No. 7/5 Men's Lacrosse Powers Past Dowling, 15-7
Box Score BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. (Apr. 19, 2015) - Trailing 2-1 late in the first quarter, the LIU Post men's lacrosse team scored seven unanswered goals to close out the first half and ultimately defeat Dowling by a 15-7 score on Saturday at Golden Lions Field.
No. 7/5 LIU Post (11-2, 7-0 ECC) had already clinched a berth into the East Coast Conference Tournament prior to taking the field in Suffolk County. However, the win over Dowling (4-7, 3-3 ECC) assured the Pioneers of a first-round home semifinal contest, as the green and gold can finish with no worse than a 7-1 record in conference play. Additionally, by virtue of the team's 12-10 victory over second-place NYIT last Saturday (Apr. 11), LIU Post has now locked up at least a share of the ECC regular-season championship, and the No. 1 overall seed in postseason play.
The green and gold got the scoring started as junior attackman
Matt Bellando (Miami, Fla.) converted on the extra-man advantage in the first four minutes of play. Bellando's 31st of the season gave the Pioneers the lead briefly, as Dowling attacker Alex McDermott (West Babylon, N.Y.) converted on consecutive chances more than six minutes apart to put the Golden Lions ahead with two-and-a-half minutes to play in the first period. LIU Post would answer as junior
Matty Beccaris (North Babylon, N.Y.) sniped a shot past Golden Lions netminder Frank Sommers (Shirley, N.Y.) to level the score with 23 seconds remaining in the first. A mere 17 seconds later, Bellando took a feed from Beccaris and beat Sommers for his second goal of the stanza, giving the Pioneers a lead they would not relinquish.
Bellando would not have to wait long to record the hat trick, as he caused a turnover right off the opening face-off, scooped up the ground ball, and rifled a shot into the cage. The pace of play would quicken, as Beccaris continued the dominance of the green and gold offense with his second tally of the contest. The Pioneers would need to wait just eight seconds later, as senior defenseman
Matt Scalera (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) collected a ground ball off the ensuing draw and took possession all by himself, eventually beating Sommers for his second career goal on just his second career shot. Junior midfielder
Anthony Berardis (Mahopac, N.Y.) would get in on the fun, scoring two straight goals as the Pioneers collected their five second-quarter tallies in a span of just under five minutes. LIU Post outshot Dowling by a 29-14 margin in the first half, and would head into the halftime break with an 8-2 lead.
In the third stanza, Dowling would cut the lead to four as sophomore midfielder Scott Reece (Medford, N.Y.) notched two straight goals past junior goalie
Adam Winne (Ridgefield, Conn.). The Pioneers answered with four consecutive goals as seniors
Chris Caiazza (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and
Connor Drost (Wading River, N.Y.) put their names on the scoresheet in the third quarter to up the lead back to six. The scoring would continue into the fourth quarter as LIU Post put up five goals on the board, with Bellando, Beccaris and Drost adding to their accounts and junior attacker
Ryan Slane (North Babylon, N.Y.) collecting his first goal of the game. In a fitting cap to the contest, senior face-off specialist
Dan Jeannotte (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) scored the final goal for LIU Post---his first career goal---with just under two minutes to play.
Bellando led the Pioneers with four goals, but it was Beccaris who topped all scorers with six points in the game (3 G, 3 A). On the season, Beccaris is the leading pointgetter for LIU Post with 50 points (33G, 17A), and Bellando has a team-high 34 goals. Drost added two goals and an assist, giving him 21 goals and 21 assists on the season. Jeannotte continued a stellar season as the Pioneers' main FOGO, winning 12-of-21 draws and upping his season face-off winning percentage to .674 (157-233). Winne made 12 saves in cage for the green and gold, marking the fifth time that the junior has stopped 10 or more shots in a game this season.
Head Coach
John Jez and the LIU Post men's lacrosse team will wrap up their season on Saturday (Apr. 25) as the Pioneers travel up to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. to face Mercy. The opening face-off is set for 1 p.m.