the Cowl

Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Sports

Senior Devin McBride tallied two assists in a 5-4 win over St. Joseph's on Saturday, April 12.

When you play in a tough conference, even the weakest teams can surprise you on any given day. Going into its game against Marist College on Wednesday, April 16, Providence was a league-best 5-0 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, while the Red Foxes had yet to win a game in 2008-both in the league and outside the MAAC.

But there are no guaranteed wins in the best leagues and the Friars learned that they must play their best in every contest, regardless of their opponent's record, as what looked to be a relatively easy game for the Friars became a struggle in the second quarter.

The Friars scored the first quarter's lone goal with seven minutes left on the clock. Sophomore Jackson Fallon fed grad student Mark Dillon to get Providence on the board.

Marist came right back in the second with three goals of its own. All three points came within a minute of each other. First, Pat VanHall put his team on the board off an assist from Ryan Sharkey at the 14:17 mark. Matt Francis then put the Red Foxes ahead with a goal at 13:47.

Matt Teichmann stretched the lead to two off an assist from VanHall with 13:21 to play.

Senior Devin McBride cut PC's deficit to one with his goal a little more than six minutes before halftime. Grad student Bennett Murphy assisted on the play.

The Red Foxes stayed strong on offense and scored their fourth goal of the second quarter with 3:49 left on the clock. Pete O'Hara scored his first goal of the day off an assist from Teichmann.

Then with 2:02 to play before the break, Sharkey gave Marist a 5-2 lead-their biggest of the day-off a feed from Corey Zindel.

The Friars proved they were not about to concede the game in the third, as Murphy recorded his first goal of the day with 6:55 left in the quarter. Sophomore Colin Tigh earned his first point of the day with the assist, making the score 5-3. Marist continued the fight, putting up its sixth goal off the stick of Zindel with four minutes to go in the third.

The first eight minutes of the fourth quarter were scoreless for both teams. Then junior Bobby Labadini scored his first of two goals on the day with five minutes left in game, cutting the Red Foxes' advantage to 6-4.

Sharkey's second goal of the game put Marist up 7-4, matching their biggest lead of the game. The three-goal lead would not last, as Labadini gave PC its fifth goal, with just over a minute remaining. The Friars failed to score in the final minute of play, and lost 7-5.

Continued...

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