Men’s and women’s lacrosse teams begin their seasons
The Saint Joseph’s University women’s lacrosse team kicked off their season on Feb. 18 in a home game against the American University Eagles. The Hawks held a two-goal lead headed into halftime and outscored the Eagles 6-0 in the second half, resulting in a 15-7 win for St. Joe’s.
American scored the first two goals of the game, gaining momentum early on. The Hawks responded with a goal from senior Nora McCallion, which started an alternating pattern of scoring between the two teams until American held a 4-2 lead. St. Joe’s then scored four consecutive goals in less than eight game minutes.
By the end of the first half, the Hawks held a 9-7 lead. Less than five minutes into the second half, senior Sarah Smith scored her first goal of the season, assisted by sophomore Rebecca Lane. This began a streak of six unanswered goals for the Hawks. The Eagles were unable to score in the final half, allowing St. Joe’s to cruise to its first victory of the season.
“Nora McCallion and Rebecca Lane both stepped up and did what they do well, which is put the ball in the back of the net,” said Head Coach Alex Kahoe. “As a whole, I think it was really good for the offense to get a good feel and really execute what we’ve been working on in practice.”
McCallion had a very impressive senior debut, scoring five goals on five shots and assisting another three. Lane and freshman Julia Pash each contributed three goals of their own as well. Overall, eight Hawks wound up scoring in the season opener and St. Joe’s began their season with a remarkable win.
“It’s always nice to come out and win our first game,” Kahoe said. “I think that we definitely showed some resilience today with an overall team win. I think it was a great game and a great day.”
The men’s lacrosse team had a game scheduled immediately after the women’s victory against the University of Pennsylvania Quakers. After dropping their season opener on Feb. 14 to the nationally third-ranked University of Maryland, the Hawks fell to 0-2 after their loss to Penn, who entered the game ranked 19 in the country.
The Hawks found themselves in a hole after going down 3-0 after the first quarter.
The second quarter opened with two more goals from the Quakers, putting St. Joe’s in a 5-0 deficit. Finally, about midway through the second quarter, junior Jason Kelly scored his third goal of the season and the first of the game for the Hawks. Unfortunately for St. Joe’s, Penn responded with three consecutive goals.
“Jason Kelly has really been playing well,” said Head Coach Taylor Wray. “He’s being assertive this year and starting to attack for the first time. He has had three goals in the last two games.”
In the third quarter, senior Kevin Reidinger scored back-to-back goals for St. Joe’s. They were his third and fourth goals of the season.
“He [Kevin] certainly was not feeling like his normal self, but he’s a warrior and he battled through and had two huge goals for us today.”
The Hawks then entered the final quarter of play down 8-3. Penn scored first, but St. Joe’s responded with a goal from junior Kyle Cain. The Quakers then scored their 10th goal of the game, but again St. Joe’s responded when junior Hayes McGinley scored his first goal of the season.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, that would be the extent of the game’s scoring and St. Joe’s would fall by a score of 10-5. They finished the game with zero assists from any player.
“I thought the one really bright spot for us today was the play of T.J. Jones in goal,” Wray said. “We know T.J. is an exceptional goaltender and he bails us out a lot defensively. He played very well today.”
The women’s team will take the field again when they host Temple University at 3 p.m. on Feb. 22 before hosting Villanova University at 4 p.m. on Mar. 1 in the Holy War. The men’s team will travel to Duke University to take on the 14th ranked Blue Devils at 1 p.m. on Feb. 25.
