Box Score
Springfield, MA – Hartwick College outscored Marywood University 5-1 in the second half of Saturday afternoon Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) semifinal game and advanced to Sunday's championship game with an 8-6 win over the Pacers. The Hawks, who overcame a 5-3 halftime deficit, improve to 10-8 this spring with the victory while Marywood ends their season with an 11-7 record.
Hartwick took the lead just 28 seconds in Saturday's contest when Jake Cooper scored off of a Phil Schaefer assist, but Marywood equalized less than two minutes later when Nick Parks found the back of the net off a feed from William Roerden. An unassisted tally by Chris Riley gave the Pacers a 2-1 lead with 11:23 remaining in the opening stanza, but tallies by Dave Aitchison and Brian Finnegan put the Hawks up 3-2 after the first quarter.
Marywood would score the only three goals of the second quarter in a span of just 35 seconds to hold a 5-3 advantage at halftime. After Marcus Janda scored unassisted at the 11:06 mark, Hartwick was assessed a personal foul, giving the Pacers the ball and an extra-man opportunity where Riley Dobel tallied off a pass from Brian Roerden at the 10:49 mark to give Marywood a 4-3 lead. George Downey IV won the ensuing face-off and used a strong solo effort to give Marywood a two-goal cushion just 18 seconds after Dobel's goal.
Aitchison's second goal of the afternoon 1:12 into the third quarter cut the Hawks deficit to 5-4 and Harry Hughes tied the score off a Brian Cassidy assist with 9:56 to play in the period. Hartwick reclaimed the lead at 6-5 when Schaefer scored with the Hawks on an extra-man opportunity with 4:48 remaining in the third period, and Hartwick would hold the one-goal advantage heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
William Roerden evened the score at 6-apiece by scoring off a Dobel helper at the 12:15 mark of the fourth quarter, but Joe Shields put the Hawks back on top with an unassisted marker with 3:36 to play. Hughes scored his second goal of the game with 1:41 to give Hartwick an insurance goal and the Pacers were unable to mount a comeback as the Hawks advance to Sunday's championship game.
Hartwick, who held a 37-32 advantage in shots for the game and a 25-23 edge in groundballs, was led by Aitchison's four points, which came on two goals and two assists. Hughes and Schaefer each had two points for the Hawks, who got seven saves from winning goalie Nick Triano.
William Roerden (1 goal, 1 assist) and Dobel (1 goal, one assist), had multi-point games for Marywood, who got points from seven different players on the afternoon. Nick Johnson led all players with three caused turnovers and five groundballs. Jesse Habich took the loss in the Pacers goal despite turning aside 14 Hartwick shots.
Saturday's game marked the final contest for Marywood 14 seniors who have been with the squad since it's varsity inception in 2008 and led the team to the conference playoffs all four seasons, two CSAC Runner-Up finishes, and an appearance in this year's ECAC Tournament: Eric Luhrmann, George Downey IV, Jesse Habich, Matthew Churchwell, William Roerden, George DeAngelo, Anthony Tuscai, Jamie Beagen, Stephen Klepfer, Nick Parks, Brian Roerden, Lanny Jean, Jr., James Drescher, and Nick Stoud.
