The St. Joe’s lacrosse team put an exclamation point on its 2021 season, grinding out a 9-6 win over St. Francis on Thursday to win the program’s fifth consecutive Monsignor Martin Athletic Association Championship.
Since there are no state playoffs this year because all of the sports seasons were shortened by the pandemic, the Marauders finish out the season at 13-3 overall and 9-0 in the league.
They’re ranked 10th in the state.
“Just being out here and playing, especially since we didn’t have a season last year, means so much to us – especially for the seniors,” said senior Julian Race, who paced the offense with three goals and an assist in the win. “It’s a great way to go out.”
Sophomore Evan Gallo made 16 saves in goal to earn MVP honors, including several big stops in the second half when the Red Raiders were pressing.
“There was a lot of pressure but I thought it was a good performance,” Gallo said. “We worked hard and trusted each other.”
St. Joe’s led 4-2 after one quarter and 6-3 at the half.
St. Francis finishes its season at 9-5 overall and 4-4 in the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association.
The Marauders had already beaten St. Francis twice this year, 17-8 and 12-7 – but they knew this would be no cakewalk.
“We had already beaten them twice during the regular season but we knew that didn’t matter,” said Race. “We were expecting a tough game and they gave us a tough game. They’re a good team and we needed to play our best to beat them.”
By the numbers, St, Joe’s cranked out 199 goals, averaging 12 per contest while allowing 131 goals (8.2 per game). The team’s only three losses were non-leaguers against Rochester area powers Pittsford (12-11), McQuaid Jesuit (10-8) and Victor (18-2). They also beat Fairport 10-9.
The Marauders advanced to the championship game by thrashing arch-rival Canisius 18-6 in the semifinals.
Individually, Race topped the team in points with 27 goals and 34 assists for 61 points.
Sophomore Noah Snyder was the top goal scorer with 45 goals and 14 assists for 59 points; he also tied 2019 grad Kellen Pulera for the team single-game record with nine goals in an early-season humbling of Canisius.
Sophomore Tyler Smart had 37 goals and 14 assists for 51 points, followed by senior Brian Nephew with 19 goals and 16 assists for 35 points, sophomore Blake Gallo (Evan’s twin brother) with 22 goals and seven assists for 29 points and junior Aiden Cusack with seven goals and 21 assists for 28 points.
Evan Gallo played every minute of the season – all 768 of them. He faced 304 shots and stopped 194 of them for a .638 save percentage.
“When we were locked down, I was praying that we would have a season,” he said. “We were lucky enough to have one, so we grinded our butts off and we got it done.”
Photos by Andrew Miller '85