Sam Slater's goal in overtime lifted the Chestnut Hill College Men's Lacrosse team to a 10-9 come-from-behind victory over the College of Saint Rose Tuesday at Victory Field in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania.

The Griffins with their first win of the season, even their record at 1-1.  The Golden Knights fall to 1-5.

Slater finished the game with four goals and one assist.to lead the Griffins.  Jack Clyne added three goals.  Mike Smith finished with four assists on the afternoon.

Austin Jones made 15 saves in net for the Chestnut Hill.  Faceoff specialist Zach Schultz led the team with eight ground balls.

With the game tied at 9-9 following a superb fourth quarter defensive effort by the Griffins in holding Saint Rose scoreless in the period, the Griffins won the opening faceoff and worked their offense until Cade Johnson found Slater inside who then delivered his fourth goal of the game, just 76 seconds into the overtime to give the Griffins the victory, capping off the victory in what had looked to be an uphill struggle following the first quarter.

It was a rough start for the Griffins in that first quarter as the Golden Knights scored four times in the first ten minutes.  Zach Jastrzebski put the Griffins on the board with an unassisted score with 2:07 left in the quarter. Later as the quarter wound down Clyne took advantage of a man-up opportunity, took the feed from Smith and put it past Saint Rose goalkeeper Ryan Gainor to cut the deficit to 4-2 with 56 second left in the period.

In the second quarter, trailing 5-2 Noah Hammon and Clyne scored 46 seconds apart to cut the lead to 5-4 with 6:06 left in the period.  Hammon took a long pass from Kyle Gartenmayer and one-timed it into the net while Clyne's goal was assisted by Jason Jenkins II.  Ediie Baker put the golden Knights back up by two 6-4 with his fourth goal of the game with just under five minutes remaining before Slater notched his first goal of the goal, a man-up effort with 2:32 left to again make it a one goal game 6-5 as both teams headed into halftime. Mike Smith had the assist.

Two goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter pushed the Golden Knight's lead to 8-5 before Clyne completed his hat-trick, taking a pass from Slater for a score with 7:25 left.  A Saint Rose goal with 4:30 left in the quarter again pushed the lead to three goals 9-6 before the game took a major turn, momentum-wise in the Griffins' favor.

With 2:23 left in the quarter a Golden Knight's player was called for a dangerous cross check, drawing a two-minute unreleasable penalty, giving the Griffins the man advantage for a full two minutes. The Smith to Slater combination went to work again as they produced two man-up goals during the advantage, pulling the Griffins within one 9-8 as the teams headed into the final quarter.  The two goals gave Slater his first collegiate hat-trick and three man-up scores on the afternoon. He becomes just the fifth player in program history and the first since Casey Brown in 2019 to score three man-up goals in a game.   

Chestnut Hill's defense went to work in the fourth quarter, stopping the Saint Rose offense as Jones saved all six shots on goal while the visitors also committed five turnovers.  On the offensive end,Johnson tied the game with an unassisted goal at the 10:05 mark.  The Griffins held Saint Rose scoreless the rest of the way, setting the stage for Slater's game winner.
 
The Men's lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday, March 12, 2023 for a game in western Pennsylvania against nationally ranked Mercyhurst University.  The Lakers are ranked second in the most recent USILA Division II top 20 National coaches poll.