Saint Joseph’s locked up the Northeast Conference’s regular-season title with a 14-13 defeat of Long Island University on Saturday, ensuring some familiarity locked with home-field advantage throughout next week’s league tournament.

Even better, the Hawks get to stay in one place as a pandemic-influenced season reaches its climax.

“Not having to travel is critical,” Saint Joseph’s coach Taylor Wray said. “It makes your life so much easier.”

The Hawks (7-3, 7-0 NEC) have won seven in a row entering Friday’s date with Wagner, a makeup of an April 3 game, and Wray credits a veteran group that includes 17 seniors and graduate students for holding things together early on.

Saint Joseph’s enjoys plenty of balance, with seven players recording at least 10 points so far and none with more than 31. Matt Bohmer (26 goals, five assists) is the top scorer, but the offense is largely spread out.

It also has opportunities thanks to arguably the most valuable player in the program. Junior Zach Cole has claimed 70 percent of his draws and is second nationally with 11 ground balls per game. He also has three goals and two assists.

With his 22 face-off wins in Saturday’s game, Zach Cole broke SJU’s all-time record for face-off wins in a single season and currently stands at 110.

He’s also just 13 ground balls shy of breaking SJU’s all-time record for ground balls in a career. #THWND x @Zach_Cole2 pic.twitter.com/o7o2SKHTcG

— SJU Hawks Men's Lax (@SJUHawks_MLax) April 28, 2021

“The possessions are one thing, but the scoring opportunities and the matchup issues we can create with him — it’s more than just the possessions,” Wray said. “Zach is like a true professional with his approach to not only that position, but his strength and conditioning and his fitness and everything. He takes it incredibly seriously. When we meet and watch film, I’m learning as much about the technique of the faceoff from him than I could ever teach him.”

Saint Joseph’s has also figured out a goalie situation that was a strength the last three years with Mike Adler, who left for Duke as a graduate transfer. With a younger defensive unit, the Hawks opened the season with Notre Dame graduate transfer Jack Zullo in the cage before opting for a timeshare between Zullo and former Adler backup Tucker Almany when league play began.

With Almany playing well in the Hawks’ second conference game, Wray opted to stick with him for a full game. Almany is 7-0 as a starter and owns a .504 save percentage.

“He’s been solid between the pipes,” Wray said. “I think what has really separated Tucker in the competition there is the things Tucker does outside the cage. He picks passes every game. He’s active on ground balls around the goal.”

It’s helped Saint Joseph’s claim the top seed in the NEC for the first time since 2018, when an 11-game winning streak ended with a title game loss to Robert Morris. The Hawks also played host to the league tournament in 2014, 2015 and 2016 without earning an NCAA bid.

Little wonder Saint Joseph’s believes it still has plenty of work to do before it can truly celebrate.

“Being the regular season champion is a goal for us, but it’s certainly not the goal,” Wray said. “The goal is to win the conference tournament. We’ve been here before. We’ve hosted before. We’ve been the No. 1 seed before. It’s well-earned, but what really matters is winning the conference tournament.”

NUMBERS OF NOTE

12

Richmond attackman Ryan Lanchbury had 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in Sunday’s 21-8 pounding of Mercer. Coupled with a 12-point game March 20 at Bellarmine, Lanchbury is the first Division I player with multiple 12-point games in the same season since Albany’s Lyle Thompson accomplished the feat against Stony Brook and Harvard in 2015.

20

Massachusetts handled Fairfield 21-14 in its victory on Saturday, the Minutemen’s largest single-game output in 20 years. The last time UMass scored 21 or more goals was on March 21, 2001, when it drubbed Boston College 23-2.

24

Georgetown goalie Owen McElroy made 24 saves in the Hoyas’ 14-5 triumph over Providence, the second-most saves in program history. McElroy’s total was the most for a Hoya since Jim Kenny had 29 against Drexel in 1989.

.767

Syracuse faceoff specialist Jakob Phaup has posted a .767 winning percentage (46 of 60) in two games against Virginia this season, including a dominant 24 of 27 outing in Saturday’s 13-11 victory in Charlottesville. In the Orange’s other eight games, Phaup has won 63 of 129 draws (48.8 percent).