Louisville, Ky. – (4/13/2021) – Chestnut Hill College returned to action in grand fashion with Saturday's (April 10) 23-9 league-win at Caldwell University. The victory was fueled by the impressive performances of senior attack Carson Rees (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) and graduate faceoff Zachary Ornstein (Howell, N.J.), who were recently selected as the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Player and Defensive Player of the Week. The accolades continued today for the duo as Rees and Ornstein both garnered a spot on the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division II Team of the Week. The victory also earned the Scarlet and Gold a pair of votes in the USILA DII Coaches Poll, remaining on the periphery of the National Top-20 with 11 total points.

Caldwell University (2-2, 0-1) benefitted from an early Chestnut Hill College (4-2, 1-0) turnover and scored the game's first goal with 13:36 remaining in the opening period, 1-0. The Griffins answered with tallies from Rees (1-1, 12:19) and freshman attack Jake Homan (North Wales, Pa.) (2-1, 8:51), but they were not able to distance themselves from the Cougars until late in the frame. The Scarlet and Gold's separation came just past the four-minute mark as freshman midfielder Zach Jastrzebski (Hackettstown, N.J.) tied the contest, 3-3 (3:45), before consecutive scores from Rees (4-3, 3:26), Ornstein (5-3, 3:20), and senior midfielder Scott Wilden (Wexford, Pa.) (6-3, 1:14) propelled Chestnut Hill College to an eventual 7-4 first-quarter edge.

The Griffins traded a goal with the Cougars at the start of the second quarter, 8-5, and truly distanced themselves with the next seven scores. Rees scored two of them (10:51, 5:31), as did junior midfielder Jack Clyne (Islip Terrace, N.Y.), who recorded his back-to-back on a Rees pass at 4:39 (13-5) and a man-up opportunity at 3:37 (14-5). By the end of the third period the Scarlet and Gold lead 20-8; a 12-point edge that they only increased with a 3-1 fourth-quarter edge, 23-9.

Rees set single-game marks in points (12) and assists (8), while Ornstein won 28-of-30 (.933) opportunities and recovered 23 ground balls in addition to his first-quarter score.

Chestnut Hill College will look to improve their USILA DII Top-20 poll standing again on April 21, when they visit Georgian Court University for a 3:30 p.m. CACC contest.