Riverdale, NY (April 30, 2005)- Mount St. Mary's used six unanswered goals over 12 minutes to take a 10-5 lead and ultimately held off a late Manhattan rally, defeating the Jaspers, 14-11 this afternoon at Gaelic Park.
Justin Otto had four goals, while
Chris Oppito had three goals and an assist for the Jaspers, who finish the regular season at 6-2 in the conference and will face an opponent to be determined in the MAAC Championships beginning Friday, May 6 at 4:00 p.m. at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.
The Jaspers (7-6, 6-2 MAAC) started out quickly, as
Christian Schaefers got Manhattan on the board at the 12:14 mark, and a goal by face-off man
Konstantine Rountos at the 12:07 mark followed right behind Schaefers' tally, quickly lifting Manhattan to a 2-0 lead. With the Jaspers leading 3-1 late in the first quarter, Mount St. Mary's (7-8, 6-2 MAAC) scored a pair of goals within five seconds of each other to tie the score. Tilghman Herring scored a man-up goal with 41 seconds left in the stanza, and Mount's face-off man Kyle Daddio controlled the draw and went in for another score five seconds later. However, the momentum swung back in Manhattan's favor, as Oppito scored his first of the game with nine seconds left in the quarter, putting Manhattan ahead 4-3 after 15 minutes.
After Oppito scored his second of the day at the 10:26 mark to give Manhattan a 5-4 lead, the rest of the quarter belonged to the Mount. The Mount scored four straight goals to end the half, and took an 8-5 lead into intermission.
As the second half began, the Mount did not let up, scoring the first two goals of the half to take a 10-5 edge before the Jaspers began to chip away. Oppito scored his third of the day, on a feed from
Brian Wynne, with 5:51 left in the third quarter, and Otto tallied his second of the day, a man-up goal, nearly a minute later, at the 4:52 mark, to bring Manhattan within three, at 10-7. However, Daddio struck again, controlling the face-off and taking it down the field ten seconds later to put Mount up 11-7. Mount ended the scoring in the third on a tally by Jason Werner, giving the Mount a 12-7 cushion heading into the final quarter.
After Mount took a 13-7 lead on a man-up goal with 14:21 left, the Jaspers came back firing.
Brian Murray scored an unassisted goal at 11:17, and after Matt Warner scored his fourth goal of the day for Mount, making it 14-8, the Jaspers fought back. Oppito found Otto for a tally with 4:29 left, and
Ed Kinley scored his first goal of the season to make it 14-10. Otto struck again at the 2:13 mark, but Manhattan's furious rally ended there, and the Mount captured a 14-11 win.
Robert Busweiler made 12 saves in net for Manhattan, while Dan Whitehurst made nine saves in victory for Mount St. Mary's.
Manhattan's eight seniors were honored in a brief pre-game ceremony, as it was the final game at Gaelic Park for
Robert Busweiler,
Ed Kinley,
John Landers,
Gerard McCloskey,
Justin Otto,
Konstantine Rountos,
Eugene Tanner and
Brett Warmington.
Manhattan will enter the MAAC Championships as the third seed and will face the second-seeded Mount in one semifinal, set to begin at 4:00 p.m. In the other semifinal, top-seeded Providence will face off against #4 seed and host Marist, slated to begin at 7:00 p.m at Leonidoff Field on the campus of Marist College.
