The Pioneer Trail: Saturday, Mar. 21, 2015

3/21/2015 9:25:00 AM

No. 5 Men's Lacrosse vs. Chestnut Hill – 11 a.m.
The LIU Post Pioneers entered last year's East Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed. Chestnut Hill qualified for the ECC Championship semifinals as the fourth and final team to earn a postseason berth. Fast forward now to this season, in which LIU Post sits atop the ECC standings, riding a two-game winning streak. The Griffins of Chestnut Hill, however, have struggled out of the gate and find themselves looking up at a stacked conference standings. The two teams will meet at Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium in a late-morning contest that should draw offensive firepower and a test of wills for both squads.
 
No. 5 LIU Post (6-1, 3-0 ECC) dominated all four quarters of a 13-5 victory over UDC on Tuesday (Mar. 17). Junior attacker Ryan Slane (North Babylon, N.Y.) was seemingly a man on a mission, as he scored a double hat trick, finishing with a team-high seven points (6G, 1A) in the win. Fellow junior attacker Matty Beccaris (North Babylon, N.Y.) scored twice and added a game-high four assists for the green and gold while senior midfielder Connor Drost (Wading River, N.Y.) collected two assists of his own. Senior goaltender Adam Winne (Ridgefield, Conn.) made 11 saves in the victory, while senior FOGO Dan Jeannotte (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) was 12-for-18 on face-offs over the sixty minutes of playing time.
 
Junior attackman Matt Bellando (Miami, Fla.) scored his 20^th goal of the season in the victory, which was also his team-leading 30^th point. Bellando is one of six Pioneers, including Slane, Beccaris and Drost, to have ten-plus goals through seven contests this season. In fact, LIU Post has totaled 90 goals as a team so far this year, averaging just a shade under 13 goals per contest. Jeannotte currently holds a 62% (66-107) success rate on faceoffs and a team-high 34 ground balls, while Winne holds a .569 save percentage and a 7.07 goals against average.
 
Chestnut Hill (2-4, 0-2 ECC) has dropped three straight contests on the season---albeit to teams that have all been ranked inside the top-15 of the latest USILA Division II poll.  The team's latest loss was an overwhelming 14-4 defeat at the hands of No. 3 NYIT on Wednesday (Mar. 18) in Old Westbury, N.Y. The Bears opened the contest with the first seven goals, holding the Griffins off the scoreboard for over 47 minutes until sophomore middie Justin Albaran (Freehold, N.J.) beat NYIT keeper Alex Seltzer in the fourth quarter. Junior attacker George Markey (Branchburg, N.J.) and junior defenseman Derick Darnulc (Baldwin, N.Y.) each added a goal for Chestnut Hill as did freshman midfielder Joshua Pope (Schencksville, Pa.). Despite picking up the loss, sophomore goalkeeper Thomas McDermott (Holmes, Pa.) made 15 saves in cage.
 
In a nail-biting contest last season in Lafayette Hill, Pa. on Mar. 29, 2014, LIU Post came away with a 10-9 victory on a Beccaris goal with 33 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
 
No. 8 Women's Lacrosse vs. Roberts Wesleyan – 2 p.m.
The LIU Post women's lacrosse team began its three-game home-stand on Thursday (Mar. 19) in brilliant fashion by defeating Philadelphia, 20-11. Now the Pioneers turn their attention back to a conference opponent, as the team looks to increase its conference record to an unblemished 2-0 mark when Roberts Wesleyan visits Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium.
 
No. 8 LIU Post (4-2, 1-0 ECC) won thanks largely in part to a career day from sophomore midfielder Connor Bird (Syosset, N.Y.). Bird set a personal record with five goals and three assists, and also won a team-high seven draw controls to help the Pioneers click on offense. Red-shirt sophomore attacker Emily Delaney (Long Valley, N.J.) equaled Bird's goal-scoring prowess with a five-spot of her own, adding an assist for a six-point afternoon. Sophomore attacker Stefani Vagelatos (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) tallied a hat trick for LIU Post while junior defensive middie Kaitlin Gaghan (Farmingdale, N.Y.) scored her first and second goals of the season. Freshman goaltender Olivia Kirk (Farmingdale, N.Y.) shook off a slow start to earn the win, recording four saves to help her cause.
 
Five players have ten or more goals for LIU Post, led by senior midfielder Jenna Pierro (Holbrook, N.Y.), who has 18 goals and nine assists. Delaney has 25 points on the season, with 14 goals and a team-high 11 assists. Vagelatos also has 14 goals, scoring 11 in her last three contests after only tallying three in the first three games of the spring campaign.
 
Roberts Wesleyan (5-3, 1-1 ECC) celebrated a milestone with the team's 13-10 victory over Tiffin on Wednesday (Mar. 18). The win marked the first three-game winning streak in the four-year history of the Redhawks women's lacrosse program. Junior midfielder Loren Dunn (East Rochester, N.Y.) led the way with four goals while junior midfielder Ali Fox (Canandaigua, N.Y.) and sophomore attacker Cassley Jackowski (Lafayette, N.Y.) each added a hat trick. The Redhawks played stingy lacrosse, committing just five turnovers while forcing Tiffin to give the ball away 11 times overall. In net, sophomore Shannon Knapp (Lafayette, N.Y.) made 18 saves, one off her season-high that was set in a conference victory over Molloy last Saturday (Mar. 14).
 
Women's Golf at The Revolutionary Collegiate Golf Classic
The LIU Post women's golf team began its inaugural spring season in Myrtle Beach, S.C. just last week. Now the green and gold will join several other golf programs in a tournament at Patriots Glen National Golf Club in Elkton, Md. this weekend, as the Pioneers look to kick off the first true weekend of spring in stellar fashion.
 
Playing individual matches against both Dickinson and Illinois College, LIU Post secured a majority of the victories at the Barefoot Golf Club on Mar. 10. Sophomore Shelby Townsend (Panora, Iowa) carded a 90, which was the low score of the day, in winning her individual matches by one stroke apiece. Junior Hannah Pohalski (Huntington, N.Y.) was the big winner for the green and gold in the Palmetto State, carding a 93 that trumped her opponents by two and four strokes, respectively. Senior Nokkie Koonvisal (Bangkok, Thailand) achieved a round of 104 on her afternoon, netting two pars and a birdie.