Old Westbury, N.Y. (April 26, 2008) - The NYIT men's lacrosse team rallied from a 6-2 deficit midway through the third quarter, tying the game at 8-8 with 1:53 to play and winning the game on sophomore Austin Carino's (Huntington, N.Y.) goal 1:07 into overtime.

The Bears, who had lost five consecutive meetings with Mercyhurst, outscored the Lakers 8-5 over the final two periods and overtime to remain perfect on the season at 11-0 and 5-0 in the ECC. With the win, the Bears clinch the East Coast Conference championship for the fifth time in the teams history and the first since 2005. The loss snaps a six game winning streak for Mercyhurst and drops the Lakers to 8-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

Graduate student Paul Flowers (London, England) gave the Bears a 1-0 lead with an unassisted score at the 12:38 mark, but Mercyhurst would clamp down and hold NYIT's high-scoring offense scoreless for the next 31 and a half minutes.

The Lakers got their offense going behind back-to-back scores from Jordan Witt to take a 2-1 lead after one quarter of play. Mike Bartlett scored the only goal of the second quarter off of a feed from Mike Thone and the Bears offense managed just three shots in the second quarter.

The third quarter was a different story as the two teams combined to score nine times. Mercyhurst took their largest lead of the game, 5-1, as they opened the third quarter with consecutive scores from Thon and Tyler Burton.

Junior Keith Henderson's (Port Jeff Station, N.Y.) unassisted score with 11:07 remaining in the third snapped the Bears scoreless streak and pulled NYIT to within 5-2. But Thon won the ensuing face-off and ran the length of the field, netting his second of the game :07 seconds later to push the Lakers lead back up to four, 6-2. Junior Matt Messina (Sayville, N.Y.) and Henderson gave the Bears some life as they netted consecutive scores just :20 seconds apart to close the gap to 6-4 with 9:18 remaining.

The Lakers came right back behind Bartlett's second of the day to make it 7-4, but junior Kevin Hennessy (West Babylon, N.Y.) beat a Mercyhurst double team and fired a shot past the shoulder of Mercyhurst goal keeper Jason Lashomb for a 7-5 score. The Lakers answered once again as Trevor Rice found the back of the net off of a feed from Ryan Arnold to make it 8-5 heading into the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Matt Sullivan (West Islip, N.Y.) kept the Bears offense going as he opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with an unassisted score at 10:21. Sullivan's goal started a string of four consecutive for NYIT's offense and the Bears defense clamped down on Mercyhurst, limiting the Lakers to just five shots over the final quarter and overtime.

Hennessy found Henderson alone in front of the net and his score with just over six minutes to play brought NYIT to within 8-7. The defense, which held Mercyhurst scoreless in four man-up opportunities in the game, came through big as they did not allow a score on a one minute tripping penalty with just over five minutes to go.

Mercyhurst controlled the ball with just over two minutes remaining, but NYIT's defense forced a turnover and Messina capitalized, scoring the game-tying goal as he beat his defender one-on-one with 1:58 left to play. Garcia won the ensuing face-off, but NYIT turned the ball over. Mercyhurst had a great opportunity to win it in regulation, but NYIT goal keeper junior Chris Powers (Salt Lake City, Utah) saved the game with a point blank save on Witt's shot with just two seconds to play.

Garcia won the overtime face-off, but the Bears turned over the ball again. NYIT did not allow Mercyhurst to clear however and Messina advanced the ball down the field quickly, finding Carino open in front of the net for the game winner.

Henderson finished with a game-high three goals, Messina added two goals and one assist and Hennessy finished with one goal and one assist. Powers made nine saves in the net for the Bears as he improved to 4-0 on the season.

Thon, Bartlett and Witt each scored twice for the Lakers and LaShomb made 14 saves in the loss.

NYIT out-shot Mercyhurst 38-31 and went 12-20 in face-offs, but the Lakers grabbed 38 groundballs to the Bears 35.