When and Where:

March 2, 2024  - New Haven, CT

Records:

St. Joseph's (L.I.), 0-1; Albertus Magnus, 2-1

Results:

The St. Joseph's University (L.I.) men's lacrosse team came up just short in their season opener falling to Albertus Magnus College 11-10 on Saturday afternoon.

Top performers:

• Senior Michael Carere led the Golden Eagles with five goals and two assists while going 15-for-21 on faceoffs and collecting a game-high 12 ground balls 

• Freshman Caden Strubba pitched in with two goals 

• Freshman Patrick Haggerty scooped up eight groundballs with junior Johnny Argueta picking up three and causing two turnovers

• Bailey Kirwin led the Falcons with three goals adding an assist and four groundballs 

• Rocco Albanese totaled two goals and team-high 11 groundballs

How it happened:

• The Golden Eagles opened the game with Carere finding the back of the net two and a half minutes into action. Less than a minute later, Carere dished to Nick Morales for his first goal in the blue and gold for a 2-0 SJLI lead

• The Falcons tied it up behind goals from Albanese and Kirwin

• The teams exchanged goals before Jeremy Tremblely took a pass from Kirwin putting the hosts ahead 4-3 at the end of the first quarter

• Carere opened the scoring in the second frame tying the game at 4 with 9:50 on the clock before a goal from Studda put the Golden Eagles ahead 5-4 going into halftime

• SJLI's Carere connected with Stubba for a 6-4 lead two minutes into the third quarter. Later in the quarter, Morales assisted on a goal from Matt Rittler extending their lead to 7-4

• The Falcons went back-to-back before Carere found the back of the net in the final seconds ending the quarter with SJLI ahead 8-6

• Albertus Magus started the final frame with a pair of unanswered goals taking an knotting the score at eight

• The Golden Eagles responded with back-to-back scores from Nik Allen and Carere regaining a 10-8 advantage with less than nine minutes to play

• The hosts went on to score twice putting the game at a 10-10 stalemate with just over 3:14 left to play

• Albertus Magnus managed to cause an SJLI turnover with just eight ticks left and Kirwin was able to quickly score before the final horn to secure the 11-10 win

Notes:

• Connor Van Dusen tallied 15 saves on 26 shots faced 

• SJLI totaled 43 ground balls compared to the Falcons collecting 352  

• The Golden Eagles were 15-24 on faceoffs 

• Both sides were steady clears with St. Joseph's at 15-16 and Albertus Magnus with 16-17

Next up, the Golden Eagles will host the University of Saint Joseph on Saturday, March 9th at 3:00 pm.