Men’s Lacrosse Beat Rivals in Battle of West Hartford

The Hartford men’s lacrosse team traveled a few miles down the road this past Saturday, as they squared off against the University of Saint Joseph.

It was a neck-and-neck battle in the first quarter as it finished tied at twos. Despite Saint Joseph coming out to an early 2-0 lead, the Hawks would battle it out as Griffin Weller and Aidan Kemp found the back of the net. After allowing six goals in the first half, Hartford would hold the Blue Jays to just one goal down the stretch in the second half. The momentum shifted to the away squad as Hartford outscored their opponents 5-1 in the second half to win the game 10-7. A goal by John Furino and back-to-back goals by Eric Kelley was the winning goals that put Hartford on top. It was a very physical rivalry game that saw a total of 21 infractions for a total time of 21:30.

Freshman Eric Kelley led the way for the Hawks scoring a team-high five goals. Griffin Weller continues to be a huge contributor assisting four different times to go along with a pair of goals. Hartford finished with 44 shots with 25 of those being on goal, while Saint Joseph had 37 shots with 20 on goal. Freshman goalkeeper Andrew Leibold came into the game at halftime and was a huge contributor to the lockdown defense in the second half as he saved eight of the nine shots on goal that he faced. This one makes this season the best start since the 2001 Hawks opened their season with four consecutive wins.

The next game for Hartford is tonight at 7:30 p.m. against Gordon.