FRANKLIN, Mass. – Saint Joseph's College (4-3, 3-0 GNAC) rallied from an early four-goal deficit and scored the game's final four goals to defeat Dean College (2-5, 0-4 GNAC), 11-8, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse action at Grant Field on Sunday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Saint Joseph's struck first when junior Brandon Cavicchi (Kingston, Mass.) scored off an assist from sophomore Maxwell Plunske (South Windsor, Conn.) at the 11:37 mark of the opening quarter, but Dean answered with the next five goals to take a 5-1 lead after one period. Manny Alvarez-Segee scored three times in the frame for the Bulldogs, who also received goals from Gavin McCarthy and Connor McCarthy.
The Monks began to chip away in the second quarter. Senior Kevin Wood (Danvers, Mass.) opened the scoring with his first goal of the season, an unassisted tally, and junior Nicolas Michaud (Wales, Maine) followed to make it a 5-3 game. Dean pushed the lead back to four at 7-3, but Saint Joseph's responded with goals just nine seconds apart from Cavicchi and freshman Aidan Byrne (West Newbury, Mass.) in the final two minutes of the half to pull within 7-5 at the break.
Dean scored the first goal of the third quarter to regain a three-goal cushion, but it proved to be the Bulldogs' final tally of the afternoon as the Monks closed the game with six unanswered goals.
Plunske scored with 8:45 left in the third period to start the six-goal run, and sophomore Noah Schaeffer (Gray, Maine) followed with an unassisted marker at 6:08 to trim the deficit to 8-7 entering the fourth.
Saint Joseph's dominated the final quarter. Cavicchi tied the game at 8-8 off a feed from Schaeffer, Michaud put the Monks in front for good with a man-up goal at 11:01, and then added another off an assist from junior Joseph Kiedaisch (Westminster, Mass.). Cavicchi capped the comeback with his fourth goal of the day on a helper from Byrne, giving Saint Joseph's an 11-8 lead with 7:13 remaining, and the SJC defense made it stand the rest of the way.
STATS OF THE GAME:
Dean held the edge in shots (45-37), ground balls (46-28), and face-offs (18-5), but Saint Joseph's made the most of its opportunities with a 25-22 advantage in shots on goal and a 25-for-29 clearing performance. The Monks also converted their lone extra-man opportunity and held Dean scoreless on all three of its man-up chances.
THE KEEPERS:
Junior Reed Wescott (Windham, Maine) earned the win with 14 saves for Saint Joseph's, including seven stops in the fourth quarter. Dean goalkeeper David MacNeil made 14 saves in the loss.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Brandon Cavicchi – 4 goals
- Nicolas Michaud – 3 goals, 2 ground balls
- Maxwell Plunske – 1 goal, 1 assist
- Noah Schaeffer – 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 caused turnover
- Aidan Byrne – 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
- Kevin Wood – 1 goal, 2 ground balls
- Tony Samiotes (Gr., Hampstead, N.H.) – 5 ground balls, 1 caused turnover
- Cody Southwick (So., Saco, Maine) – 5-of-22 face-offs
- Alec Henry (So., Hampstead, N.H.) – 3 caused turnovers
LEADERS – DEAN:
- Manny Alvarez-Segee – 4 goals, 1 assist, 4 ground balls
- Connor McCarthy – 2 goals
- Gavin McCarthy – 1 goal, 3 ground balls
- Nick Fernandez – 1 goal, 9 shots
- Josh Hackett – 17-of-21 face-offs, 8 ground balls
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 3-3 all-time versus Dean College. The victory is also the Monks' first in Franklin since March 18, 2023, when Saint Joseph's posted an 11-10 road win.
NEXT:
The Monks return to action on Saturday, March 21, when they travel to Northfield, Vermont, to face Norwich University in a 1:00 PM GNAC contest.
