St. Joseph's

[LILax]

I will start this out with three positives. One, the Hens are on a mini-heater having won the last four games. Two, the Hens have beaten St. Joe's the last two times the teams have met and are 17-4 against the Hawks all time. Three, St. Joes has a mediocre face off unit (.494) and starting goaltenders (Tommy Gross .426 and Charlie Giachetti .432).

Now for the bad news. St Joe's averages 12 goals a game and clears at an 86% rate. They also pressure opponents with a tenacious ride that has held competition to a 76% clearing rate.

The Hens, on the other hand, average a bottom three D1 goals per game with just 8.6 and provide an EZ Pass for opponents on clears with 91% success rate.

But all is not lost. St. Joes shoots at a middling 28% success rate (ranked #44). However, they get off a ton of shots per game 42.4. Delaware has a much-publicized problem shooting the ball with the second lowest ranking in D1 at just 22%. Hens average 38.8 shots per game.

Common opponents:

St. Joes beat up Villanova 11-9 while the Hens lost to the Wildcats 12-7. St. Joes beat Drexel 10-7 while the Hens lost that game by an embarrassing margin (1-11).

Both teams beat Hobart and St. Bonnies (17-7, 24-6 for SJU and 12-6, 19-16 for Hens respectively). Although SJU did so by wider margins.

Both teams lost to High Point and Richmond- Hens lost to High Point 12-8 while SJU dropped a close one to HP 16-15 at home. Hens got crushed 17-5 by the Spiders while SJU kept it close last week for a respectable 13-11 loss. Both games were played in Richmond.

On a positive note the Hens beat UMass 8-7 while SJU dropped a game to the Minutemen a couple weeks back by a score of 14-12.

So for those keeping track at home that is a 4-3 for SJU and 3-4 for Hens agains common opponents.

This Friday night in Philadelphia should be a fun game, but the Hens will have zero chance for success if they play defense the way they played this past weekend against St. Bonnies. The Bonnies set up at x on nearly every possession and found a cutter un-marked and unchecked 11 times during the game. Colton Silverstein is a VERY talented goalie, but he had virtually no chance on each of those goals. The lack of communication and cohesion on the Hens defense was one of the more embarrassing moments of the season (and that is saying a LOT).

The reason I bring this up is that St. Joes has a bunch of big players that dive bomb the crease and play inside like Canadians (A couple are Canadian but there are also a bunch of guys from Colorado and Utah as well). If the Hens defense loses track of these guys (Ben Dutton, Tre Ika, Griffin Mallory, Colin Campbell and Colby Wood) the game will be over in the first half.

Measures for success:
Hens need to keep faceoffs even, they need to limit turnovers (less than 13), they need to shoot in the 30% range and if they meet their average of 38 shots a game they can get to 12 goals. That means they need to keep SJU below their 10 game average of 12 goals per game. This is something that only Syracuse (2 goals), Villanova (11 goals), Duke (6 goals), Drexel (10 goals) and Richmond (11) have done.

It'll be fun to watch. Hopefully, the Hens pull it off and get to play another week. A win gets them the #3 seed and a rematch with #2 High Point in the conf tournament opener. A loss by one goal would get the Hens the #4 seed and an opener against Richmond. A loss by more than one gets them a long time off to think about a lost season.

Been a LONG season. Hopefully it gets a little longer. The seniors deserve this.

[77HEN]

I just want to add a thanks to. LILax for his post here and posts throughout the season. Your insight and knowledge of the game and those in it and your willingness to share with us is greatly appreciated. Hoping for more games after St. Joe’s.

Scott Conte receives league recognition. Sure would be great to see Scott dominate the face offs this Friday. Things go much better when winning face offs.
https://bluehens.com/news/2026/4/20/con ... econd-time

On another note, I hope the Hens defense gets in order again and limits St. Joe’s. They got beat a lot inside earlier this year but seemed to get it cleaned up only to lapse back against St. Bonaventure (aka Bonnies). The “D” is key to this game, IMO.

[CaliHen98]

I just want to add a thanks to. LILax for his post here and posts throughout the season. Your insight and knowledge of the game and those in it and your willingness to share with us is greatly appreciated. Hoping for more games after St. Joe’s.

Scott Conte receives league recognition. Sure would be great to see Scott dominate the face offs this Friday. Things go much better when winning face offs.
https://bluehens.com/news/2026/4/20/con ... econd-time

On another note, I hope the Hens defense gets in order again and limits St. Joe’s. They got beat a lot inside earlier this year but seemed to get it cleaned up only to lapse back against St. Bonaventure (aka Bonnies). The “D” is key to this game, IMO.

+1

[UDHoops]

I want to update a correction after following up with the program. The A10 tiebreakers public online are not updated. The tiebreakers are as follows:

1. H2H in group
2. Results against common opponents (start with the #1 team and filter down)
3. H2H group goals against

So here is the corrected path today:
1. Win today = in as the 3 seed
2. Lose by 6 or less OR allow 12 or less goals = in as the 3 or 4 seed
3. Lose by 7 or more AND allow 13+ goals = out of A10 tournament

https://x.com/feathersfgspod/status/204 ... VHPEJ8igOg

[77HEN]

I want to update a correction after following up with the program. The A10 tiebreakers public online are not updated. The tiebreakers are as follows:

1. H2H in group
2. Results against common opponents (start with the #1 team and filter down)
3. H2H group goals against

So here is the corrected path today:
1. Win today = in as the 3 seed
2. Lose by 6 or less OR allow 12 or less goals = in as the 3 or 4 seed
3. Lose by 7 or more AND allow 13+ goals = out of A10 tournament

https://x.com/feathersfgspod/status/204 ... VHPEJ8igOg

Ok, that’s better news. The Hens have a real chance to make it in. Looking for a very motivated team effort today. BTW, St. Joe’s does not charge entry into their lacrosse games - no tix needed.

[Heeper]

Like our chances a lot better now, thanks for sharing the updated info !

[dchen]

Currently down by 6

[BlueHenBill]

In the 4th Quarter I heard a St. Joe's announcer say that the game was being carried on NBCSports+. Wish I had known that earlier. The "Watch" links at the websites of UD and St. Joe's directed you to ESPN+ which is where I watched the game. I would rather have watched on NBCSports+ for the easier convenience and the novelty.

St. Joe's announcer also said that UD has been missing 10 players due to injury, First time I heard that. What is wrong at UD that so many UD teams seem to regularly suffer an inordinate number of injuries? How can UD's Physical Therapy and Strength & Conditioning programs be so highly regarded if so many of UD's athletes are regularly injured?

Sad to say UD didn't belong on the same field with St. Joe's.

[77HEN]

Well, no cost for entry but I had to pay $20 for parking. And the drive along route 1 was horrendous.

Then the game ——- oof. The Hens were like fish out of water and got beat in every facet of the game (I haven’t looked at the box score). St. Joe’s looked bigger, stronger, faster and more organized. It was not pleasant to watch. Big improvements are needed to compete in the upper level of this league.

[BlueHenBill]

Well, no cost for entry but I had to pay $20 for parking. And the drive along route 1 was horrendous.

Then the game ——- oof. The Hens were like fish out of water and got beat in every facet of the game (I haven’t looked at the box score). St. Joe’s looked bigger, stronger, faster and more organized. It was not pleasant to watch. Big improvements are needed to compete in the upper level of this league.

This UD team would have struggled in the CAA.

[77HEN]

Well, no cost for entry but I had to pay $20 for parking. And the drive along route 1 was horrendous.

Then the game ——- oof. The Hens were like fish out of water and got beat in every facet of the game (I haven’t looked at the box score). St. Joe’s looked bigger, stronger, faster and more organized. It was not pleasant to watch. Big improvements are needed to compete in the upper level of this league.

This UD team would have struggled in the CAA.

Have to agree with that. The team is in a down phase and coach needs to figure out a way to get some mojo back.

[LILax]

Tough to imagine the path forward for this squad next year. Tons of injuries this year to critical players, particularly on defense.

Next year the Hens have a solid #1 goalie in Silverstein and a dependable Fogo in Conte. They also have some good young defenders in Wesloski and Atkinson.

Biggest questions- where will the hens find offense? This was the most anemic offense in the last 58 years. The Hens highest points leader had 26 points. The last time the Hens leader in points had this few points was 1968 when Alex Wise led the Hens with 23 points. I have no idea who will improve on offense, but it needs to happen. Next years class has a couple of Canadian box snipers but that is a crap shoot. Powers, Capri, Kolbe, Kolar and D’Ambrogi are all gone.

Second biggest question- when/will the injured players be back next year? Pat Gillin should be eligible for a red shirt this year after playing in just three games. Duncan Barnes was touted as the best SSDM when the Hens brought him in two years ago but he’s only played three games in ‘25 before missing this entire season, #23 class of ‘25 recruit attackman Matt Triolo only played in four games before getting hurt and missing the remaining games. Senior Riar Schell missed this entire season as did defensemen Lange Gaspar, Owen Black, Matt Montgomery, and attackman Matt Joerres among others.

Will the Hens bring in portal transfers? They’ve had mixed success with transfers but the Hens would be smart to bring in offensive players from D3 schools and lesser prominent D 1 schools. Hens would be very attractive to Canadian assassins and shifty athletic players from schools like Merrimack, Robert Morris, St Bonnie’s, Canisius, NJiT and others. I’m sure they’ll be plenty of guys looking to upgrade teams during the offseason

The offensive class of ‘26 recruits signed by UD is very underwhelming, not a lot of talent on the way. But if Bieda and DeLuca don’t get creative with recruiting transfers this off season, next year is going to look a LOT like the last two. years.

We shall see. This team needs an enema, sad to say.