BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – The LIU Post men's lacrosse team held off a second-half charge by the New York Institute of Technology to claim the 2019 Battle of the Boulevard title by a 17-14 final at Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium on Saturday, April 13.
Junior
Alex Russell matched his career-high with four goals to lead LIU Post, while sophomore
William Snelders tallied three goals and senior
Connor Farrell and freshman
Jake Gillis tallied two goals each. Junior
Mike Kadnar handed out three assists to tie for the game-high. Farrell finished 26-for-35 on faceoffs, collecting a game-high 23 ground balls.
On the defensive end, senior
Bryan Ochs made 11 saves to earn the win in goal. LIU Post held a 48-22 advantage in ground balls and cleared 16 of 17 attempts. The Green and Gold committed just 13 turnovers, leading to a 47-35 edge in shot attempts.
At halftime, LIU Post honored the 10-year anniversary of the 2009 National Championship team, with over 25 members of that season's squad returning to Brookville for the ceremony.
It took just eight seconds for LIU Post to take the lead, as Farrell won the opening draw and ripped a shot into the lower left corner of the cage for the 1-0 lead. The Bears responded with two goals to take their first only lead of the day at the 10:49 mark of the period. NYIT tied the score at 4-4 late in the period, but LIU Post took the lead after the first quarter when redshirt-junior
Thomas Liantonio scored with one second remaining to give the Pioneers a 5-4 advantage.
The Green and Gold opened up a four-goal lead during the second quarter and held a 10-6 edge at the halftime break. The lead expanded to as many as six goals when senior
Nick Grassa capped off a 3-0 run midway through the third stanza. NYIT stormed back, however, scoring five unanswered goals over the next eight minutes to make it 14-13 early in the fourth quarter. Russell and Kadnar scored just over one minute apart at the midway point of the period to retake a three-goal lead, and a late Bear penalty coupled with a goal by Gillis with 31 seconds remaining helped LIU Post remain perfect in ECC play, improving to 5-0.
LIU Post closes out the regular season with two nationally-ranked opponents, beginning with a road test at No. 3 Mercy College to wrap up ECC play on Saturday, April 20 at 2:00 p.m.