PHILADELPHIA -- Senior attackman Vincent Giordano scored a career-high five goals and sophomore Curtis Dickson scored two goals and dished out two assists as the 14th ranked University of Delaware men's lacrosse squad opened the 2008 season with an 18-10 win over Saint Joseph's Saturday afternoon at Finnesy Field.

Delaware, a 2007 NCAA semifinalist and the Colonial Athletic Association champions, broke open a close game by scoring six straight goals between the third and fourth quarters and moved on to the win.

The Blue Hens (1-0), who received goals from nine different players, have now won six straight season openers and have downed the Hawks (0-1) in all eight meetings all-time. The win gave Delaware head Bob Shillinglaw his 265th win in his 32nd season, the fourth highest win total of all active NCAA Division I head coaches.

Giordano, who notched his third career hat trick, led the Blue Hen as his goal with 2:50 left in the third quarter started a six-goal Delaware run that helped the Blue Hens break away from a 10-8 lead. He also scored two goals in the final two minutes to preserve the win for the Hens.

Dickson, a member of the 2007 CAA All-Rookie team, added two goals and two assists while sophomore Martin Cahill posted his first career hat trick with three goals and added an assist, Kevin Kaminski and Beau Davis each scored twice, and Pat Lombard added a goal and two assists.

Goalkeeper Tom Scherr posted 10 saves for Delaware to pick up his 26th career win and redshirt freshman Anthony Ruiz, taking over Delaware's faceoff duties for graduated two-time All-American and all-time NCAA record-holder Alex Smith, was solid, scoring a goal and winning 16 of his 26 faceoff attempts. Delaware outshot the Hawks 37-28 and committed just three turnovers.

Saint Joseph's, which jumped out to a 3-1 lead early in the first quarter, got four goals and an assist from Scott Cullinan and three goals and three assists from Steve Varga.

After the Hawks scored three straight goals to go up 3-1 with 5:51 left in the opening stanza, the Hens reeled off three straight, two by Dickson, to take a 4-3 lead. The game featured two more ties before Giordano and Ruiz each scored in the final four minutes of the opening half to send the Hens into intermission up 7-5.

Cullinan scored the first goal of the second half to pull SJU to within 7-6, but the Hens responded with three straight goals, including one by Giordano, to go up 10-6. SJU again rallied, cutting the lead to 10-8 on a goal by Pete Slowik with 3:55 left in the third quarter. But Giordano started a six goal Delaware run that included two goals by Davis to extend the lead to 16-8 with 8:17 left.

Delaware         2    5    5    6  -  18
Saint Joseph's   3    2    3    2  -  10

Goals-Assists:

Delaware - Vincent Giordano - 5-0, Martin Cahill - 3-1, Curtis Dickson - 2-2, Kevin Kaminski - 2-0, Beau Davis - 2-0, Pat Lombard, 1-2, Cam Howard, 1-1, J.J. Moran, 1-0, Anthony Ruiz, 1-0;

Saint Joseph's - Scott Cullinan - 4-1; Steve Varga, 3-3; Chris O'Neill, 2-0; Peter Slowik, 1-0; Sean Evans, 0-1; Alex Lopes, 0-1; Steve O'Brien, 0-1.

Shots - Delaware - 37, SJU - 28
Groundballs: D - 5, SJU - 13
Faceoffs: D - 17, SJU - 14
Clears: D - 16 of 17, SJU - 13 of 13
Extra Man Goals: D - 1 of 3, SJU - 3 of 9
Saves: D - 10 (Tom Scherr), SJU - 6 (Erik Hotaling)
Turnovers: D - 3, SJU - 5
Penalties: D - 12 for 9:00, SJU - 3 for 2:30
Attendance: 889

2008-02-09