AMHERST, Mass. - A first half scoring outburst coupled with a stifling defensive effort was all that the UMass men's lacrosse team would need as it downed St. John's, 12-6, on Saturday at Garber Field. One season after netting six goals against the Red Storm, Tim Balise led the UMass offense once again, this time finishing with five points on four goals and an assist. Fellow senior Jim Connolly chipped in with his 11th career hat trick while Doc Schneider made nine saves on 11 shots for a career-low in goals allowed (2).

The Minutemen improve to 6-3, 3-0 in the ECAC while St. John's falls to 5-4, 1-3 in conference play. With Fairfield's loss to Georgetown, UMass now stands as the only team in the ECAC with an undefeated conference mark.

For Balise, it was his ninth career hat trick, third this season and second in a row. Connolly's trick was his 11th career three-goal game and fourth of the year, also his second in a row. Freshman Art Kell, who has scored single goals in six consecutive games, had his first-career mutli-goal game with a pair of first-half tallies.

Senior midfielders Evan Blum and Rory Pedrick each added a goal and sophomore attacker Zach Rodgers had an impressive score in the fourth quarter.

The defense blanked St. John's starting attack keeping the trio pointless. For the first 56-plus minutes, UMass held the Red Storm to just two goals. St. John's scored the final four goals of the game including a natural hat trick by Carl Iacona to end the game.

Junior Diogo Godoi and senior Brennan Mack combined for seven caused turnovers and six groundballs in heading up the defense. Sophomore Travis Tripucka and freshman Greg Anderson also played key rolls in shutting down the attack.

UMass jumped to its 5-0 lead 13 seconds into the second quarter on Balise's second goal of the game. Jamal Jones got the Red Storm on the board with 11:21 left in the second quarter, but UMass scored the next four goals for a 9-1 lead. Connolly's second goal of the game -- with 2:40 left in the third quarter -- wrapped the four-goal spurt.

The Minutemen outshot the Red Storm, 32-31 and out-groundballed them 29-25. The Johnnies won the face-off duel, 12-10.

UMass continues with its ECAC schedule next Saturday at Hobart. The Minutemen return home in two weeks to face Georgetown on April 18 at 12 noon.

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AMHERST, Mass. (April 4, 2009) – Despite a late four-goal rally in the fourth period, St. John's was topped by No. 14 University of Massachusetts, 12-6, Saturday afternoon on Garber Field. With the loss, the Red Storm falls to 1-3 in conference and 5-4 overall. UMass extends its conference dominance with a 3-0 record. The Minutemen are 6-3 overall.

Rookie Carl Iacona registered his second hat trick of the season as he led St. John's with a career-best four points. Iacona scored all three of his goals in the final period of play, two with under a minute left on the game clock.

For the freshman from Massapequa, N.Y., the game was his third multi-point game this season, and his second scoring multi-goal contest. Iacona's last hat trick was during St. John's 10-5 win at Holy Cross on Feb. 14.

UMass led St. John's 12-2 until the Red Storm scored four-straight goals with under four minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Joe Bagnasco started the run with an unassisted goal at 3:44, capitalizing on the Minutemen's goalie change from Tewaaraton Trophy Candidate, Doc Schneider, to sophomore-transfer Mael Walkowiak. Schneider left the game with nine saves between the pipes for UMass.

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2009-04-04