Saint Joseph's Leans on its Vets in A10 Championship Game

AMHERST, Mass. — Saint Joseph’s needed everything it could get from its best players in Saturday’s Atlantic 10 championship game. The veteran leaders needed to leave their mark on what could have been their final game of the spring — and for some, of their careers.

After a slow first quarter, the Hawks knocked off Richmond 17-13, earning both the Atlantic 10 championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

But in the opening quarter, it was all Richmond. Scoring five in the first, the Spiders got off to a hot start. Running their offense seemingly to perfection, with bodies cutting toward the crease, the Spiders' offense made the stout Hawks' defense look surprisingly porous.

Five Spiders found the back of the net and held the momentum going into the second with a 5-2 edge.

But Hawks head coach Taylor Wray was unbothered. With Richmond winning most of the faceoffs in the first quarter, Wray knew things would even out.

"The ride helped us get some possessions. They were winning some faceoffs early," Wray said. "The game kind of went as the faceoffs and the possessions went. We settled down, but it really came down to who had the ball.”

At the start of the second quarter, the Hawks started to chip away, eventually taking the lead after four unanswered goals. Saint Joseph's kept the ball away from the Spiders with ease, not allowing Richmond a possession on the attacking end for over six minutes to start the quarter.

With a pair of goals from Carter Page and one from eventual Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP Levi Anderson, the Hawks were back in business and threatening from every angle.

The Hawks held a 7-6 lead over the Spiders at the half. They were finally firing on all cylinders. The efforts by Page, Anderson and Matt Bohmer — a senior and two graduate students, respectively — proved to be a deciding factor as the veteran leadership of Saint Joseph’s took hold.

“In your biggest games, if you want to win, you want your biggest guns to play their best,” Wray said. “The combination of Carter Page, Levi Anderson and Matt Bohmer was absolutely terrific today.”

Both offenses, however, started fast in the second half. A back-and-forth quarter spurred on by Richmond’s Luke Grayum, who tallied two goals in the game, brought the Spiders back from the brink. Heading into the fourth, the score was tied at 11, leaving the final 15 minutes to decide it all.

In the fourth quarter, when it rained, it poured for the Saint Joseph’s offense. 

The three players Wray pinpointed as the Hawks' lynchpin for success took over again. Two more goals from Page and a fourth-quarter hat-trick by Anderson sealed the deal.

As the final seconds bled off the clock, the traveling Hawks fans erupted with cheers.

When the horn sounded and the gloves began to fly, SaintJoseph's sophomore goalie Tommy Gross, who made 14 saves, celebrated as a wave of Hawks surrounded him. The feelings for Wray and Anderson after their win: Elation and joy.

“The emotion is elation and pride in my team. Couldn’t be more proud of our team," Wray said. "To take on [UMass] in the first round and play a really tough physical game and come out with a win and two days later to play a team of Richmond’s caliber as talented and stout defensively was a heck of an effort by everyone on our team.”

“Overjoyed. It’s a surreal feeling,” Anderson said, sporting his “A10 Champions” gear. “We’ve had the ups and downs, and we’re just excited to spend another week together.”

In punching its ticket to the NCAA tournament, Saint Joseph's heads back to Merion Station as A10 champs. They await their next opponent but won’t need to wait long with the Selection Show airing Sunday night.

Still taking it in, Wray had little to say about what comes next.As the Hawks prepare for the dance, one thing remains true: his team earned it.

“They earned a right to have another week of practice together, and we’ll figure it out from there,” Wray said.