Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/6/24
From Press Release
An explosive offensive attack by the Chestnut Hill College Men’s Lacrosse team left no doubt as to who would claim the 2024 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship as the Griffins rallied from a one-goal deficit in the third quarter to handily defeat top seed Wilmington University, 17-8, Sunday afternoon in Orangeburg, New York.
The Griffins have won the last four conference titles, dating back to the 2021 season and finished 11-4.
Tourney MVP Sam Slater (Polytech, DE) led the offensive attack in the second half, scoring four goals in a 9:19 span in the fourth quarter en route to a career-high seven goals as the Griffins who trailed 6-5 with nine minutes left in the third quarter outscored the Wildcats 12-2 over the final 24 minutes.
CHC ended with seven wins, the last lost being a 10-8 defeat to Wilmington on April 3.
Will Duddy had three goals while Jake Ballerini (Freedom) and Cade Johnson added two apiece. Slater added an assist to finish with eight points while Ballerini added two assists to finish with four points. Cooper Jackson and Noah Hammon had two assists apiece with Johnson also adding an assist to finish the game with three points.
While the Chestnut Hill offense was clicking, the Griffin defense was holding the Wildcats, who had the best offense in the conference, averaging nearly 18 goals a game, to just five shots on goal and 14 shots total over the final 22 minutes. Wilmington’s eight goals was their lowest total output in a single game this season.
Chase Snyder had three caused turnovers and recovered five ground balls. Brandon Berghaier also recovered five ground balls while winning 15 of 28 faceoffs.
Julius Sorino (Seneca) was stellar in between the pipes, stopping 14 of 22 shots by the Wildcats to earn his 11th win. Sorino’s goals against average for the season, 7.15, is the second-best among all NCAA Division II goalkeepers.
Leading 6-5 with just under seven minutes left in the third quarter, Slater scored twice in a 52 second span to give the Griffins a 7-6 lead. Slater fed Ballerini for a goal at the 4:31 mark and Duddy tallied his third with 1:48 left to increase the lead to 9-6. Wilmington’s Josh Weston found the back of the net with two seconds left in the quarter to pull the Wildcats within two 9-7 at the two teams headed into the final quarter.
Tommy Austin and Jackson scored 48 seconds apart to open the scoring in the fourth quarter, giving the Griffins an 11-7 lead with 13:10 left. Weston scored again for the Wildcats with 12:12 left, making the score 11-8. Hammon then fed Slater for a goal at the 12:19 mark, kicking off a string of six unanswered goals as the Griffins pulled away for the 17-8 win. Slater tallied four of those goals while Ballerini and Nate Matthews scored the other two.
Hammon finished the game with two assists but did not score a goal, snapping a string of 23 straight games with a goal scored.
Logan Stinson led Wilmington with two goals and an assist. TJ Caton and Josh Weston each scored twice.
Goals by Slater, Johnson and Duddy in the first quarter erased a 2-0 Wildcat lead, their largest of the game. Wilmington tied the game at 3-3 and closed within one 5-4 in the final two minutes of the quarter.
The Wildcats tied the game and retook the lead, 6-5 with two goals to open the third quarter before the Griffins tightened up their defense and successfully executed on offense to pull away with a resounding victory.
Johnson, Slater, Daniel Grubb (Quakertown), Ballerini, Berghaier and Sorino were named to the All-Tournament team.
