Penalties Undo Firebirds in Loss to Chestnut Hill in Program’s First Home Game on Campus

WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia men's lacrosse team suffered a 19-6 loss to Chestnut Hill College in the program's first ever home lacrosse game played at UDC Field on the Van Ness campus on Saturday afternoon.

The Firebirds, who have now lost four straight games, fell to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the East Coast Conference. Chestnut Hill, which has now won three of its last four games, improved to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in league play.

Sophomore attack Zach Hart and junior midfielder Teilen Celentano each scored a pair of goals, and freshman attack Alan Singleton, junior midfielder Syrrus Nash, and junior midfielder LaRon Hinton each added two points as well. Singleton and Nash each had a goal and an assist, and Hinton had two assists.

Celentano, who was 15-of-25 on face-offs today, had a game-high 12 ground balls as he took eight shots and fired five on goal.

Defensively, freshman goalkeeper Nikolas Lund-Murray stopped nine of 28 shots faced in a complete game effort.

The Griffins, meanwhile, featured 11 different goal scorers, including attack Alec Dambach, who registered a game-high seven points on three goals and four assists, and attack Tanner Fisher, who had a game-high four goals and one assist. Starting CHC goalkeeper Thomas McDermott stopped 10 of 16 shots faced in a little over 52 minutes of action in goal. Stephen Hogan Jr. came in for the final 7:35 and stopped one of two shots faced.

Penalties were UDC's undoing in this game as the Firebirds totaled 10 minutes on 11 infractions compared to CHC's one minute on one infraction. The Griffins capitalized on 5-of-10 man-up opportunities while UDC was 0-for-1.

The Firebirds, meanwhile, edged CHC 15-14 in faceoffs won, were 16-of-19 on clear attempts, and won the ground ball battle, 33-27. Still, UDC had four more turnovers (19-15) and was out-shot, 42-30.

UDC raced out to a 2-0 lead courtesy of goals by Hart and Singleton at 13:07 and 12:55, respectively, but the Griffins responded with four straight goals and never looked back.  The visitors out-scored UDC, 6-1 in the final nine minutes of the first period to take a 6-3 lead into the 2^nd quarter.

Chestnut Hill kept its foot on the gas in the 2^nd quarter, scoring three consecutive goals in less than a minute-and-a-half and out-scoring the Firebirds 6-2 en-route to a 12-5 halftime lead.

The Firebirds stiffened a little defensively in the 2^nd half, allowing only seven combined goals in the 3^rd and 4^th quarters, but in that time, UDC could only managed to score one goal. CHC, which held the Firebirds to one goal in the 3^rd quarter and shut them out in the 4^th quarter, coasted to a 13-goal victory.

Next up, UDC will visit Molloy College on Saturday, April 8^th.