Winning Week in Florida for Men’s Lacrosse

This week, the men’s lacrosse team traveled down to Florida to take part in the North Florida College Lacrosse Face-Off at St. Augustine High School. The first of the two games took place on Friday, Feb. 27, and saw the Pioneers stroll past Saint Leo University 15-6.

To add to his thunderous start this season, junior attacker Matt Bellando scored an impressive game high six points. Junior attacker Matty Baccaris and senior midfielder Connor Drost notched three goals each while junior attacker Ryan Slane added two of his own. The stats on the defensive end showed that there could have been even more goals, but Saint Leo goalie Dave Moore had an impressive game-high 16 saves, highlighting the prowess of the Pioneers attack force.

The second game of the weekend came on Sunday, March 1, verses Lynn University. It was again the combination of Bellando and Drost who topped the goal tally for the afternoon as the Pioneers combined for a 13-10 win.

Although the score line suggests a very close affair, until the final seven minutes of the match-up the Pioneers led 13-4, giving Lynn a long way back if they were to try to steal the win. Not without effort however, as the final seven minutes saw six Lynn goals. Despite a last ditch effort from Lynn, the Green and Gold owned a 37-28 advantage in shots, a 32-25 edge in ground balls, and won 15-of-27 face-offs, topping off a successful road trip. These two wins on the road served as the Pioneers third and fourth of the season.

Although off to a flying start, the Pioneers return to action for a re- match of last years NCAA Division II semi-final verses ECC foe and close neighbors, Adelphi University. The match will take place on Saturday, March 7, at Garden City, N.Y. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m.