ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – Just when you think Post University Men's Lacrosse could not possibly find another way to raise their game any more than they already have, the Eagles do. Yet again on Wednesday afternoon against Dominican (N.Y.), it was an historic afternoon for Post who saw six more records get tied, broken, or have players get into the top three of their categories in their 24-10 win over the Chargers.
The win puts Post in a three-way tie still with Georgian Court and Chestnut Hill for the second seed in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. But the Eagles do not own the tiebreaker against the 5-1 Lions and only trail Wilmington by one game, who are an undefeated 5-0, with that matchup still to come as well as the one against the 3-1 Griffins this Saturday at home.
THE BASICS
Post University 24, Dominican (N.Y.) 10
Post University (8-5, 4-1 CACC)
Dominican (N.Y.) (3-7, 1-4 CACC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior midfielder Tim Keefe led the way for the Eagles in this game with a two-goal, six-assist performance to tally up nine total points in the win. Keefe's seven assists placed him second all-time in program history for most assists in a game behind only Sean Olsen who had eight assists against Felician on April 24th, 2019. Keefe also helped out on sophomore midfielder Leighton Cooke's goal that gave Post a 5-4 lead after trailing 4-3 in which the duo pulled off the hidden ball trick to net the go-ahead goal.
After that crafty goal, the two teams would only be tied twice more at five all and six all before the Eagles went on a 4-0 run with four different Post players getting in on the action before the Chargers could stop the bleeding. However, that 4-0 run would just be the start of what ended up being a 10-goal second quarter for the Eagles as four goals in the final three minutes from sophomore attacker Ryan Denike and senior midfielders Brendan Kelleher, Nick Steele, and Jack Longmore propelled Post to a six-goal lead, 14-8, heading into the half.
The offense continued to roll in the second half as what was just a 4-0 run to end the first half turned into a 12-0 run that spanned the second quarter to the fourth quarter in which the Post defense held Dominican (N.Y.) off the scoreboard for just over 25 minutes of playing time as a once close game quickly turned into a rout that saw the Eagles win 24-10.
Senior goalie Cole George needed to make just eight saves and only allowed 10 goals while his counterpart in freshman goalie Bryce Layton allowed 24 goals and made 10 stops for the Chargers.
As a team, the Eagles tallied up 24 goals, 14 assists, 38 points, 51 ground balls, and an impressive 28-for-35 performance from the faceoff circle that saw sophomore faceoff specialist Jaxon Holden successfully win 24-of-31 draws that he took.
With five man-up goals, Post tied the program record in that category as well as single-game goals with 24 in the game while taking down the single-game faceoff wins record with 28 on the day and Holden's 24 victories in the circle also was a program-best. Holden also led the team with 11 ground balls which tied the program record for most in a single game.
Leading the way in scoring was Denike with five goals and behind him was Cooke with four as well as senior attacker Dylan Heald and junior attacker Robbie McGrayne with three for a hat trick. Sophomore midfielder Zachary Souza had three goals for the Chargers while the only other multi-goal scorer for Dominican (N.Y.) was sophomore midfielder James Conklin with two.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Tim Keefe finished the game with two goals and seven assists for a team-high nine points – Keefe's seven assists were the second-most in program history for a single game, surpassing Ryan Denike's five assists which he did against Holy Family this season and Felician last season
- Jaxon Holden set a pair of records today, recording the most faceoff wins for a single game in program history with 24 wins which broke his own record of 22 faceoff wins at Alderson Broaddus on February 25th, 2023
- Post University won 28-of-35 faceoffs today and improved to 5-1 on the season when winning more than 50% of the draws in the faceoff circle this season with the one loss being a 9-7 defeat at Franklin Pierce – The 28 faceoff wins were a single-game program record surpassing the mark set against Alderson Broaddus on April 19th, 2023 and February 25th, 2023 which was 23 faceoff wins
- As a team, Post University tied the program record for most goals in a game with 24 today, tying those two Alderson Broaddus games in 2014 and 2023 for most all-time – Post also tied their record for most man-up goals in a game with five alongside their 2021 game against Felician University and last year against D'Youville University
WHO'S NEXT
Post University comes home for their penultimate home game of the season against Chestnut Hill College at 2:00 PM on LaMoy Field this Saturday. After losing four in a row to the Griffins, the Eagles snapped that streak with an 11-9 road win last April to improve to 3-7 in the all-time series.
