Men's Lacrosse Drops Final Non-Conference Match To WCSU

DANBURY, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's lacrosse team dropped a non-conference road contest Tuesday evening against Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), 20-3, under the lights on a cool and crisp night at the Westside Athletic Complex.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Saint Joseph 3, Western Connecticut 20
Records: USJ 4-5, WCSU 8-1
Location: Westside Athletic Complex | Danbury, Conn. 

The Blue Jays received one goal each on the night from junior midfielder Noah Mocksfield (Colchester, Conn.), sophomore attackman Ryan Paltauf (Southbury, Conn.), and senior attackman Matt Guerin (East Longmeadow, Mass.) to pace the offense. Freshman Garrett Lazor (Masuk, Conn.) also chipped in with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers for USJ. Western Connecticut was led by freshman attack Julian Duque (Mastic, N.Y.), who scored a game-high eight goals in a variety of ways. WCSU assisted on 12 of its 20 goals in total and looked confident on both ends from start to finish, playing with a pace that was difficult to stop.

Western Connecticut scored the first nine goals of the game to take a commanding lead that they would hold on to for the game's entirety. USJ scored twice in the second period, battling on every trip into its offensive zone, but trailed 11-2 at the half. WCSU kept up the pressure and stayed hot offensively though, zipping the ball around and scoring six-straight goals in the third period to put the game out of reach.

COACH QUOTE [Andrew Fink]
"Tough one tonight against a really good Western Connecticut team. Our goal was to come out and be as competitive as we could and try to get better. When you play against teams like this, you are going to get better. We will use this to improve our game as we focus on GNAC games the rest of the way."

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

USJ – Graduate senior stopper Joseph Varagnolo (Centereach, N.Y.) took the loss (1-1), allowing 17 goals and making seven saves in 45 minutes of action between the pipes. Freshman goalkeeper Nick Schilling (Brookfield, Conn.) saw 15 minutes of action for the visitors, playing the entire fourth period.

WCSU – Sophomore stopper Brendan Grove (Cheshire, Conn.) earned the victory in the cage for the hosts (8-1). He allowed two goals in 45 minutes of play with nine saves. Freshman goalie Seth Hurt (Griswold, Conn.) and junior goalkeeper Jason Friia (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) also saw time down the stretch for WCSU.

BATTLE AT THE 'X'

Faceoffs were as tight as it gets, with USJ holding the slimmest of margins, 13-11. Sophomore faceoff specialist Raymond Heim (Harwinton, Conn.) led the way for Saint Joseph winning 8-of-13 faceoff attempts.

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays are headed home for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) battle with the Cadets of Norwich University on Saturday, April 2 at 1:00 p.m. The Cadets have made the GNAC Championship in each of their last three seasons, winning it all in 2019. USJ is 0-2 all-time against Norwich.

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