Men's Lacrosse Shrugs Off Mitchell in Season Opener

Patchogue, NY| Senior Casey Hickey scored twice and dished out five assists as the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's lacrosse team stormed past Mitchell College, 23-3, in a home-opening victory at Danzi Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Hickey led all players in assists and points and formed a potent partnership with senior attack Matt Prokesch, who scored a game-best four goals in his SJC debut.

Also recording hat tricks were midfielders Michael Benasutti and Zak Jones. Midfielder Jack Murray scored twice and attack Connor Casillo went for a goal and two assists.

St. Joseph's got on the board early when sophomore Declan Canevari won the game's opening faceoff and beat the Mitchell keeper 21 seconds into the contest. Hickey had a hand in four of the next six goals as SJC went up 7-0 by the end of the first quarter.

Five more tallies in the second widened the gap to 12 goals, but 19 seconds into the third quarter Mitchell finally got on the board with a man-up tally. Back-to-back scores from Prokesch made it a 13-goal game (14-1) 1:30 later, and at the start of the fourth it was a 19-3 lead for the hosts.

Casillo posted all three of his points in the fourth, a quarter in which the Golden Eagles struck an additional four times to clinch a 23-3 victory.  

In his first game with SJC, sophomore keeper Adam Sivon made four saves and was credited with the victory. Sophomore Andrew Yoli made two saves in the third quarter and freshman Ryan Wheeler appeared in the fourth and was forced into one save.

Dominant from start to finish, St. Joseph's outshot the Mariners 45-19 and scooped up 74 ground balls to Mitchell's 23. Eight of those were credited to Canevari, who also went 13-15 on faceoffs.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Friday, March 2 when they visit non-conference opponent Salve Regina at 5:00 pm. Follow the action live here.