Friars Put up Five Goals Against No. 1/1 Orange

The Lacrosse Team (0-12, 0-4 Big East) seeks its first win of the season this Saturday, May 1, at 2:00 p.m., against No. 9/9 Villanova at the Friar Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.  The game will be preceded by the Friars' annual Alumni Game beginning at 11:00 a.m.

On Saturday, April 24, the Friars dropped a 14-5 game to No. 1/1 Syracuse University on before a crowd of 4,956 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. While PC hung tough for much of the match, the Orange were just too much to handle down the stretch.

Goaltender Christian Dzwilewski '12 had a career day in the cage for PC, making a personal-best 15 saves while allowing 14 goals for a .517 save percentage in 58:33 minutes of action. 

"I thought the team gave an outstanding effort throughout the whole game, but specifically in the first half," said Dzwilewski. "We entered the third quarter trailing 6-3, which was extremely remarkable considering Syracuse is No. 1 in the nation."

Attackman Christopher Mahoney '12 paced the Friar offense with two goals, marking the second straight game in which Mahoney recorded two scores. Evan Helda '11 also played a strong all-around game for PC, scoring a goal, picking up five ground balls, and winning 7-of-10 face-offs to lead the Friar midfield.

Providence performed well in the face-off game for the second-straight game, winning 14-of-23 face-offs (.609) against a Syracuse unit that came into the game ranked eighth in the nation with a .576 face-off percentage.

"We played very hard, tough lacrosse against a very good team," said Head Coach Chris Burdick. "We were very aggressive when we had to be which was nice to see against a high caliber team such as Syracuse."

After a scoreless four-and-a-half minutes to open the game, Syracuse's Chris Daniello put the Orange on the board with a score at the 10:43 mark of the first quarter. The Orange then recorded another two goals in the frame and led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter.  At the 13:46 mark of the second quarter, the Friars earned their first score of the contest, as Mahoney wrapped around the Orange net and beat keeper John Galloway for the goal (3-1). 

After two more scores by the Orange built the SU lead to 5-1 at the 9:28 mark of the second quarter, Mahoney beat the Orange defense yet again with his second goal of the day to move the Friars back within three at 5-2 with 8:27 to go in the half. With 5:01 minutes remaining in the frame, Providence struck again when defenseman Ryan Reidl '10 raced down the field and dropped a good pass off to midfielder Colin Tigh '10 who finished with a nifty goal to cut the Orange lead to 5-3.  The Orange recorded the final goal of the half and led 6-3 at intermission.

Syracuse opened the third quarter with three goals and led 9-3 at the 10:58 mark of the frame. With 4:18 minutes to go in the period, the Friars stopped the Orange run, as Helda rifled a shot past Galloway off a good feed from midfielder Daniel Textor '13 for the score. Less than a minute later, midfielder Jake Nolan '12 made a strong drive to the ‘Cuse goal and launched a magnificent shot into the top right corner of the net to move the Friars back within four at 9-5. Tim Barry '10 assisted on the goal for his first-career point.

The Orange responded with a 2-0 run to close the period and led 11-5 after three quarters of play, outscoring the Friars 3-0 in the final quarter to secure the 14-5 victory.   
On a more positive note, goaltender Christian Dzwilewski '12 was named to the Big East Men's Lacrosse Honor Roll for the second consecutive week on Monday, April 26. It marked the third time in four weeks he has earned the honor, as he also garnered Big East recognition on April 5 and April 19.

"These past games have been building up in effort, performance, and outcome," Dzwilewski said. "I think people are starting to notice. Our job as a lacrosse team is to inspire others, and even without a win, I think our team is doing that on and off the field, whether in practice or in games.  Every day we are fighting to put pride back in the program.  There's no better time than now to get a win on Alumni Weekend."

Indeed, the Friars return to action on Saturday against the Wildcats in a game that will be televised on Cox Sports at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5.

The Friars will then close out the season with their last Big East contest of the year on Sunday, May 9, at 1:00 p.m. against Rutgers at the Friar Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.

"We really do have the ability to be a very good lacrosse team," said Helda. "While our record still doesn't show it, we are extremely confident that we can ride this wave of momentum into the final two weeks in order to come away with two Big East wins to close the season."