Fourth Quarter Push Leads to Victory

Christian Arnold Assistant Sports Editor

A fourth quarter offensive explosion helped push the men’s lacrosse team to a 14-6 victory over the Mercy College Mavericks on Saturday, March 30.

Freshmen attackers Matty Beccaris and Ryan Slane scored four goals for the Pioneers. Senior midfielder Chris Ruhlig netted a hat trick in the victory over the Mavericks. The trio accounted for five of the six fourth quarter Pioneer goals.

The Mavericks jumped to an early lead in the first quarter when senior midfielder Mike Marzocca opened up the scoring at the 13:47 mark. Minutes later, freshman attacker Kevin Drane put Mercy ahead by two. The Mavericks then converted on a man-up  opportunity at the 10-minute mark to make it 3-0.

But, the Pioneers battled back late in the first quarter and eventually tied the game. Graduate attacker Joe Costello scored back- to-back goals at the 6:13 and 2:22 mark to cut the lead to one and Ruhlig scored the equalizer with 58 seconds left in the quarter.

In the second, the Pioneers took control of the lead. Slane scored his first two goals of the game to put his team ahead 5-3. Ruhlig and Beccaris would score roughly three min- utes apart from one another to extend their lead to four going into halftime.

Freshman attacker Kyle Stockton scored for the Mavericks nearly five minutes into the second half, but Slane answered back for the Pioneers four minutes later.

Two goals late in the third quarter cut LIU Post’s lead to just two going into the fourth. But the Pioneers dominated the quarter scoring six unanswered goals, with fresh- man midfielder Anthony Berardis opening the scoring in the fourth.

Beccaris followed the goal up with his second tally of the game to make it 10-6. Ruhlig made it a five-goal advantage for his team at the 10:51 mark. In the final six min- utes, Beccaris scored his third and fourth goal of the afternoon and Slane recorded his fourth goal of the game to guarantee the Pioneers a 14-6 victory.

Pioneers’ senior goalie Tim Bradley made five saves, while allowing six goals in the win. His counterpart, freshman A.J. Pel- lati, made 11 saves, but surrendered 14 goals.

The win moves the Pioneers to a 7-1 record on the season and a perfect 3-0 record in the East Coast Conference. Their next contest is on Saturday, April 6 when they travel on the road to face Dominican College at 1 p.m.