April 12, 2008
Final Stats
Loudonville, N.Y. - Kevin Hill tallied seven points and teammate Brett Leonard added five as upstart VMI edged the Siena men's lacrosse team 9-8 this afternoon at Siena Turf Field. The loss sent the Saints to a 1-3 mark in the MAAC halfway through the conference schedule, although each of Siena's league defeats have been by a single goal.
The Keydets (5-6, 4-1) wasted no time in opening the game up early as the scored off the opening face-off. Tim Moran streaked down the field and found Hill for the first of his four goals just seven seconds in.
Before the Saints (7-5, 1-3) could catch their breaths, VMI quickly quieted a stunned crowd taking a 2-0 advantage. This time the goal came off the stick of Leonard, one of his three on the game, at the 14:15 mark.
Amazingly, the Keydets made it three goals on their first three shots of the afternoon when they went up 3-0 on another Leonard tally just 3:04 into the contest.
The Saints finally cracked the scoreboard less than a minute later off the stick of Kenny Mazzone, but still ended up trailing by three at the end of one period, 4-1.
Siena added a pair of goals in the first 2:41 of the second from Bryan Hale and Matt Leithead to pull within 4-3 but could not get any closer to end the half. VMI responded with three unanswered goals to close out the first 30 minutes and harbor a 7-3 edge entering intermission.
The Keydets outshot the Saints 22-9 in a dominant first half performance, but Siena goalie Brent Herbst stepped up to record seven of his ten saves in the opening half to prevent any further damage.
As much as VMI dominated the first 30 minutes, the second half was more or less owned by the Saints as they outshot the Keydets 24-9 in the frame as the offense got kick started.
After Jacob Weimer scored 43 seconds in to the third to give VMI their largest lead of the game at 8-3, the Saints responded with five unanswered goals to fire up the crowd and tie the game at 8-8.
Ryan Duggan led the charge with a pair of goals, while Chris Zarins and Hale added tallies during the run. The Saints' leading scorer Matt Girsh capped off the run with his team-leading 23rd goal of the season with 8:29 remaining in the fourth to pull the game even.
But despite the momentum swing, VMI got it back on their side as Hill scored his fourth goal of the day and game-winner just over two minutes later to seal the win.
Keydets goalie Sean McCoy was strong down the stretch recording 11 of his 12 saves in the second half including several in the final few minutes to preserve the win.
The Saints hope to quickly refocus as they return to action with a tough road contest on Wednesday against MAAC leader Canisius. Game time has been moved up an hour from its previously scheduled time and is now set for 3 p.m. from Buffalo.
