FAIRFIELD, CT (March 2, 2013) - The Sacred Heart men's lacrosse team used a six-goal third quarter to erase a five-goal Holy Cross lead but two late Crusader goals in the fourth quarter snuffed out the rally and sent the Pioneers to an 11-9 loss Saturday afternoon on Campus Field.  SHU sophomore goalkeeper Jon Flood (Bay Shore, NY) turned in 17 saves for the Pioneers.  Holy Cross got five points on three goals and two assists from senior Jamie Kennedy in the win.

The Pioneers (0-3) fell behind 4-2 after the first quarter and 7-2 at the half before putting together some offensive fireworks in the third.  Eight different Pioneers scored a goal on Saturday with senior Matt King (Brewster, NY) scoring twice in the loss.

After Holy Cross (2-2) opened the scoring at 13:08 on a John Hannan unassisted goal, the Pioneers buried their first two shots of the game off the sticks of King and junior Joe Burek (Kinnelon, NJ) for a 2-1 lead.  From there, the Crusaders owned the rest of the first half, ripping off six-straight goals.  Hannan scored his second followed by Kennedy and Clay Haarmann closed the first quarter with a man-up goal.  HC outshot SHU 17-3 in the first quarter and 29-10 in the first half.

The Pioneers opened the third quarter with a man-up goal on a strong individual effort by junior Alex Miller (Ridgewood, NJ).  HC's Haarmann answered at 7:31 but the Pioneers closed the third with a 5-1 run to pull within a goal.  SHU flipped the script on the Crusaders, outshooting Holy Cross 11-8 in the quarter and scoring five goals in the span of 4:04.

Sophomore Mark Macdonald (Billerica, MA) and senior Shane Foley (South Brunswick, NJ) went back-to-back at 6:30 and 6:03.  Haarmann scored his third of the game at 4:29 but the Pioneers closed the third with scores by senior Trevor Dauses (Glen Arm, MD), junior Tim Caton (East Rochester, NY) and junior Matt Gannon (Huntington, NY) to head to the fourth down 9-8.

Both goalkeepers were tested in the fourth and both turned in four saves.  The Pioneers got a man-up opportunity with 4:41 left and missed a chance to tie as a shot by junior Cody Marquis (Londonderry, NH) went off the cross bar and another by King was turned away by Crusader goalie Kenny O'Connor.

Holy Cross put some distance on the Pioneers with 2:40 left as Kennedy beat the SHU defense and deposited in the back of the cage and Conor Shanahan added some insurance with a marker at 1:07.

The Crusaders out shot the Pioneers 49-29 on the afternoon.  In addition to Kennedy's five points, Hannan and Haarmann had three points each.  O'Connor made six saves to earn the win.

SHU senior Stephen Kontos (Danvers, MA) won 17 of 24 face-offs and had six ground balls for the Pioneers.

Sacred Heart remains at home to host the Yale Bulldogs on Tuesday night at 7 pm.

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