No. 5 C.W. Post Upends No. 2 Mercyhurst
from press release
ERIE, Pa. – The second-ranked Mercyhurst College
men's lacrosse team suffered just its first loss of the season
Saturday afternoon, falling to No. 5 C.W. Post, 11-9, on senior day
at Tullio Field. With the loss, the Lakers drop to 12-1 overall and
8-1 in East Coast Conference play. C.W. Post, meanwhile, improves
to 13-1 on the season and 8-1 in ECC action.
An early first-quarter outburst was all the Pioneers needed in
dealing the Lakers their first loss since Apr. 18, 2009, and first
at home since Mar. 10, 2007.
C.W. Post commanded play in the opening stanza, jumping out to a
4-1 lead. Mike Messina scored two of his three goals to put the
Pioneers out in front, 2-0, before Eddie Plompen struck to make it
a three-goal advantage.
Junior Kevin Coholan broke up the run on a man-up opportunity at
the 1:15 mark, but an unassisted strike from Kevin Patterson less
than 30 seconds later restored the three-goal cushion leading into
the second.
Despite the first quarter, Mercyhurst outscored C.W. Post, 8-7,
through the rest of the game.
Both teams traded goals in the second to take a 6-3 score into
halftime. Messina and Plompen continued to find the back of the
net, scoring at 14:10 and 1:26, while seniors Todd Richardson and
Michael Sciulli added tallies at the 12:02 and 1:26 marks.
C.W. Post got the upper hand in the third quarter, holding a 3-2
edge, before Mercyhurst made a late run in the fourth.
After an exchange of scores within the first four minutes, the
Lakers put together back-to-back goals from senior Tyler Burton and
Coholan to make it a two-goal game with under three minutes to
play. However, following a pair of rushes at goal by both teams,
C.W. Post gained possession and ran out the remaining 30
seconds.
Offensively for Mercyhurst, Coholan led the way with four goals and
an assist. Richardson scored twice, Burton and Sciulli each added a
goal and an assist apiece, and junior Matt Scherer recorded his
first collegiate goal.
Junior Zach Nash suffered his first loss at Mercyhurst, turning
aside 11 shots. Mike Giordano got the win for C.W. Post with 11
stops. Mercyhurst outshot C.W. Post, 43-33, for the game.
C.W. Post held a 37-30 advantage in ground balls and went 2-for-4
on man-up opportunities. Mercyhurst finished 2-for-3 with a Pioneer
in the penalty box.
Mercyhurst concludes its 2010 schedule next weekend, when the
Lakers take on Dominican (N.Y.) on Saturday, May 8, in Orangeburg,
N.Y.
