Lafayette Hill, PA – (3/5/2011) – Each teamed netted one goal in the opening quarter of today's men's lacrosse home opener, but in the second quarter it was Mercy College who took the advantage. The Mavericks outscored Chestnut Hill College 6-1 in the period to own a 7-2 halftime lead, before winning the East Coast Conference (ECC) contest by a 13-3 final. Freshman attack Mike Melnychenko (St. Catharines, Ontario) was responsible for all three Griffin goals; sophomore attack Shane Morlock (Whitby, Ontario) provided as assist on two of them.
Melnychenko put Chestnut Hill College (1-2, 0-2) on the scoreboard first, scoring a pass from Morlock just 3:05 into the contest (11:55). The Mercy College (3-0, 2-0) answer came with 5:23 left in the first quarter, on an unassisted effort from freshman midfielder Quadear Mike (Syracuse, NY). The second period came with a flurry of Mavericks goals; they scored five before Melnychenko broke the streak with 3:11 left in the half, 6-2. The Mavericks got one more before intermission to lead 7-2 at the break. They netted one more in the third quarter, 8-2, before outscoring the Griffins 5-1 in the fourth quarter, 13-3.
Junior attack Sal Spinelli (East Islip, NY) led the Mavericks with four goals, four ground balls, and a caused turnover. Mike and freshman attack Jesse Wood (Binghamton, NY) scored two goals apiece; Wood also contributed three assists. Sophomore midfielder John Lionetti (Port Jefferson Sta., NY) dominated the faceoff circle winning 13-of-15 restarts and recovering 11 ground balls. Sophomore goalie T.J. DiCarlo (Farmingdale, NY) made seven saves and earned the win (3-0).
Helping Melnychenko and Morlock on the offensive end, freshman midfielder Mike Landau (Lancaster, PA) and sophomore midfielder Mark Winkelspecht (Laurys Station, PA) provided eight shots and five shots, respectively. Sophomore goalie Dakota Maurer (Lititz, PA) corralled ten ground balls and made 20 saves in the loss (1-2).
The men's lacrosse team breaks from their ECC schedule to host American International College in a 3:00 p.m. contest on Tuesday, March 8.
