Mazzone’s Six Goals Power PC Men’s Lacrosse Past St. John’s In BIG EAST Opener

Providence College Press Release

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Providence College men’s lacrosse team defeated St. John’s, 15-10, today (April 2) for the first time in program history in its BIG EAST opener.  The Red Storm won the previous 15 meetings between the two programs.  The Friars’ 15 goals also tied the team’s season high, having previously defeated UMass Lowell, 15-11, on March 22.  The Friars improve to 7-3 (1-0 BIG EAST) on the season, while St. John’s falls to 1-9 (0-1 BIG EAST). 

The Red Storm’s Jackson O’Leary notched the first goal of the game within the first two minutes of the play (13:00) to give St. John’s a 1-0 lead. St. John’s then extended its lead with two unanswered goals at 9:52 and 7:54 to make the game 3-0.

At 5:49 mark of the first quarter, freshman Nick Hatzipetrakos (Syossett, N.Y.) notched the Friars’ first goal of the game off of a feed from senior Will Mazzone (Stony Brook, N.Y.) to make the score 3-1. The goal marked Hatzipetrakos’s fourth goal of the season, and fourth in last three games. 

Providence wasted no time in closing the gap. Freshman Brendan Kearns (Wantagh, N.Y.) quickly found Mazzone at 4:55, who found the back of the net for his first goal of the game. The first quarter ended with St. John’s leading (3-2). 

The Mazzone-Kearns duo was back at it again in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Kearns fed the ball to Mazzone from behind the net, and with a little maneuvering, Mazzone cashed in to give the Friars the equalizer (3-3). 

The Red Storm responded with two-unanswered goals at 11:37 and 9:49 to regain and then extend their lead, 5-3.

At the 4:39 mark in the second quarter, Mazzone notched his third goal of the game to record his fourth hat trick of the season. 

Junior Keenan Assaraf (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) sent a bullet toward the goal at 2:51 to tie the game at 5-5.  Mazzone kept Providence rolling with a goal soon after Assaraf’s bullet (2:01) to give the Friars their first lead of the game (6-5) entering the locker room at halftime. 

At 11:16 in the third quarter, senior Nolan Fillet (Rockville, Md.) notched his fifth goal of the season to extend Providence’s lead to 7-5. 

St. John’s closed the gap to just a one-goal (7-6) with 10:06 remaining on the clock in the third quarter, but it provide to be as close as the Red Storm could get the rest of the way. 

Assaraf responded with his second goal of the game to extend the Friars’ lead to 8-6 at 8:55. The goal also marked Assaraf’s fifth multi-point game of the season, all of which have come during five of the last six games. 

With 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter senior Michael Perettine notched his first goal of the game to give Providence a three-goal advantage. Perettine has scored at least one goal in a stretch of eight-consecutive games.

Mazzone tallied his fifth of the game just 11-seconds later (00:09), unassisted, to give the Friars a 10-6 lead heading into the fourth and final quarter. 

The Friars made a statement within the first minute of the fourth quarter with two unanswered goals – marking a streak of five-straight goals since the 8:55 mark of the third quarter. Sophomore Connor Byrne (Hicksville, N.Y.) collected the first goal at 14:47, while Assaraf notched his third of the game at 14:19 to give Providence a healthy six-goal lead (12-6). 

St. John’s managed to break the Friars’ five-goal unanswered streak with a goal at 11:41.

Providence didn’t let that stop them though, as Mazzone fed the ball to Kearns (10:57), who then collected his first goal of the game to make the score 13-6. Mazzone continued to stuff the staff sheet with another goal at 9:58. The goal tied his single-game season-high six goals to give Providence a 14-7 lead.

The Red Storm responded with their eighth goal of the game at 6:25, but senior Kevin Blair (Hingham, Mass.) matched that with his first tally of the season at 4:44 to make the score 15-8.

St. John’s tried to close the gap with two unanswered goals with 2:55 and 53-seconds remaining to make the score 15-10, however, the Red Storm ran out of time, giving Providence a 15-10 victory.  

In net for Providence was freshman Tate Boyce (Matthews, N.C.). Boyce made 13 saves, while the Red Storm’s collection of goalie’s totaled 16 saves.

Junior Colin McKendry (Cary, N.C.) was impressive at the “X” for the Friars, winning 16 of the 27 face-off opportunities that he took (.593).  He also picked up a game-high seven ground balls.  Sophomore Connor Byrne (Hicksville, N.Y.) was second on the team for Providence in ground balls, with five.

“Our preparation was terrific, and the guys were motivated to put forth a better effort than a year ago,” said head coach Chris Gabrielli. “It started with ground balls, led by Colin McKendry’s success at the face-off “X” and strong wing play led by Connor Byrne. Eventually we started getting stops on the defensive end, got out in transition, and our attack finished well.”

“We have tremendous respect for St. John’s grit and toughness. They help out team recognize what BIG EAST lacrosse is all about. I’m proud that our guys passed the test today.”

The Friars will return to action on April 9 when they travel to Washington, D.C. for a 3:00 p.m. match-up against BIG EAST foe Georgetown.