April 29, 2006
Final Stats
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The Siena Saints men's lacrosse team (4-10, 3-5) concluded their 2006 season with a convincing 13-6 win over the Wagner Seahawks (0-15, 0-8) in Staten Island on Saturday afternoon. In all, eight individual Saints appeared under the goal column in the stat line, led by junior Michael Aylward, who scored three times to complete a hat trick on the day.
Junior Matt Donovan and the dynamic freshman duo of Matt Girsh and Chris Zarins followed close behind Aylward in scoring with a pair of goals each. Junior Brett Mathis and freshman Kenny Mazzone each scored a goal, while seniors Philip Ferrara and Matt Walsh officially ended their collegiate careers tallying a goal apiece to round out the Saints' scoring on the day.
The Saints opened up the contest with three-straight goals, courtesy of Girsh, Donovan and Mazzone, respectively. The scoring spree began at the 13:09 mark and ended at the 7:31 mark when Wagner's Anthony Camacho put the Seahawks on the board with a goal that made the game, 3-1, in favor of the Saints.
Wagner would only score once more in the second period, as the Saints out-scored the Seahawks 4-1 to end the first half of play with a 7-2 lead. Aylward scored two of his three goals with 2:20 remaining in the first period and with 1:24 left to play in the half, both of which came unassisted. Donovan and Girsh accounted for the remaining Siena goals in the run. It was a one-two combination for both players, as Girsh assisted Donovan, while Donovan assisted Girsh in their goals.
The tenacity on offense contrived by the Saints in the first half held steadfast early into the second half of play as Zarins found net just 26 seconds into the third period off an assist from Ferrara, which increased the Saints lead to six, 8-2.
After an exchange of goals by Ferrara and Wagner's Tom Marchetti, which made the score, 9-3, Walsh registered his final goal ever as a Saint with 3:49 remaining in the third period, as he blew the ball past Seahawks' goalie Chris Sochacki to make the score, 10-4. For his career, Walsh now places in Siena's school annals with 96 goals; a mark that seats him fifth all-time in individual scoring.
The Seahawks made a valiant effort at mounting a comeback in the form of two-straight goals by Jeff Policicchio and Marchetti that sliced the deficit to four, 10-6, but the Saints were too much as they scored three unanswered insurance goals by Aylward, Mathis and Zarins, en route to a seven point victory.
Statistically, both teams went 11-for-22 in face-offs, while the Saints picked up 31 ground balls, compared to the Seahawks' mark of 29. In goal for the Saints, David Jalette recorded nine saves in the first three periods, while senior John Bamford finished his Siena career registering three saves in the game's final 15 minutes.
