Grillo Nets 100th Career Goal in LAX Win Over Emerson

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College men's lacrosse team scored 12 straight goals en route to a 15-4 victory over Emerson College on Monday afternoon at Alumni Field.

Senior Adam Grillo netted four goals on the day, including the 100th of his collegiate career. Already the school's all-time leading scorer, Grillo becomes the first Mitchell men's lacrosse player to record 100 goals in a career. In 45 games he's recorded 101 goals and 35 assists for 136 points.

Freshman Jordan Cook led all scorers with five goals and added three assists for a career-high eight points. Sophomore Chris Joy also scored a pair of goals to go along with a game-high nine ground balls for the Mariners (4-6 overall). Tyler Hastings led Emerson (0-6 overall) with two goals while Max Smith added a goal and two assists.

Joy put the Mariners on the board in the first 27 seconds of the contest, but the lead only lasted a few minutes until Smith answered with an unassisted tally at the 11:47 mark. Mitchell then drew a two-minute slashing penalty, but sophomore Shane Sullivan scored a short-handed goal to put the home team back in front. Hastings completed the first quarter scoring with his first of the game, tying the score at 2-2 with 4:22 left in the stanza.

Mitchell opened the second quarter with a man-advantage thanks to a slashing penalty and took full advantage. Freshman A.J. Fialkowski found Grillo open for a score just 11 seconds into the period, a goal that would put the Mariners ahead for good. Grillo scored once more in the quarter while Cook struck for two, and the result was a 6-2 Mitchell lead at the break.

The Mariners scored the first eight goals of the second half to put the game away. Grillo's milestone goal came with 9:50 remaining in the third quarter on an unassisted effort in front of the cage. He added his final goal in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to give Mitchell a 12-2 advantage.

The Lions scored twice in the fourth quarter to break the streak. Eric Colleran netted a man-up goal off an assist from Smith with 8:59 to play, and Hastings added his second tally with 4:02 to go.

Sophomore Peter Eshenfelder faced 27 shots and made 11 saves in goal for the Mariners. Emerson goalie Donald Welch made 10 saves against 54 shots.

Mitchell went 1-for-4 with the extra man but scored a pair of goals when down a man. Emerson went 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

Mitchell will next play at Daniel Webster College on Monday, April 16 at 4 p.m.