March 24, 2007

Final Stats

PHILADELPHIA - The Marist men's lacrosse team fell in its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener on Saturday, suffering a 6-5 overtime loss to Saint Joseph's. Junior midfielder Pete O'Hara (Babylon, N.Y.) led the Red Foxes with two goals and seven shots on goal.

The game was low-scoring at the half, as the teams played to a 1-1 tie in the first 30 minutes. After a goal from sophomore midfielder Paul Santavicca (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) gave the Red Foxes a 2-1 lead 4:47 into the third quarter, Saint Joseph's answered with four consecutive goals to take a 5-2 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, the Red Foxes scored three unanswered goals to tie the game at five apiece. O'Hara's second goal, which forced overtime, came with 12.2 seconds left in regulation and was set up by senior midfielder Keith Detelj (Sayville, N.Y.) - who finished with a goal, an assist and four shots on goal.

However, Saint Joseph's pulled out the victory just 50 seconds into overtime, as Steve Varga scored the game-winner with an assist from Alex Lopes. Lopes led Saint Joseph's with a goal and two assists in the game, and Varga's game-winner was his second tally of the day.

Marist outshot Saint Joseph's by a 42-25 margin, and picked up 14 ground balls to nine for Saint Joseph's. Sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Penner (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) made eight saves for the Red Foxes.

Marist (0-6 overall, 0-1 MAAC) will return to action on Wednesday, when the Red Foxes will take on conference foe Mount St. Mary's at 3 p.m. in Emmitsburg, Md. The game is a makeup from last weekend, when the originally-scheduled contest was postponed twice due to inclement weather.