April 29, 2006
The Fairfield University men's lacrosse team won its final contest of the 2006 campaign, defeating ECAC Lacrosse League foe and host St. John's 12-7 this evening in Queens, N.Y. The Stags finish the campaign at 6-7 overall and with a 4-3 mark in their first-ever ECAC Lacrosse League season. The Red Storm fall to 4-9 on the year and 0-7 in conference action.
With a 7-5 halftime advantage the Fairfield defense tightened allowing just two second half tallies by the host, to pull away for the win. Senior Josh Thornton, in his final game in a Stags uniform, sscored the first goal of the second half, at 12:32 to put the Stags up three, 8-5. After a Red Storm goal at 4:43 cut the lead back to two, Mike Bocklet tallied a goal with 88 seconds left in the third quarter, from a pass from Dan Boudreau.
Boudreau started the fourth quarter with a goal from a pss from Greg Downing, to make the lead 10-6 with 13:56 to play. Travis Nelson scored unassisted 70 seconds later, and after a St. John's tally at 12:57, Bocklet wrapped up the scoring with a goal from the pass of Brendan Finnerty at 11:42.
Thornton finished his career with a three-point effort, on two goals and an assist. Fellow seniors Trevor Kelly and Brian Lange both started their final games for the Stags. Kelly recorded a ground ball.
Nelson had his third straight five-point effort to finish the season. On this night he touched net three times, with two assists, as well as two ground balls. Bocklet added three goals, while Finnerty had a goal and two assists, as did Downing.
Mike Kruger played well again for the Stags, as he recorded 11 saves in the contest, while allowing only seven goals.
The Stags jumped on top early in the game, taking a 3-0 lead with 6:14 to play in the first quarter. Finnerty scored first on a pass from Travis Nelson. Thornton gave the Stags the 2-0 lead at 8:06 on a pass from Downing and Nelson tabbed his second assist, feeding Bocklet for the 3-0 lead. The Red Storm answered with two goals, one to end the first and one to start the second, to close to 3-2, but would get no closer. The teams traded goals over the last 9:42 of the half as Nelson twice, Downing, and Chris Manley all scored for a 7-5 halftime lead.
The Stags were out shot on the night, 35-34, and St. John's had more ground balls, 43-40, but Fairfield won 14-23 face-offs, all taken by Charlie Keinath. Fairfield cleared the ball well once again, going 18-19, while holding the Red Storm to 20-26.
Man-up was a factor in the win as well. Fairfield scored on 4-9 chances, and the Stags man-down defense gave up two goals on 10 Red Storm chances in the contest.
