BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – Two goals during the final 17 seconds by top-seeded Mercy College was the difference as the Mavericks shocked second-seeded LIU Post in the East Coast Conference men's lacrosse championship on Saturday, May 4 at President's Stadium on the campus of the New York Institute of Technology.
 
Despite the loss, senior faceoff specialist Connor Farrell secured a spot in NCAA history, finishing the season with an 81.6-percent winning percentage at the X this season. Farrell becomes the first player across all three divisions to win better than 80-percent of faceoffs taken and breaks the previous Division II mark held by Zach Bodeau (Rockhurst University) who won 77.6-percent during the 2018 campaign.
 
Junior Nick Grassa led LIU Post with three goals and sophomore William Snelders and junior Alex Russell tallied two goals each. Senior Bryan Ochs matched his career high with 18 saves on the day. Farrell finished 17-for-25 at the X with a team-best 10 ground balls, while sophomore Ryan Blume added six ground balls.
 
It was a defensive stalemate for the first seven minutes before Grassa opened the scoring on a feed from Snelders to put LIU Post ahead 1-0. Two runs were the difference the rest of the first half as Mercy scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead before the Pioneers closed the half on a 5-0 burst to retake the lead at 6-4 at halftime.
 
The Green and Gold eventually closed the run with six unanswered, leading by three goals at the 13:28 mark of the second half. Back-and-forth action ensued the rest of the stanza as the Pioneers took an 8-6 lead into the final quarter.
 
Mercy cut the deficit to one goal four minutes into the period and tied the score at 8-8 moments later. Snelders scored at the 8:26 mark of the final quarter on a low, skidding shot from the right wing to give LIU Post the lead once again at 9-8. Despite losing the lead just past the midway point of the quarter, Russell ripped a shot under the crossbar from the left wing to give LIU Post the lead with 1:43 to play.
 
The Pioneer defense came up with a huge stop on Mercy's subsequent possession and regained possession with the shot clock turned off but after a successful clear turned the ball over on an errant pass on the offensive end. Mercy took full advantage, scoring with 17 seconds remaining to level the scoring at 10-10 on a bounce shot. Farrell was called for a faceoff violation on the ensuing faceoff and Bobby Chillianis found space on the right wing and dove across the goal mouth and beat Ochs with a shot inside the left post for the game-winner with 3.6 seconds remaining to lift Mercy to its first ECC championship in program history.