April 5, 2003

The Providence College men's lacrosse team defeated Virginia Military Institute, 6-5, in conference action on Saturday, April 5 in Lexington, Va. The Friars rallied late in the game to score two unanswered goals to put the game away.

Freshman attack Tom Kelly (Henniker, N.H.) scored the first goal of the game for the Friars at 11:12 of the first quarter on an assist from junior defenseman Roland Ostapoff (Hartford, Conn.). VMI's Leo McInerney evened the score just five minutes later at 6:16. Junior midfielder Ryan Russell scored his first goal of the game unassisted with 1:16 remaining in the opening period to give the Friars a, 2-1, lead.

In the second quarter, the teams were knotted in a tough defensive battle until VMI's Brian Niven tallied the only goal of the period with 10:32 remaining in the first half. Matt Dixson was credited with the assist, and the teams went into halftime tied at, 2-2.

The third quarter ended like the first quarter did as Providence added to their lead as they outscored VMI, 2-1. Russell scored his second goal of the day unassisted at 12:41 of the period. The Keydets knotted the game at, 3-3, with 2:48 remaining in the period when Robert Trimble scored off of an assist from Gabe McCaig during a man-advantage. In a prelude to his heroics at the end of the game senior attack Jon Meehan (Peabody, Mass.) scored the Friar's fourth goal of the day with one second remaining in the third. Fellow junior attack Kevin Kornobis (Merrick, N.Y.) was credited with the assist.

In a wild fourth quarter the Friars and Keydets combined to score four goals. VMI scored the first two goals of the period as McInerney recorded his second on the day at 8:28 of the period. Will Collier netted the final goal of the day for the Keydets at 6:54 to give them their first lead of the game. It would not stand for long as sophomore midfielder Richard Knightly (Windsor, Mass.) scored unassisted just under two minutes later. Meehan tallied the game-winner with eight seconds remaining as he received a pass from senior attack David Krasnica (Mendham, N.J.).

Sophomore Andrew McMinn (Pittsburgh, Pa.) recorded 14 saves in goal for Providence in the win, while Brian Ward took the loss for the Keydets with 9 saves.

Providence (3-5, 3-0 MAAC) will travel to Worcester, Mass. to face Holy Cross in non-conference action on Wednesday, April 9 at 7:00 p.m.

	               1st	2nd	3rd	4th	-	Final
Providence (3-5, 3-0)	2	0	2	2	-	6
VMI (3-6, 3-2)	        1	1	1	2	-	5

Institution 	Goal Scorer (Assist) 	Quarter 	Time
PC	Tom Kelly (Roland Ostapoff)	1	11:12
VMI	Leo McInerney (Gabe McCaig)	1	6:16
PC	Ryan Russell (unassisted)	1	1:16
VMI	Brian Niven (Matt Dixson)	2	10:32
PC	Ryan Russell (unassisted)	3	12:41
VMI	Robert Trimble (Gabe McCaig)	3	2:48
PC	Jon Meehan (Kevin Kornobis)	3	:01
VMI	Leo McInerney (unassisted)	4	8:28
VMI	Will Collier (Robert Trimble)	4	6:54
PC	Richard Knightly (unassisted)	4	4:56
PC	Jon Meehan (David Krasnica)	4	:08

Providence Goalkeeping:  Andrew McMinn (14 saves, 5 goals against, 60:00 minutes);
VMI Goalkeeping:  Brian Ward (9 saves, 6 goals against, 60:00 minutes)

Shots:
Providence - 26; VMI - 33
Groundballs:
Providence - 41; VMI - 30
Man-Advantage Scoring (scored/attempted):
Providence - 0/5; VMI- 3/7
Face-offs (won/lost):
Providence - 7/7; VMI - 7/7