BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (April 14, 2007) - Senior goalkeeper Nick Dello-Iacono made seven of his 17 saves in the third period Saturday afternoon at Hickox Field, but it wasn't enough for the C.W. Post men's lacrosse team, as the fourth-ranked Pioneers fell victim to top-ranked Mercyhurst by a 9-7 score.

The visiting Lakers (8-1, 2-0 ECC) got on the board 85 seconds in on the first of Scott Janssen's two goals, before C.W. Post (7-3, 1-2 ECC) scored three straight in a 2:13 span to take a 3-1 advantage with 9:14 to go in the first period. Charles Senn netted his 10th goal of the year to start the run with 11:27 remaining, before Rob Renetta and Joe Meo scored 49 seconds apart. Mercyhurst's Tyler Burton (1 g, 1 a) scored with 6:03 left, before Janssen found David Osier for the latter's ninth goal of the season, knotting the score at 3-all with 5:37 to go in the first.

Bryon Lindner netted his team-leading 22nd goal of the year with 11:16 left in the first half to put the visitors on top 4-3, before Adam Mulherin (1 g, 1 a) doubled the lead with 1:33 remaining. C.W. Post's Matt Merritt then swatted a goal in through traffic in the crease with under 51 seconds remaining in the half, pulling the Pioneers to within a 5-4 count.

Tom Maloney fired home a rebound of a shot off the crossbar by Raymond Ryan 3:48 into the second half to tie the score at 5-5, before Lindner converted a man-up pass from Mulherin with 8:59 left in the third to put Mercyhurst up by one. Senior defender Rob Blount tied the game at 6-all on a man-down tally with 6:14 remaining, before the Lakers took the lead for good when Mike Thon scored his 15th of the season with 3:52 to go in the period.

Janssen ripped home a pass from Burton with 12:53 left in the game, before defenseman Matt Spahr scored in transition with 2:39 to go, giving Mercyhurst a 9-6 lead. Senn tallied the final goal of the game with 1:12 remaining for the hosts.

Mercyhurst out-shot C.W. Post by a 35-28 margin, and won 12 of the game's 20 face-offs. Both teams were relatively equal clearing the ball (MC: 19-for-25; CWP: 19-for-26) and in the turnover game (MC: 27; CWP: 30).

Defensive midfielders Tim Durkin and Jason Hoover each caused three turnovers for the Pioneers, while the Lakers' Joe Thon and Mike Grizanti caused four turnovers apiece.

This game marked the fourth time this year that Dello-Iacono has made 16-plus saves in a contest, and his play in net on many point-blank Lakers shots kept the Pioneers in the game. His counterpart, Mercyhurst sophomore Jason Lashomb, turned aside eight shots in the victory.

Head coach John Jez and the Pioneers are back in action next Saturday (April 21), when they travel to Garden City, N.Y., for a 1:00 p.m. showdown at ECC arch-rival Adelphi.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Mercyhurst..........  3  2  2  2 -  9
C.W. Post...........  3  1  2  1 -  7
 
Attendance: 681
 
Mercyhurst SCORING:
GOALS: Janssen, Scott 2; Lindner, Bryon 2; Mulherin, Adam 1;
       Burton, Tyler 1; Osier, David 1; Thon, Mike 1; Spahr, Matt 1.
ASSISTS: Burton, Tyler 1; Janssen, Scott 1; Mulherin, Adam 1.
 
C.W. Post SCORING:
GOALS: Senn, Charles 2; Renetta, Rob 1; Meo, Joe 1; Maloney, Tom 1;
       Merritt, Matt 1; Blount, Rob 1.
ASSISTS: None.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Mercyhurst.......... 12  7  9  7 - 35
C.W. Post...........  4  9  8  7 - 28
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Mercyhurst..........  9  7 10  9 - 35
C.W. Post...........  7  5 13 14 - 39
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Mercyhurst..........  5-7   4-4   2-5   1-4  - 12-20
C.W. Post...........  2-7   0-4   3-5   3-4  -  8-20
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Mercyhurst..........  2-3   6-8   5-6   6-8  - 19-25
C.W. Post...........  3-6   5-7   5-5   6-8  - 19-26
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Mercyhurst..........  0-1   0-0   1-3   0-3  -  1-7
C.W. Post...........  0-1   0-1   0-1   0-1  -  0-4
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Mercyhurst..........  1  3  1  3 -  8
C.W. Post...........  5  3  7  2 - 17
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Mercyhurst..........  4 10  5  8 - 27
C.W. Post...........  7  5  8 10 - 30
 
PENALTIES - Mercyhurst 4/2:30; C.W. Post 7/6:00.

2007-04-14