The Chestnut Hill College Men's Lacrosse team is championship bound once again. The Griffins defeated the University of Bridgeport 12-7 Wednesday night at Victory Field in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference tournament semi-finals to advance.
Chestnut Hill advances to the championship game for the seventh time in the eight years a CACC conference championship for men's lacrosse has been held. The Griffins will be seeking their fifth title, having won four straight from 2021-2024.
The Griffins are now 9-4 overall. The CACC Championship game will take place at Wilmington University on Saturday, May 2, at 11:00 a.m. The Griffins will face the top seed Wilmington Wildcats for the title. Wilmington will be making their fifth appearance in the championship title game.
Jake Ballerini and Charles Cox led the way with three goals apiece. Ballerini added two assists and has now recorded six straight games with four or more points and eight on the season. Cox also added an assist.
Aidan Walsh and Matthew Miller added two goals apiece. Adam Daley, the CACC Goalkeeper of the Year made 17 saves while Aiden Owens had three caused turnovers and a team-high six ground balls. Jonathan Bartolomei added five ground balls
The Griffins never trailed in the contest as Cox got the team on the scoreboard just 1:37 into the game, taking a pass from Miller and finding the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. Will Duddy added a goal less than three minutes later, an unassisted score at the 10:54 mark for a 2-0 CHC lead.
Ballerini followed a Bridgeport score with the first of his three goals at 7:46 in the opening quarter to make the score 3-1. Collin Swiderski put one past the UB goalkeeper at the 3:48 mark to round out the first quarter scoring and give the Griffins a 4-2 lead.
The Griffins added to their lead in the second quarter, outscoring the Purple Knights 3-2 to hold a 7-4 advantage at halftime. Walsh opened the scoring at the 13:28 mark and following a UB goal, scored twice in a row as Cox notched his second score with an assist from Ballerini and Miller added an unassisted score at the 5:29 mark to make the score 7-3.
UB's Matthew Levantini, who finished the game with four goals, scored with three minutes left to pull the Purple Knights back within three 7-4.
The two teams exchanged goals for the better part of the third quarter with Ballerini assisting on Walsh's second goal of the game and Cox assisting on Ballerini's second goal on the game as the Griffins increased their lead to 9-5. Bridgeport scored twice in the final five minutes of the quarter to close to 9-7 heading into the final period.
The Griffins scored the only three goals in the final period. Miller tallied his second of the game at the 12:44 mark and Cox, with an assist from Duddy, completed his hat-trick with 9:27 left. Ballerini completed his hat trick with 1:32 left. Daley stopped all six Bridgeport shots on goal in the final period.
The CACC Championship game will take place at Wilmington University on Saturday, May 2, at 11:00 a.m. The Griffins will face the top seed Wilmington, who squeaked by in their semi-final game 10-9 over Holy Family University.
