Men's Lacrosse Pushes Past Holy Cross

Saturday, March 19

West Point, N.Y.

12 PM

Army West Point

6-2, 3-0PL

Holy Cross

0-8, 0-4PL

Holy Cross

Army West Point

Men's Lacrosse Pushes Past Holy Cross

March 19, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cole Johnson finished with a career-high eight points to lead the Army West Point lacrosse team to a 16-7 win over Holy Cross in Patriot League action on Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium.

"We tried to get our long sticks on the proper matchups and I think that helped us quite a bit after the first quarter," said head coach Joe Alberici. "It felt like we were able to condense the field on the defensive end and produce on offense."

Johnson contributed a career-high eight points, on four goals and four assists, for the Black Knights. He is the first player to tally eight points since John Glesener '15 had eight against Lafayette in 2013. Jones and Connor Cook added four goals and three goals, respectively. In all, seven different players netted goals in the win.

A.J. Barretto made nine saves in net with three in the final quarter. He improves to 5-2 on the season.

Dan Grabher, once again, dominated in faceoffs, winning 11-of-12 draws on the day and picked up seven ground balls. Alex Daly chipped in with eight wins on 11 chances and had three ground balls.

Army (6-2, 3-0 PL) trailed 3-2 after the first quarter, but scored four straight in the second period to take a 6-3 lead into halftime. Holy Cross (0-8, 0-4 Patriot League) got a goal back early in the third quarter, but the Black Knights went on to outscore the visitors 10-3 over the remainder of the contest.

The Crusaders (0-8, 0-4 PL) were led by Jon Vogel, who tallied a hat trick for the visitors. Sean Wilkinson and Logan LeBlond each finished with a goal and an assist for two points. Goalie Michael Ortlieb made 11 stops in net in the loss.

"As you progress into your Patriot League schedule, the stakes continue to grow," Alberici said. "We are going to face a terrific team in Colgate next week and we'll have to elevate all parts of our game. We have to continue to get better defensively and get stingier on the defensive end working through some of our recoveries off of slides. Colgate is a talented team and we will have to have one of our best performances of the season to come away with the victory."

The Crusaders came out buzzing with two goals in the first 3:28 of the game with back-to-back tallies from Kevin Lux and Vogel. Army was able to settle down Holy Cross with two of its own to answer right back. Cook scored seven seconds after Vogel's tally, thanks to a faceoff win by Grabher, and Johnson netted his first of four on the day with 2:50 left in the frame. The Crusaders fought back and took a 3-2 lead into the second quarter with LeBlond scoring unassisted with 1:47 on the clock.

The second frame was all Army. The Black Knights outscored the Crusaders 4-0 and built up a 6-3 advantage going into the half. Jones found the net for the first time with a man-up tally midway through the frame and Grabher tacked on another off a faceoff win with an assist to Austin Colvin and Army led for the first time at 4-3 with 5:53 left in the second quarter. Cook scored his second of the day to increase the lead to 5-3 and then Jones tallied his second of the quarter with 1:10 on the clock.

Vogel got one back coming out of the locker room to cut the lead to 6-4, but that was the closest Holy Cross got. The Black Knights scored five of the next six goals and took a commanding 11-5 lead into the final quarter. Jones finished off the hat trick, while Johnson added to in the stanza. Jimbo Moore got on the scoresheet with a man-up goal and Colvin recorded his third goal of the season to along with his assist.

The momentum carried over to the final quarter as Johnson and Jones each found the net in 20 seconds apart early in the frame to make it a 13-5 Army lead. Cook increased the lead to 14-5 with his third of the day coming with 4:50 remaining. David Symmes and Nick Santorelli both scored for the Black Knights down the stretch, while Lux and Vogel added to the Crusaders' total, but Army came away with the 16-7 win.

The Black Knights outshot Holy Cross by a 40-27 margin and had a 34-24 advantage in ground balls. Army was once again dominant in faceoffs, winning 22-of-27, and the Black Knights were a perfect 11-for-11 on clears.

Next up for the Black Knights is a rematch of last year's Patriot League Championship game as they head up to Colgate for a 1 p.m. faceoff on March 26 on American Sports Network.

Game Notes: This was the 26th all-time meeting between Army and Holy Cross … Army won for the 25th time in the series … the 16 goals were the most for Army opposite Holy Cross since 2006 … the Black Knights are 14-0 at home against the Crusaders … head coach Joe Alberici won his 97th game in his coaching career and his 89th at Army … the Black Knights won 20 or more faceoffs for the third time this season and the 22 won tied a season high, which came against Lehigh last weekend … Johnson's eight points are the most since John Glesener had eight against Lafayette in 2013 … Garrett Thul '14 also had eight points in a game that season with seven goals and an assist opposite Michigan … Army held an opponent scoreless in a quarter for the sixth time … The Black Knights allowed less than 10 goals for the sixth time this season.