Old Westbury, N.Y. - The seventh-ranked and second-seeded NYIT men's lacrosse team defeated 12th-ranked and third-seeded Mercy College 13-7 Wednesday afternoon in an East Coast Conference semifinal match.
The Bears (12-3) advance to their first ECC Championship game and will play the top-seeded and fifth-ranked Pioneers of LIU Post. The Bears and Pioneers take the "Battle of the Boulevard' on the road with a 3 p.m. start time on the campus of Dowling College in Brookhaven, N.Y. Mercy ends the season 10-6 overall.
Will Kistinger (Bohemia, N.Y.) opened the game with an unassisted goal 55 seconds in. Thomas Hughes (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) then made it a 2-0 game with a shot at 11:13 off an assist from ECC Co-Offensive Player of the Year Luke Miller (Mastic, N.Y.). Hughes then lent a hand on George Schultz's (Smithtown, N.Y.).first goal of the game at 10:28.
Daniel Speicher interrupted the Bears rally that wound up continuing well into the second period with the Maverick's firs goal of the day at 2:38. But Kistinger responded to put the Bears up 4-1 at the end of the first period.
Hughes opened the second period with an unassisted goal at 13:04 followed by Andrew Schweigert's (West Babylon, N.Y.)'s lone goal of the game. Shawn Murphy (Holbrook, N.Y.) then scored before Robert Rossi had the final say of the half. The team's headed to the locker room with the Bears lead 7-2.
Mercy made it a 7-3 game out of the break before Murphy netted the game-winning goal to close out the third period, 8-3. NYIT then out-scored Mercy 5-4 to win 13-7.
Kistinger led the game with three goals, while Murphy, Miller, and Hughes ahd two goals and two assists each. The win went to sophomore Alex Seltzer (Plainview, N.Y.), who improved to 11-3 on the season with seven saves made on 14 shots faced. The loss was dealt to A.J. Pellati (2-3), who made five saves on 18 shots faced.
Provided by the NYIT Sports Information Department.
