Mike Landau
Mike Landau

Landau Leads Griffins to Home Victory

3/8/2011 9:15:08 PM

Lafayette Hill, PA – (3/8/2011) – In this afternoon's contest, American International College owned a 4-1, first-quarter advantage over Chestnut Hill College. But by halftime the Griffins closed the gap to one, 5-4, and behind their captain, freshman midfielder Mike Landau (Lancaster, PA); they finished the comeback for an 11-8 victory. Landau finished with four goals and was matched in points by freshman attack Mike Melnychenko (St. Catharines, Ontario), who totaled three goals and an assist.
 
American International College (0-2) netted the first, three goals of the contest with the last two coming on unassisted efforts from senior midfielder Dan MacIssac (Port Perry, Ontario). Chestnut Hill College (2-2) broke the Yellow Jackets first-quarter streak when Melnychenko located sophomore midfielder Mark Winkelspecht (Laurys Station, PA) with 2:36 left in the period, 3-1. The Yellow Jackets scored once more before the break, 4-1, but the Griffins were quickly stealing the momentum. Melnychenko and Landau scored first in the second quarter to bring the Griffins within one, 4-3, by the nine-minute mark (8:54). That margin held at intermission, 5-4. Landau tied the affair with 10:45 left in the third quarter, 5-5; scoring his third goal of the contest. His fourth goal of the game came with 8:20 left quarter and it gave the Griffins their first lead of the game, 7-6. They never looked back leading the Yellow Jackets all the way to an 11-8 final.
 
MacIssac scored four goals and provided an assist as the top performer for the Yellow Jackets. Junior goalie Eric Whettell (La Salle, Man.) made eight saves and recovered nine ground balls in the losing effort (0-2).
 
After the early scare, the Griffins were able to find their footing. They won the ground-ball battle 41-36 and controlled the faceoff circle 16-6 thanks to the efforts of freshman midfielder Sean Johnsen (Toms River, NJ) and sophomore midfielder Alex Sabia (Conshohocken, PA). They each hustled to five ground balls, Johnson won 11-of-15 (73.3%) in the faceoff circle. Sophomore goalie Dakota Maurer (Lititz, PA) made 15 saves and collected eight ground balls in the win (2-0).
 
The men's lacrosse team returns to their East Coast Conference (ECC) schedule with a 1:00 p.m. home contest against Mercyhurst College on Sunday, March 13.
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