Men's Lacrosse Game

The Men’s Lacrosse team secured their first home win of the season on Saturday, handling the Monks of Saint Joseph’s College of Maine 12-9. The SMAC was filled with cheers as our Wildcats put on a show for the home crowd. I stood on the sideline with the women’s basketball head coach Dino Porcic. Both of us were playing catch-up on the rules and regulations of lacrosse, making this a very interesting game.  

After a 6-goal first quarter, the Wildcats were up 4-2. Goals in the first for JWU came from Jack Donnelly assisted by Quinn Madden, Trevor Reid assisted by Jack Donnelly, Hayden Haldane, and Jack Davis. 

In the second quarter, the Monks fought back with 3 quick goals of their own, cutting and driving across the face of the goal to get open. Wildcat Donny McInnis stopped the bleeding with an unassisted goal a few minutes in, to even the score at 5-5. Kyle Marcinko shot a heater from straight on tying the game at 6-6. The last goal of the quarter came from the Monks, sending the game to halftime with the score of 7-6. 

I can only imagine the halftime speech that came from head coach Tim Murphy because the Wildcats took over in the third quarter. 6 goals, 4 of which came off assists. Jackson Vecchio scored his 3rd goal of the season assisted by Jack Davis pushing the lead to 2 for the Wildcats, 9-7. The highlight of the game came in this third quarter as Wildcat Kyle Marcinko shot up the field, broke to the right, spun on a dime around his defender, and with one arm slung a wild shot into the top left corner of the goal. If I wasn’t interested in Lacrosse before I sure was after that. the 3rd ended with a commanding lead for JWU, scoring 12-7. The Wildcats held the Monks scoreless in the 3rd.

The fourth quarter was a defensive slaughter. JWU only took 2 shots to the Monk’s 11. Xavier Michaud scored twice for the Monks in the 4th unable to conquer the 5-point deficit. Wildcat goalie Chris April stepped up and protected his house with 13 saves. Johnson & Wales put together their first home win of the season and as the final seconds dripped off the clock, Wildcat Jack Davis plopped the ball down in the corner and ran back to celebrate with his teammates. 

Quick Quotes:

What did getting this first home win mean for the team and the long season ahead?

Junior midfielder Jackson Vecchio told me, “It meant a great deal to us, not only securing our first win at home but having it come against a GNAC opponent. I think we really made a statement that the SMAC is going to be a tough environment for opposing teams to get wins. We always take great pride in defending our home field and getting that first one at home sets the tone and gets us rolling into the rest of the season.”