PHILADELPHIA, Penn. –  Freshman midfielder Charlie Foster picked up 17-of-24 faceoffs in the circle for Post University Men's Lacrosse as well as a game-high 12 ground balls, the second-most in program history for a single game for the Eagles who rolled to their first conference victory of the season, 17-8, over Holy Family University on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

THE BASICS

Post University 17, Holy Family University 8

Post University (4-3, 1-0 CACC)

Holy Family University (6-3, 1-1 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior attacker Leighton Cooke continued his hot streak for Post on the offensive side of the ball, scoring six more goals for his sixth consecutive hat trick this season, adding an assist as well for a total of seven points in the win. Cooke had six goals and an assist on the road earlier this week against the University of the District of Columbia, giving him a 12-goal, two-assist week for 14 points in two games for the Eagles.

Alongside him, junior attacker Ryan Denike and senior attacker Robbie McGrayne gave Post an early 3-0 lead that would be met with two goals from freshman attacker Ryan Merryfield and another from sophomore attacker Jhay Dameus to tie the game back up at three all with 6:32 left in the second quarter. 

Ending the first half on a 5-1 run, graduate attacker Hunter McCarty put in two goals along with an additional two from Cooke and one from Denike, giving Post the lead back by four heading into the locker room, 8-4. Post would cruise to the nine-goal victory behind a nine-goal second half, taking their second consecutive game and first on the road in the all-time series against Holy Family, 17-8.

In addition to Cooke's seven-point performance, three more Eagles would finish with five or more points as Denike recorded four goals and two assists while McGrayne had three goals and three assists, and McCarty tallied two goals and three assists. The foursome accounted for 24 of a possible 28 points for Post as well as 15 of the 17 goals offensively on the day while the offense as a whole had four man-up goals in the win. 

Senior long-stick midfielder James Sproul had another solid game defensively with a game-high four caused turnovers to go along with three ground balls and was also responsible for the 15th goal of the afternoon for the Eagles. For the Tigers, Merryfield along with freshman attacker Jake Feeney led the team with two goals each while freshman defender Logan O'Keefe had a team-high three caused turnovers in the loss. 

Freshman goalie Aiden Waller earned his second straight win after making 13 saves on 21 shots from Holy Family, holding the Tigers to only eight goals and recording his second straight game in which he allowed fewer than 10 goals after allowing only three against the University of the District of Columbia. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Charlie Foster finished the game winning 17-of-24 faceoffs while picking up 12 ground balls -- The 12 ground balls are the second-most for a single game in program history behind only Jaxon Holden's 17 ground balls at Caldwell University last season 
• Robbie McGrayne scored six points today and now sits at 197 career points which is just six points away from breaking Dylan Heald's (2021-24) all-time point record at 202 points 
• Recording five points today, Hunter McCarty continues his pursuit of 200 career points and now sits at 174 career points following the game 
• Currently on pace to break another record, Robbie McGrayne needs to play in at least three more games this season for Post University to become the all-time leader in career games played by three different players in Jack Kearney, Frank Nichols Jr., and Peter Naboka with 55 games played each 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University plays conference games the rest of the way and will return home on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 PM to take on Caldwell University at LaMoy Field. The Eagles have won their last three matchups against the Cougars dating back to 2022, including last year's 23-7 victory on the road.