by npatano on April 21, 2022

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Sports

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Margaret Maloney ’23

Sports Staff

Men’s Track and Field

The Providence men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Friar Invitational at the Ray Treacy Track at Hendricken Field in Providence, R.I. on April 8. The meet featured 14 men’s and women’s teams.  There were some great moments from the team that were huge achievements. Liam Back ’24 finished first in the mile with a time of 3:59.06.  Ryan Gallagher ’22GS also copped a first place finish in the 5,000 meter race with a time of 13:56.44.  And for the third first place finish, Josh Lewin ’24 finished first in his heat in the 800 meters. 

Women’s Track and Field

On the women’s side of the Friar Invitational at the Ray Treacy Track, Laura Mooney ’24 took first in the 5,000-meters with a personal best of 16:09.43. Mooney’s time was 17.51 seconds ahead of the next runner — Orla O’Connor ’23 finished in 16:45.26.  Nicole Borowiec ’23 ran a personal best in the 100 meter hurdles of 14.51 seconds. Borowiec’s time set a new program and facility record.

Women’s Softball

The Providence College Women’s Softball team is in a three-game series with the University of Connecticut, tied 1-1.  On Friday, April 15, the Friars fell short with a 3-1 loss, but there were still some important highlights from this loss.  Jacque Harring ’24 got the Friars on the board with an RBI single to center field. Micaela Abbatine contributed the run for the Friars. Tori Grifone ’24 pitched 3.2 innings for the Friars, allowing two hits while striking out five batters.  On April 16, the Friars won in extra innings with a score of 2-1.  Lauren Nunez ’22 scored the game winner for the Friars.  The Friars faced them one more time on April 18, ending with a score of 8-0 in favor of the Huskies. 

Men’s Lacrosse

The Providence College Men’s Lacrosse team fell to the Villanova Wildcats, 18-13, on Saturday, April 16 at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, PA. The Friars drop to 5-7 overall, 0-3 in Big East play.  This high-scoring game allows for a hopeful remainder of the season with lots of Big East play remaining.  Providence had nine different goal scorers on the day. Jack Horrigan ’25 recorded a hat trick, while Matt Grillo ’22 and Michael Chabra ’24 also registered multi-point games with two goals each.  Up next, the Friars will face University of Denver at home on Saturday, April 23.

by Joshua Lopes on May 5, 2021

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Friar Sports

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With Big East Tournament on the Horizon, PC Prepared

Margaret Maloney ’23

Sports Staff

The Providence College Men’s Lacrosse Team has risen to the occasion in this difficult spring 2021 season, and are ready to continue the momentum they had at this time last year before COVID-19 struck. Last year, the Friars started their season 5-1 and were ready to dominate in the Big East tournament. This year, they have used their disappointment as a motivator and now aim to make some noise in the Big East tournament.

The Friars, the fourth seed in the tournament, will take on top-seeded University of Denver on May 6 right here on the PC campus. The Friars have lost their two matchups this year against a talented Denver squad and will look to pull off the upset in their semifinal matchup. 

Head coach Chris Gabrielli shared how proud he was of his team for pushing through all sorts of COVID-19 restrictions and protocols, explaining that the adversity has made the team better overall and more committed to the sport. He especially emphasized their win against Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. 

Gabrielli explained that the trip to Milwaukee entailed taking “multiple flights and buses, wearing masks, isolating in our hotel rooms…It was an in-and-out trip, leaving the day before, and it was a very quick turnaround to play the next morning, and we just played great.”  

He then spoke about how hard it has been mentally for his players to stay healthy, get tested multiple times a week, and also stay focused on the fact that they play the game because they love it. All of the protocols and restrictions have made the season a difficult one, but that all seems to go away when they step on the field to practice or play in games. Gabrielli has made the extra effort to ensure that his players remember this feeling of normalcy. 

 When talking to coach Gabrielli about preparing for the tournament this season, he explained how important it is to have fun. While the Friars are sticking to their regular practice schedule with extra shooting sessions heading into the tournament, there was an organized “inter-squad scrimmage to make it competitive and fun” for the team the week before the tournament. Gabrielli emphasized that the team is putting in hard work to succeed in the postseason, but it is also important to stay loose going in. 

 This year, the Friars had eight returning graduates who decided to take advantage of the opportunity given to them by the NCAA to play one more season. When asked about what winning the Big East tournament would mean to him as a coach and what it would mean to his players, Gabrielli responded that “a Big East championship would mean the world to us, especially for all of our fifth year athletes who came back with the goal of competing for a Big East championship on Chapey Field.” 

Indeed, PC is lucky enough to host the Big East championship this year, giving the Friars home-field advantage. As they approach their first game in the tournament on May 6, the men’s lacrosse team is fully prepared to excel in the tournament and earn back what they lost last year.

 

by The Cowl Editor on May 2, 2019

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Friar Sports

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Friars Earn Three-Seed for Big East

By Gavin Woods ’22

Sports Staff

Thanks to a 9-8 overtime win over Villanova University last Saturday at Chapey Field, the Providence College Men’s Lacrosse Team is heading to the Big East tournament. Following two tough losses to University of Denver and Brown University, respectively, the Friars bounced back in a big way to become the third seed in the Big East standings. PC will now look forward to their first game of the Big East tournament against Georgetown University. 

The name of Saturday’s game was offense. The first goal came less than five minutes into the opening quarter from Villanova. However, the Friars responded with two consecutive goals from Duncan McGinnis ‘19 and Evan McGreen ‘21 at 7:35 and 5:32, respectively. The Friars held their lead until 1:23 left in the quarter when Villanova’s Corey McManus scored an emphatic goal to tie the game at two goals apiece, assisted by Keegan Kahn. The Wildcats won the following faceoff, giving them just over a minute to attempt another goal. McManus fired Villanova’s last shot in the quarter, which was saved by PC keeper, Tate Boyce ‘19. With 14 seconds left on the clock, the Friars had one last chance to clear the ball to the Wildcats’ territory. Following the successful clear, the PC offense worked the ball around until McGreen  was able to find David Procopio ‘19 for the buzzer-beater goal. 

The Friars continued trading goals with the Wildcats throughout the second and third quarters, until Villanova extended their lead to two goals with 12:51 left in the fourth quarter. This began an eight-minute stalemate between the two teams.

With only 4:46 left in the game, it began to look bleak for the Friars until Dan Axelson ‘20 delivered a much needed, unassisted goal to reduce the deficit to one goal. Despite losing the following faceoff, PC was playing with all the momentum. Boyce produced a game-saving stop to give the Friars another chance. After successfully clearing the ball to the opposing side, PC’s Tim Hinrichs ‘21 hoped to tie the game with a side-arm shot that narrowly missed, hitting the crossbar.

Following this possession, Villanova recovered the ball and began an attempt to run out the clock. Yet another save from Boyce gave the Friars another chance at redemption.

After turning the ball over once again, a Villanova defender launched the ball to the opposing side with ten seconds remaining in the game. Miraculously, Boyce recovered the ball and sent it to the Villanova side, where the Friars recovered. In the dying seconds of the game, McGreen was able to feed Nick Hatzipetrakos ’19 for a diving goal to force overtime. This goal added tremendously to the Friars’ confidence which enabled Colin Keating ‘19 to score the game-winning unassisted goal just five seconds into OT.

This pivotal conference win gave PC a regular season record of 7-8, 3-2 within the Big East. This win was essential, as it secured their position to play Georgetown instead of the number one seed, Denver. Nonetheless, Georgetown will prove to be a true test for the Friars as the Bulldogs won the previous regular season matchup in a 15-17 shootout. Georgetown boasts an impressive regular season record of 11-4; however, they share the same conference record of 3-2 with PC.

by The Cowl Editor on March 2, 2017

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Sports

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by Jake Scearbo ’17

The Providence College Men’s Lacrosse Team secured a huge victory over University of Vermont with an 8-6 win on their home field.  Brendan Kearns ’19 and Nick Hatzipetrakos ’19 both recorded hat tricks and paced the Friars offensively in their win. The defense was stout, only allowing six goals to a Vermont squad, which had scored 13 or more goals in their first three games. This win marks a third straight victory for the lacrosse team after dropping their opener to Boston University.

The Friars got out to a sluggish start in this game, falling down 3-1 after the first quarter of play.  Midfielder Joseph McHale ’19 scored the lone Friar goal in this opening frame. Slow starts can affect teams by forcing them out of their initial game plan but the Friars rode their defense and kept plugging away on the offensive end. Offensive stars like Kearns and Hatzipetrakos normally get all the glory but the defense should be credited for this victory.  It is early in the season, but the Friars defense has only allowed six goals per game on average, which is the third best in all of the NCAA.  Holding opposing offenses to such low numbers is a huge plus for the PC defense.

The offense caught fire in the second quarter with three straight goals from Kearns to take a 4-3 lead over the Catamounts.  McHale was credited with the assist on Kearns’ first goal and Tim Hinrichs ’20 assisted on the second goal of the quarter. Kearns’ unassisted third goal gave him his fourth straight hat trick to open this season and with 13 goals overall, he is in the top 20 in the nation for goals per game.  The Friars took the 4-3 lead into halftime.

Hatzipetrakos opened up the second half with two consecutive goals to push the Friars lead to three.  The Friars defense was stout in the third quarter until the 44 second mark where Catamounts’’18 attackman Cam Milligan netted the first second half goal to push the score to 6-4. The fourth quarter was dominated by both defenses until Hatzipetrakos completed his hat trick with 3:54 left in the game, which proved to be the game-winning goal.

“I am so proud of our team’s effort today,” said Head Coach Chris Gabrielli.  “We found energy after coming out flat, guided by our leadership in the ground ball department.”  Defense is predicated on controlling possession when the ball is on the ground and the Friars defense edged Vermont in the ground balls, 25-23.  The man-down defense was also spectacular, not allowing a single goal on six man up opportunities for the Catamounts.  Goalie Tate Boyce ’19 was steady in the net for the Friars and made eight saves. The Friars may have found a winning formula with a strong defense, goaltending, and timely goals by their young and talented attackmen. Look for the defense to lead this team to a Top 25 ranking and continued success this season. The Friars play Sacred Heart University at home for their next game on March 4.