PHOTO CREDIT: Megan Levesque '18

BIDDEFORD, Maine – Sophomore attack Tiger Hopkins (Leeds, Maine) scored with 10 seconds left in regulation to lift Saint Joseph's College (1-0) past University of New England (0-2), 8-7, in the Monks' 2024 opener at Blue Bolt Field on Wednesday.

For the Monks, today's victory is the program's first-ever over UNE as the Nor'easters prevailed in each of the previous seven meetings between the in-state rivals.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

St. Joe's held a 2-1 lead four minutes into the first quarter as grad midfielder Nathaniel Girardin (Brunswick, Maine) netted the Monks' first goal of the season at the 12:47 mark and junior attack Will Levesque (Marlow, N.H.) hit paydirt 80 seconds later. UNE turned the tide with three consecutive strikes, with an Andrew Lawrence tally tying the contest and a pair of Sam McGregor strikes gave the hosts a 4-2 advantage with 13:32 left in the second stanza.

Saint Joseph's proceeded to tie the game with a pair of goals in a matter of two minutes, as senior Tim Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) scored off a Girardin pass at the 10:59 mark and grad Xavier Michaud (Wales, Maine) found the back of the net off a Matt Denman (Brentwood, N.H.) feed with 9:13 before the break. The teams headed into intermission with the score knotted at four-apiece.

The Monks and Nor'easters swapped two-goal swings in the third quarter, as Stephen Fogarty and Collin Jackson notched man-up markers in the first five minutes before Levesque scored twice during a two-minute window, the second being a man-up tally off a Hopkins pass to tie the game at 6-6 with 5:27 to play in the penultimate period. Fogarty put his team back on top with an unassisted strike at the 1:55 mark of the third quarter.

The defensive battle continued into the final frame, as the Nor'easters held on to the one-goal edge until Denman scored the game-tying goal with an unassisted bid and 6:16 on the clock. The Nor'easters fired off five shots in the closing minutes - four off target and another stopped by freshman keeper Reed Wescott (Windham, Maine) – before the Monks cleared the ball with 28 seconds left when Head Coach Bill Cosentino called a timeout to draw up a play.

With time counting down, Hopkins steered a shot past UNE netminder Evan Hazard. On the ensuing face-off with 10 seconds on the clock, SJC sophomore Nick Wesley (Peabody, Mass.) won the draw with Hopkins scooping up the ground ball to clinch the victory.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (40-35) and shots on goal (22-17) while UNE posted advantages in ground balls (31-19), saves (14-10), face-offs (9-8), and caused turnovers (8-4).

THE KEEPERS:

SJC junior Liam Greene (Mansfield, Mass.) made six saves in the first half while Wescott made four stops in the second half to pick up the victory. Hazard made 14 saves in a losing effort.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Levesque paced the SJC offense with three goals
• Girardin netted a goal with an assist and three ground balls
• Hopkins and Denman tallied a goal and an assist apiece

LEADERS – UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND:

• McGregor and Fogarty scored two goals apiece
• Ben Gowell won 9-of-17 face-offs and picked up five ground balls
• August Hand added three caused turnovers

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will play at Emerson College on Saturday at 1:00 PM. 

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