WATERBURY, Conn. –  Freshman goalie Aiden Waller continued to stay hot in net for Post University Men's Lacrosse as he moved to 4-1 in his five starts this season with Post's 14-5 win over Dominican (N.Y.) on Wednesday afternoon at LaMoy Field. Waller made 12 saves in the victory, allowing only five goals, marking the sixth straight appearance to start his collegiate career in which he has allowed fewer than 10 goals in net. 

THE BASICS

Post University 14, Dominican (N.Y.) 5

Post University (6-4, 3-1 CACC)

Dominican (N.Y.) (3-7,1-3 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior attacker Leighton Cooke also continued the streak he has going for consecutive games with a hat trick, pushing it to nine straight games after scoring three times while adding four assists for a total of seven points in the win. Cooke has now registered four seven-point games in the last five games overall for Post, while having a total of five for the entire season. Senior attacker Robbie McGrayne trailed close behind Cooke with six points after pocketing five goals and one assist as well as snagging four ground balls in what would be his record-breaking 56th career game as an Eagle.

Sophomore midfielder Gabe Roman scored his first goal as an Eagle to start things off, followed by Cooke's first of the game to give Post the lead, 2-0, with the help of freshman midfielder Will Brien assisting on both scores. When junior attacker Nickolas Paletta beat Waller with his shot just 27 seconds after Cookie's goal to pull the Chargers within one goal, that would be the closest Dominican (N.Y.) would get for the remainder of the game.

The balanced attack of the Eagles saw five different goal scorers overall, with two goals each from Roman, graduate attacker Hunter McCarty, and junior attacker Ryan Denike. A trio of players all had four assists as well in Cooke, McCarty, and Brien in the victory that saw Post as a team combine to have 28 total points via their 14 goals and 14 assists. 

Facing Waller on the opposite end was freshman goalie Kyle Janks for the Chargers, who made 15 saves in the full 60 minutes, allowed 14 goals in the game, and fell to 2-5 on the season. Paletta led all scorers for Dominican (N.Y.) with two goals and two assists for a total of four points, while three different players registered a single goal en route to the five-goal day for the visitors. Sophomore faceoff specialist Josh Wesneski won 12-of-21 draws in the loss for the Chargers while junior faceoff specialist Jaxon Holden took 7-of-13 draws for Post, splitting time with freshman midfielder Charlie Foster, the winner in 4-of-10 draws that he took. 

The Eagle defense was anchored by 17 caused turnovers, split up among 10 players, and led by Denike with four in the game, followed by three from freshman defender John Karas. Senior long-stick midfielder James Sproul led Post with a team-high six ground balls, only outdone by eight ground balls from freshman long-stick midfielder Michael Chies and seven ground balls from junior defender Rocco Albanese. 

BY THE NUMBER

• Aiden Waller continues his streak of allowing fewer than 10 goals in a game to start his career as he allowed just five goals while making 12 saves against Dominican (N.Y.) -- Waller has appeared in six games this season and allowed no more than eight goals in a game 
• Recording six points today, Hunter McCarty continues his pursuit of 200 career points and now sits at 186 career points following the game 
• Leighton Cooke has now scored a hat-trick in each of his last nine games for Post University after being held scoreless in the season opener against Assumption University -- Cooke had three goals and four assists for a total of seven points against Dominican (N.Y.) this afternoon 
• Robbie McGrayne broke the Post University record for the most career games played, playing in his 56th career game today, surpassing three different players, Jack Kearney, Frank Nichols Jr., and Peter Naboka, who played 55 games each 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University finishes the week with a road matchup against Wilmington University scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM. The Eagles have lost six straight games against the Wildcats since 2019, including a regular-season and postseason loss last year by 15-10 and 15-11 final scores.