Sawyer Leads JSC Past Emerson 8-7
Goalkeeper Branden Sawyer made 19 saves, several spectacular stops, to lead Johnson past Emerson 8-7 on Saturday
JOHNSON, Vt. (April 11, 2009)
Johnson State raced to a 7-1 halftime lead but saw the lead evaporate to 7-6 before a late goal propelled the Badgers to the big North Atlantic Conference men’s lacrosse victory on Saturday at Minaert Field.
With Johnson (4-2, 4-2 NAC) leading 7-6 and Emerson (5-3, 5-3 NAC) having scored the game’s last five goals, Billy Noyes (Jr., Boston, Mass./Northeast Regional) stripped a Lion defender, scooped the groundball, and fed Erik Tillberg (Jr., Randolph, Vt./Randolph) who found the back of the net with 2:49 remaining in the contest and give JSC the two-goal margin. Emerson would cut the lead to one when Roger Tower (Jr., Titusville, N.J./Hopewell Valley) tallied his first goal of the game with 1:37 left to play but the Lions would not put together another strong scoring opportunity and JSC would claim the win.
Both goalkeepers were standouts in this contest with Branden Sawyer (Jr., East Greenwich, R.I./Greenwich) making 19 saves while counterpart Patrick Curran (Fr., Framingham, Mass./Framingham) stopped 21 shots for Emerson.
Billy Noyes had two goals and two assists for the game while Tillberg and freshman Alex Petti (East Greenwich, R.I./Greenwich) each scored a pair of goals. Matt Riani (Sr., Jericho, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union) and Steve Noyes (Jr., Barre, Vt./Spaulding) both recorded one goal to supplement the Johnson State offense.
Emerson’s Joe Greaney (Sr., Medfield, Mass./Xaverian) tallied three scores and an assist on the day and Josh Anderson (So., Underhill Center, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union) scored twice. Tower added three assists to his late goal and Jake Frank (Sr., Bethany, Conn./Amity) had a goal and assist.
Johnson will host Green Mountain College on Wednesday at 4 pm in their next contest, a NAC tilt, while Emerson will host Mitchell College in a non-league game on Wednesday at 6 pm.