH) matched with four groundballs and conceded two turnovers, and junior Kyle Hamilton (Londonderry, NH) had three groundballs
HISTORICAL TALK:
With the win, Saint Joseph’s improves to an all-time 3-1 against New England College.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph’s will play three consecutive away games next Saturday, beginning with a 1pm contest at Dean College in the opener of the Monks’ 2023 conference. St. Joe’s does not return home until Tuesday, March 28, when Lasell University comes into town at 4:00 p.m.
