PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Sophomore
Liam Brennan (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) picked up seven points to lead the No. 17-ranked Pace University men's lacrosse team to an opening-day victory over Post University by a score of 15-9 Saturday afternoon in its first-ever game at Pace Stadium. The Setters kick off the season 1-0, while Post falls to 0-1.
Brennan scored the first goal of the game, and finished the first half with a hat trick. He then took on the helper role, and dished out four assists in the third quarter to reach seven points on the day.
Brennan's first goal gave the Setters a 1-0 lead in the second minute of the game. Post then took advantage of an extra-man opportunity, as Trevor Buchas scored at the 11:18 mark to tie the game. He scored again less than a minute later, and Post's Colby Treat followed that up at 7:46 to put the Eagles up, 3-1. Brennan scored once again later in the first quarter, but Alsharif Blackman added one more for the Eagles, leaving them up, 4-2, after one period.
Treat and Matthew Palmieri each took penalties for the Eagles as the first quarter concluded, giving the Setters an extra-man opportunity to open the second frame. They took advantage just 28 seconds in when Brennan scored a man-up goal for his third of the game to cut the deficit to one. Just 22 seconds later, junior
Brandon Donnellan (Chester, NY/Warwick Valley) tied the game with his only score of the day.
The Setters then took their second lead of the afternoon when senior
Matthew Cossidente (Port Jefferson Station, NY/Comsewogue) netted one off a feed from grad student
Kevin Cox (Brightwater, NY/Bay Shore / Manhattan College) at the 11:10 mark to put Pace up, 5-4. Treat responded just 31 seconds later to tie the game at five. After six scoreless minutes, Cox got Pace back on the board with his first goal as a Setter to take a 6-5 lead heading into halftime.
Pace came out firing in the second half, scoring six straight goals to open the third quarter, including two more for Cossidente, giving the Setters a 12-5 advantage. Matthew Mazza scored a man-up goal for Post with 1:24 left in the period, leaving Pace up, 12-6, heading into the final frame.
The Setters scored twice more to open the final frame to take a comfortable 14-6 edge with 6:16 to play. Post rallied to score three straight goals to get within five, but sophomore
Anthony Gadaleta (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) gave Pace one more with 50 seconds left for the six-goal victory.
Sophomore
Robert Beshlian (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) picked up his first win in goal for the Setters, improving to 1-0 after stopping nine shots. Post's Rob Rohan kept the Eagles in the game by making 23 saves.
Cossidente matched Brennan with three goals on the afternoon. Sophomores
Joshua Kreitler (Shelton, CT/Shelton) and Anthony O'Hagan each scored twice. Senior
Tyler Meigel (Centereach, NY/Centereach) picked up a pair of assists and three caused turnovers. Donnellan added a game-high six ground balls and three caused turnovers to his goal in Saturday's win. Senior
Matt Ruquet (Rocky Point, NY/Rocky Point / Manhattan College) won 20-of-26 face offs
Mazza scored three times to lead Post, while Treat netted two and registered two assists. Buchas also scored twice and picked up an assist. Rohan led the Eagles with five ground balls.
The Setters fired off more than double the amount of shots the Eagles took on Saturday, attempting 56 shots to Post's 27. This includes a 38-18 edge in shots on goal. Pace was successful on 14-of-15 clear attempts, while holding Post to just 14-of-21. The Setters won 20 of the game's 27 face offs, and held a 42-32 advantage in ground balls.
After a big win to open the season, the Setters face a tough test in their next matchup on Saturday, Feb. 27, when they square off with Dowling College, which tied the Setters at No. 17 on the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA)/Nike Preseason Coaches' Poll. The opening face-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Pace Stadium.
For all information regarding Pace University men's lacrosse, log on to
www.PaceUAthletics.com, follow Pace Athletics on Facebook (
T-Bone, Official Mascot of Pace University Athletics), and follow the men's lacrosse team on Twitter (
@PaceLacrosse) and on Instagram (
@PaceUnivLax).
