Squillante's Faceoff Magic Spells Second Half Comeback
Michael Squillante won 91.7 percent of his faceoffs for the game

Squillante's Faceoff Magic Spells Second Half Comeback

Men's Lacrosse - 4/17/2014 8:40:00 PM

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Hackettstown, N.J. – Michael Squillante won 21 of 23 faceoff opportunities to engineer a second-half Marywood University comeback over Centenary College in Colonial States Athletic Conference men's lacrosse action. The Pacers trailed 5-4 through the first half and outscored the Cyclones 11-2 the rest of the way.

In addition to his 91.3 percent clip at the faceoff circle, Squillante scooped 14 ground balls and scored a goal. Squillante broke the season ground ball record with his 103rd, breaking Brandon Terlizzi's 2013 record of 98. He came three short of the single game ground ball record (17). 

Riley Dobel led the Pacers with six goals and two assist. His eight points are a season high for him.

Sam Trill had three assists in combination with a goal for four points. Derek Schmidt scored a goal and two assists for three points.

Brandon Terlizzi racked up two goals. Cody Bachman and Scott Slater each had a goal and an assist. Slater ends a three-game streak that saw him scored at least three goals in three consecutive games.

Ryan Nowell caused three turnovers and was a ground ball away from a double-digit outing.  Dylan Swope picked up five ground balls. Swope, who recently set the school's career record for assists, broke his own season record with his 28th of the year. 

Joe Magardal made eight saves and eight ground balls in fewer than 56 minutes logged in net.

Marywood (8-7 overall, 4-1 CSAC) moved to above .500 for the first time since March 1. The Pacers are in a deadheat with Gwynedd Mercy University for the No. 2 seed. They will face the Griffins on April 24 for the right to host CSAC semifinal against the loser of the game. Centenary (5-8, 2-3 CSAC) is in a tie with Neumann for the fourth and final seed in the CSAC playoffs.

Centenary trailed for less than a minute in the first half. Trevor Krupinski put the Cyclones ahead at 12:55 in the first quarter on a Sam Nickelson pass. Slater evened it up at 9:14 from Dobel. Slater then found Bachman (7:43) to give the Pacers their only lead of the first half. It was short lived because Steven Orsinki would score his first of two straight goals 47 seconds later.

Centenary added three straight goals, and a man-up Anthony Biango goal at 5:57 in the second gave the Cyclones a 4-2 advantage. Seventeen seconds later, Squillante won the faceoff and drove to net to cut the lead in half. Dobel and Trill connected at 2:48 to ice the game at four apiece.

Sixty-nine seconds left in the half, Biango scored his 20th of the season to give Centenary a 5-4 halftime lead on its brand new turf field.

The Pacers came out of the break a rebranded team. Marywood started the half with four straight goals in less than 3:30. Nearly nine minutes of scoreless play yielded a Dobel unassisted goal to even the game at five. Squillante's faceoff magic spawned a Trill go-ahead goal from Bachman 38 seconds later. Dobel and Nowell each tacked on more goals to give the Pacers extra cushion with an 8-5 lead.

Centenary found its legs and scored two goals, including a man-down Orsini tally, to put it within one at 8-7. The final 13 minutes were in favor of the Pacers. Marywood held Centenary scoreless while posting seven straight goals to quickly put the contest out of reach.

The Pacers' regular season finale with the Griffins will be broadcast live in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region on Fox56 Sports and its sister station WQMY, Comcast Channel 811HD. The game will also be streamed live on the web at http://www.myfoxnepa.com/.
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