Lafayette Hill, PA – (5/7/2011) – Chestnut Hill College rushed out to an early two-goal lead and weathered the Storm to a one-goal halftime advantage, 7-6 in this afternoon's East Coast Conference (ECC) home finale. However, in the second half Lake Erie College overwhelmed the Griffins to an 18-12 final. Junior attack Kevin Festa (Auburn, NY) found a man with every pass, fueling the Griffins with six assists and two goals.

 

Festa was the benefactor of a quick draw from sophomore midfielder Alex Sabia (Conshohocken, PA); he scored the game's first goal just seconds after the opening faceoff (14:52) on the pin-point passing of sophomore midfielder Mark Winkelspecht (Laurys Station, PA). Freshman midfielders Bart Pierre (Maplewood, NJ) and Mike Landau (Lancaster, PA) hooked up just over a minute later (13:46) and it was 2-0, Chestnut Hill College (7-7, 3-7). Lake Erie College (7-7, 4-6) immediately got one back (12:22), 2-1, before meeting the Griffins at the first quarter horn, 3-3. In the second quarter, Landau repaid Pierre's first-quarter favor and Festa located freshman attack Mike Melnychenko (St. Catharines, Ontario) twice, but he still needed to score his second goal of the affair to put the Griffins atop a narrow halftime margin, 7-6. Unfortunately, the second half was all Storm as they scored five third-quarter goals on six shots and added seven more scores in the final frame for the 18-12 overrun.

 

Sophomore attack Josh Becker (Salamanca, NY) added four assists to his three goals to lead the Storm's team effort. Sophomore goalkeeper Alexander Wisner (Sylvania, OH) provided the backing with 15 saves.

 

Melnychenko score five times to finish his freshman season with a team-leading 50 tallies. Winkelspecht, Pierre, and Landau each recorded three points while Sabia offered a 14-for-30 (46.7%) effort on face-offs and five ground balls. Sophomore goalkeeper Dakota Maurer (Lititz, PA) also corralled five ground balls while making 12 saves in the loss (7-7).