By Michael Battista/@MichaelB_96
The second full weekend in the Colonial saw two conference matchups as the Liberty Division officially kicked off. Two former champions in Princeton and The College of New Jersey battled it out as historic Hobey Baker Memorial Ice Rink while Seton Hall exacted some revenge against Monmouth following their scrimmage game last week. Combined with all the non-conference games, it was a highly productive and competitive weekend.
NJIT Splits Series Against Stevens
New Jersey Institute of Technology bounced back after a tough opening weekend with a split result against Stevens Institute of Technology. A loss at home on Friday night was followed up with a win on the road in Hoboken. Ryan Downey and Matthew Torre produced in both games for their team as the squad got its first win of the season.
In Friday’s contest in Newark, Graduate player Branden Kushnir scored his team’s first goal after going down off a power play. Freshman Branden Smith fed the former Rutgers star to make it 1-1 in the first period. Not long after intermission Torre assisted Downey on his first goal of the season to make it 2-1. Another power play goal by Stevens evened the score and the third period turned into a physical battle. Despite having a golden chance to take the lead again a shorthanded Ducks line sunk the game winner with just under 10 minutes to go and held on for the win.
Two nights later the rematch started out in near identical fashion. Stevens was able to capitalize on a power play in the first period to take the lead. It would end up being the only one though as senior goalie Noah Vasquez stopped 38 shots the rest of the night to keep the Ducks away. In the second period the Highlanders tied the game off a Torre goal, assisted by Matthew Francescutto and Dalton Smith. Once again the third period was the critical one. With a man advantage Francescutto and Ted Lee found Smith who followed up his assist with a power play goal 11 seconds in. Rohan Ganta gave NJIT a two goal advantage, assisted by Downey, on a nice play driving to the net just over the middle portion of the period.
Vasquez capped off his great night with many more great saves as the Ducks tried to cut the lead in half, but he kept steady all game.
The Highlanders will face Rider tonight, Friday, in Lawrenceville as they wrap up their non-conference stretch to open the season.
Lions Out-claw Tigers as TCNJ Wins First Conference Game
The College of New Jersey defeated Princeton University, 3-1, on the road last Friday. The Lions struggled to find momentum but a stellar second period lead the team to it’s first points of the year.
“We were off to a very slow start, but as the game went on we started to get more comfortable,” head coach Andrew Ducko said afterwards. “We possessed the puck a large portion of the game, but Princeton played strong defensively, and we had a difficult time scoring. Nick Montemarano played (solidly) between the pipes, only allowing one shorthanded goal.”
Junior Andrew Summa night ended with him scoring his team’s first two goals and assisting on the final one. Entering only his second season with the team the Brooklyn, New York native connected with Anthony DeAlto under a minute into the second period to take the lead. Five minutes later Daniel Dorokin and Chris Cantelmo found him for the second and game winning goal.
Princeton cut into the lead when Mason Wasserman capitalized on a powerplay and scored off an Alex Ban assist but TCNJ bounced back quickly. With three minutes to go Logan Viducic and Summa played around the net before DeAlto finished off the fourth goal of the period to make it 3-1.
TCNJ will hit the road on Saturday to take on Rowan University in a non-conference clash between two NCAA rivals. Princeton will look to rebound on Friday against Seton Hall University.
Other Scores
Friday, Sept. 24
Millersville University (3) vs Penn State Harrisburg (4)
Millersville Goals (*Assists may be out of order):
1) Adam Hennesey (Evan Yori)
2) Chris Henn (Alex Edelberg)
3) Elias Lountzis
Drexel University D2 (3) vs University of Pennsylvania (5)
UPenn Goals:
– Not known at this time
Monmouth University (0) vs Seton Hall University (8) (CSCHC Game)
Seton Hall Goals:
1) Cam Toussaint
2) Mike Mascolo
3) Cam Toussaint
4) Nick Serapiglia (PP)
5) Brendon O’Rourke
6) JP Winkle
7) Thomas Healy
8) Mike Volpi
Saturday, Sept. 25
The College of New Jersey (4) vs Villanova University (5) (SO)
TCNJ Goals:
1) Andrew Summa (Anthony DeAlto) (SH)
2) Leonard (Andrew Summa, Anthony DeAlto)
3) Willever (Andrew Summa, Travis Beni)
4) Andrew Summa (Jameson Dugen, Anthony DeAlto)
Rowan University (7) vs Monmouth University (3)
Monmouth Goals:
1) Richie Sabbagh (Todd Zellars)
2) Richie Sabbagh (Todd Zellars)
3) Aidan Kronke (Richie Sabbagh)
West Chester University (3) vs Neumann University (2)
WCU Goals:
– Not known at this time
Sunday, Sept. 26
University of Scranton (2) vs Rider University (10)
Scranton Goals:
1) Kieran Gruby
2) Kieran Gruby
Princeton University (2) vs Seton Hall University (4) (Scrimmage)