Saint Andrew’s alumni Matt Bellando’s trip to his home state saw him enter the game against Lynn with with 14 goals in three games including a six goal effort against Saint Leo. I expected another big scoring day for Bellando and his teammates as I assumed Lynn was way outgunned.  As a second year program Coach Kingsbury has been building his program organically and has a roster with only three upper classmen (two juniors and a senior).  On the other side, Post was coming into the game as the #2 ranked team in the country and returned much of the same roster that went to the final four in 2014 plus the addition of Bellando. Post won the first possession and appeared to have the offense working right as they hit the post twice, the second one caromed down to the Lynn end of the field where they picked up the ball and had their first possession of the game.  But before they could really get rolling the wet field conditions claimed a victim as a Lynn player slipped in the mud and the ball rolled out of his stick to be picked up by a Post defender. An errant pass was actually picked up by Lynn but Matt Bellando showed some defensive skill and caused a turnover which he picked up and fired off a quick shot that just missed the cage. His teammates backed up the shot and Chris Calazza found Bellando on the island and at 5:03 he had his first goal of the game and Post was up 1-0. The second face off went to Post but a  nice save by Nick Nehring got the ball back for Lynn.  They turned it over on a shot and Post went back to work.  Ryan Slane hit the alley and fired a nice shot past Nehring for the 2nd Post goal. Genovesi was called for procedure on the ensuing face off giving Post a 3-0 advantage at the “X” to start the game. Post got off a shot that was absorbed by Nehring but the clear was busted and Bellando nearly scored again before Nehring could get back to the crease.  He then turned away Bellando on a great inside roll stuffing the shot from point blank.  The next Post shot went wide and Lynn called a dead ball time out to get the right defensive personnel into the game.  At this point it could have been a lot worse than 2-0 except for the great play of Nehring. But whatever magic Coach Kingsbury worked out in the time out was effective as Shaun McDonnald stripped the ball and Nehring picked it up.  They got the offense on the field with 3:56 left in the first quarter.  Johnny Gavin made a great feed from X up toAnthony Rainone who spun and made a tremendous underhand shot low to high of the goal. Genovesi won the face but Post swarmed the ball and got the take away. However, Post ended up turning it over themselves and Angelo Beacon-Paglia cleared it for Lynn.  The Lynn offense showed a big of youthful enthusiasm with just 1:24 left in the quarter as they probably would have been well advised to burn a little time off the clock and work to tie the game up near the end of the quarter.  Instead they fired a stick side, high to high shot that was easily saved by Adam Winnie and sent back to the other end of the field. However the Lynn defense held up and the first quarter ended 2-1 and the under dogs were hanging in there. The second quarter did not start off well as Matty Baccaris scored for Post with just under a minute gone in the second quarter.   Before the next face off Genovesi’s  stick failed a stick check and Lynn’s FOGO was put in the box.  On the ensuing EMO Matty Baccaris scored again for Post to stretch the lead to 4-1. Genovesi won the next face off but as he sprinted off the field the Post players double teamed Tyler Briggs and got the ball back.  This marked the second face off win that was turned over by the Lynn wing men. One defensive adjustment made by the Knights became obvious as Brian Thibault II had the difficult task of shutting off Bellando.  Bellando never quit moving, cutting, and picking but Thibault stayed with it and created an opportunity for Shaun McDonald to throw a great check as he knocked his opponents stick out of his hands and then kicked the ball to his goalie.  With 10:44 left in the half Lynn had an opportunity to get something going on the offensive end of the field. But, a lousy call on a ward gave the ball back to LIU Post.  As Austin Jerhoff set up to dodge his man he initiated contact and the whistle blew.  He didn’t extend his arm or ward in anyway.  But….. that was the call. Connor Drost got the ball at the top of the box on Post’s possession and was able to make a nice dodge and shot to give Post a 5-1 lead. Lynn won the ensuing face off and was able to get some offense set up.  After a little more than a minute of working the ball around Jacob Van Leenen hit Anthony Rainone who scored his second of the game with another lefty underhand shot, this one off the far post. Lynn played some solid defense that led to a Caleb Cerf picking up the ball and sprinting down the strangling where he found Austin Jerhoff.  Jerhoff had room and took his time cranking some high heat from about 8 yards out to close the gap to 5-3. Connor Drost got hot for Post and scored back to back goals to make it 7-3 in favor of Post. With under a minute left in the half Tyler Janvrin was flagged for a push and gave the short EMO to Post.  Nearing came up big again making a great save and a solid outlet pass.  Lynn tried to make something out of the transition but the shot sailed high and Winne backed it up to get the ball back for Post.  On the restart they made a long pass and got the ball down low to Bellando who scored his second of the day with just :22 left in the half giving Post an 8-3 half time lead. The first half would have to be encouraging for Lynn.  They had done a decent job containing a prolific scorer like Bellando and had forced the Post middies to take up the slack.  Unfortunately, Drost had been up to the challenge getting a first half hat trick.  Overall, the Lynn defense had played well, they had just been forced to pay too much defense by some ill-timed turnovers.  Several turnovers were between the boxes which always seem to hurt the most. In the third quarter the wheels came off for Lynn as they gave up six goals.  Rainone did score his hat trick on a great dink and dunk shot but at the end of three the Fightning Knights found themselves in a 13-4 hole.  But, as Coach Kingsbury would say after the game, “They showed heart.  We  didn’t give up and we showed heart and we plowed back.” The first eight minutes of the fourth were back and forth but Lynn had certainly been able to stop the bleeding.  Then, with 6:58 left in the game Anthony Rainone scored his fourth, making it 13-5.  That goal breathed a little life back in the Fighting Knights.  Then, Johnny Gavin took a pass from Tyler Janvrin and buried it to make it 13-6.  That got the Lynn bench pumped up.  Back to back goals after a disheartening third quarter was a big boost. That’s when 6’1, 200 lb Austin Jerhoff decided it was his time to shine and scored back to back goals for his own hat trick and close it to 13-8.  Now the place was going nuts. With only 1:39 left on the clock redshirt freshman Mark Snellman scored to make it five in a row for the Fighting Knights on a great  room and time shot from the wing.  A predictable blow out by a national ranked powerhouse over an upstart South Florida program just became a respectable four goal loss. But then Brian Kiel came in and scored an amazing 6th straight goal for the Fighting Knights.  This wasn’t just a respectable loss anymore, this was a real game.  There were only seconds left on the clock by now but with 6 goals in under seven minutes and all the momentum in the world on the side of the Fighting Knights. I don’t think anyone in the stadium was ready to call it for Post yet.   Time would run out on the unlikely comeback story but what an incredible finish and a huge announcement from the Lynn Fighting Knights to the rest of the Sunshine State Conference that they are here to stay. After the game head coach Brian Kingsbury was please with the competitive level of his young team.  “..we are a super-young team but it’s great to play against a team like this to prepare for teams ahead that are going to be at this level.” Some of my take aways from the game- It was a great game with some stud players.  Four hat tricks in the game.  For LIU Post it was three each for Bellando and Drost.  Bellando is a Saint Andrews graduate who got to LIU Post after a year at Stonybrook.  He is one of the most prolific goal scorers in the history of Florida High School lacrosse.  Anthony Rainone and Austin Jerhoff scored 4 and 3 for Lynn. Rainone is a great pick up for this Lynn program.  He transferred in from Adelphi and jumped right in as a captain and is carrying a big load for this team.  When asked about the difficulty of being a junior who is also the “go to guy” on a team of such young players he said, “It’s a great experience for me…jumping right in here being a leader and a junior captain.  It’s fun and exciting and I’m glad I get to share my knowledge.” Austin Jerhoff is a red shirt freshman who is also a second year captain.  He was a captain last year but got hurt and led from the sidelines.  He has very limited field lacrosse experience as he grew up playing box lacrosse in Calgary.  His coach says, “He has a voice and a great stick.  He’s got a big body and not afraid to get hit and can get the ball in the back of the net.” It was a great game and fun to watch.  Lynn made some great adjustments during the game and controlled the ball much better in the fourth quarter.  If they can take care of the rock a little better between the boxes they are going to be in just about every game they play this season. The have their first home game Friday as they host Emmanuel at 7:00.