Bobby Chillianis' Overtime Goal Leads No. 12 Men's Lacrosse to First Victory Over Chestnut Hill Since 2011
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 12, 2016) – Powered by a game-winning goal in overtime from freshman Bobby Chillianis (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage), the No. 12 Mercy College men's lacrosse team defeated Chestnut Hill College, 9-8, in an exciting back-and-forth contest on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field in the Mavericks ECC opener.
The Mavericks (4-1, 1-0 ECC) have now won two in a row and beat the Griffins (0-5, 0-2 ECC) for the first time since the 2011 season.
Senior Kyle Stockton (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) assisted on the game-winner and ended the contest with a game-high four points on two goals and two assists. Stockton now has 101 career points, making him the third Maverick in school history to reach the 100-point plateau. Senior Robert Rossi (North Massapequa, N.Y./Adelphi) tallied a pair of goals, while juniors Nick Wilcox (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) and Richie Morris (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) and freshman Ryan MacSpadyen (Toronto, Ontario/Seneca College) ended the day with a goal and an assist. Junior Daniel Speicher (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) rounded out the seven different Mavericks scoring with his third goal of the year.
Freshman Nick D'Amaro (Manorville, N.Y./Eastport South Manor) finished with a game-high five groundballs and sophomore Ross Schnitzer (Scarsdale, N.Y./Loyola University Maryland) concluded the day with two caused turnovers. Senior A.J. Pellati (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) made the start in net and played just over 30 minutes, making eight saves, before giving way to sophomore Michael Schneider (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) who made seven saves in picking up the win.
Chestnut Hill was led by Dylan Klusaritz, Michael Plaia and Andrew Dooley who each recorded two goals and an assist.
The two programs have traditionally played close contests and today was no different as an overtime period was needed to decide the winner.
The contest remained scoreless until the 10:04 mark of the first quarter when Rossi tallied his first of the day off a feed from Wilcox to make it 1-0. Defense would prevail for both sides until the 2:44 mark of the first quarter when Michael Plaia netted his first of the day to even the score up at 1-1.
After a low-scoring opening quarter at 1-1, Rossi wasted little time in getting the Mavericks on the board in the second quarter as the senior picked up his ninth goal of the season less than a minute in to make it 2-1. Speicher, Wilcox and Morris got in the scoring column to put Mercy up 5-1 with 7:40 left in the half and looked to be pulling away from the Griffins. Chestnut Hill, who has owned the series history between the two teams, came back with two goals before halftime to head into the locker rooms down 5-3 with momentum on their side.
The Mavericks maintained a 5-3 edge midway through the third quarter when Stockton struck for his first of the day at the 7:48 mark to put Mercy up 6-3. The Mavericks looked to have the game in hand, but Chestnut Hill was not going to leave without putting up a fight as they scored three goals in just over a minute to even the score up at 6-6 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Griffins took their first lead of the game at the 12:57 mark of the fourth quarter as Klusaritz found the back of the net to make it 7-6. Chestnut Hill looked to be on their way to another victory over the Mavericks, but Stockton would answer with a man-up goal with 9:58 remaining to show the visitors that Mercy was determined to end the winless streak against the Griffins.
MacSpadyen picked up his sixth goal of the year with eight minutes on the clock to give back the Mavericks the lead at 8-7. Nearly six minutes would go by until Andrew Dooley notched his second of the game to even up the score at 8-8. After winning the ensuing faceoff, the Mavericks called timeout and got a shot off but Chestnut Hill goalie Thomas McDermott was up to the challenge and made the stop. Following a Griffins timeout, Schneider came up with two key stops in goal to preserve the tie and send the game into overtime.
The overtime period saw the Mavericks win the opening faceoff before Stockton had a shot stopped by McDermott out of a timeout. The Griffins preceded to bring the ball into Mercy territory, but Schnitzer came up with his biggest play of the game with a forced turnover that would lead to the Mavericks taking possession in the Chestnut Hill end of the field. The ensuing play saw Stockton play the ball in front of the net. With the ball loose on the ground in front of the goal, Chillianis then swept the ball into the back of the net to give Mercy an exciting overtime victory, ending the Griffins winning streak in the series.
Mercy outshot the Chestnut Hill 35-26 and held a 30-26 advantage in groundballs. The Mavericks won 13-of-20 faceoffs and went 19-of-24 on clear attempts.
Head Coach Jordan Levine and the Mavericks look to win their third straight as they host Dowling College on Saturday, March 19th at 1 p.m.
