Men’s and women’s lacrosse open conference play
As puddles of rain collected on Sweeney Field, the Saint Joseph’s University women’s lacrosse team dominated play against the Davidson University Wildcats with a 10-4 win on March 31.
The Hawks didn’t let the weather slow down their play as they took the field for the second half. With the score tied at three, St. Joe’s fired off six unanswered goals to make it 9-3. The Hawks defense also kept the Wildcats to one goal in the second half.
Senior Nora McCallion believes the St. Joe’s adjustments at the half led to an offensive outburst and tightened defensive play.
“We really came together in the locker room and reviewed the game plan,” McCallion said. “With the bad weather we knew we had to go back to the basics and really focus on fundamentals. After halftime we created better opportunities for each other and made better decisions across the board.”
McCallion recorded a hat-trick in the second half to spark St. Joe’s offense. Sophomore Rebecca Lane also played an important role in the Hawks win. Lane, who opened the game’s scoring, tallied two goals and an assist. Graduate student Mallory Grey recorded a goal and three assists as well as collecting seven draw controls.
Across the board, the Hawks outplayed Davidson with 32 shots on goal compared to Davidson’s 11 and winning 19 ground balls over the Wildcats’ 16. St. Joe’s defensive unit stood strong and contributed to Davidson’s 24 turnovers.
“Our defense played really well and created a lot of turnovers that the attack was able to capitalize on,” McCallion said. “Our midfielders did a really great job in transition and on the draw controls, which was crucial for controlling the tempo of the game.”
Head Coach Alex Kahoe was pleased about the women’s win as well.
“Today is a great A-10 win for us,” stated Kahoe post-game. “I was really happy with our transition and our clears, as well as our ride. In the second half, we definitely came together more and were able to execute what we needed to.”
McCallion also felt positive after the game.
“I think that it is really important for the team to get the first A-10 win,” said McCallion. “League play and vying for an A-10 Championship is what we have been working towards all year. The first win gives us the confidence to continue to strive to get to the Atlantic 10 Championship in May”.
The women’s team fell 24-14 at the University of Massachusetts on April 2, but hope to bounce back and earn an A-10 victory on the road against St. Bonaventure on April 7 at 1 p.m.
As St. Joe’s women’s lacrosse dominated play at Sweeney Field, the men’s team did not fare as well in their matchup the following day.
The Hawks came out strong, opening with a three goal run in the first period of Saturday’s game against the Robert Morris University Colonials. St. Joe’s failed to find their rhythm falling 13-7 in their first SEC matchup at home.
“I think we need to find a way to generate some momentum,” stated Head Coach Taylor Wray. “We see it in spurts. We’ll do some great things on offense, but defensively we need to get a stop. And we can’t maintain momentum because we give up a goal or we get some momentum our way and then we foul somebody. So we need a way to keep the momentum sustained”.
Junior attackman, Chris Blewitt, opened the scoring for the Hawks in the first quarter. Blewitt ultimately played a role in five of the seven goals for St. Joe’s, scoring three goals and tallying two assists.
“I thought Chris Blewitt had a good day, or at least he did some good things,” said Wray. “He talked to the guys at halftime and tried to get the guys fired up to come out and play better in the second half.”
Despite Blewitt’s efforts, Wray had difficulty finding many positives from the game.
“We failed to execute the game plan,” Wray said. “We failed to do the things that we prepared to do. And the outcome speaks for itself.”
An unanswered seven-goal scoring streak by the Colonials starting at the end of the first quarter and continuing into the beginning of the third left the Hawks disheveled. Despite getting off more shots on goal, tallying 47 compared to Robert Morris’s 34, the Hawks failed to finish their chances or step up defensively to stop the Colonial’s. Robert Morris’s goalie came up with 20 saves compared to St. Joe’s senior T.J. Jones who finished with 11 stops.
The Hawks tried to mount a comeback as Robert Morris doubled their score, 5-10, going into the final quarter. Junior midfielder Kyle Cain buried an Extra Man Offence (EMO) goal on a pass from Blewitt to open the fourth quarter and to pull the Hawks within four. The Colonials answered with two consecutive goals to again double their advantage, 12-6 with less than 9 minutes to play. Junior Jason Kelly scored an unassisted goal for the Hawks in the final minutes with Shane Majewski of Robert Morris completing the game’s scoring to make it 13-7.
Wray described the importance of figuring out a solution to the team’s issues of finding their rhythm.
“Anytime you lose and you lose the way that we did then you were absolutely outplayed,” Wray said. “We need to find a way to fix it [the play] in a hurry because the same things that hurt us in this game have hurt us all year and until that changes, the outcomes aren’t going to change.”
The Hawks return home to host Hobart College at Sweeney Field on April 8 at 1 p.m. for Alumni and Family Day.
