FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Senior captain James Kennedy (Summit, N.J.) posted three goals and two assists for five points as the Holy Cross men's lacrosse team defeated Sacred Heart, 11-9, at Campus Field on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Crusaders improve to 2-2 on the season, while the Pioneers fall to 0-3 overall.

The Crusaders took an early 1-0 lead with a goal by senior captain John Hannan (Manhasset, N.Y.), but the Pioneers answered with two straight goals to take a 2-1 lead. The Crusaders then closed out the half by netting six consecutive goals to take a 7-2 lead. Kennedy scored two goals during this stretch, while Hannan, sophomore Clay Haarmann (Mendham, N.J.), sophomore Terry McKenna (Summit, N.J.) and senior captain Myles Gillespie (Rye, N.Y.) each scored once.   

With the score 7-3 in the third quarter, Haarmann found the back of the net off a pass by Hannan to make the score 8-3. After the Pioneers netted two goals, Haarmann scored his third goal of the contest. But the Pioneers netted the last three goals of the third quarter to only trail by one goal at 9-8. A goal by Kennedy with 2:40 left in the fourth quarter and a goal by sophomore Conor Shanahan (Potomac, Md.) with 1:07 remaining gave the Crusaders an 11-8 advantage. Matt King netted a goal for the Pioneers with 27 seconds left for the 11-9 final score.

Junior goalie Kenny O'Connor (Latham, N.Y.) made six saves to earn the win, while Jon Flood posted 17 saves for the Pioneers. Holy Cross outshot Sacred Heart, 49-29, while the Pioneers tallied 36 ground balls and the Crusaders secured 33. The Pioneers won 17 of 24 face-offs. The Crusaders went 1-4 on extra-man opportunities and the Pioneers went 1-5.

The Crusaders return to action on Tuesday, March 5, when they travel to Piscataway, N.J., to take on Rutgers at 3:00 p.m.