CHESTER, Pa. – The Pride open hot against the Messiah Falcons in a MAC Commonwealth Quarterfinal game.
Following the 18-12 win over the Messiah Falcons, the Pride advance to the MAC Commonwealth Semifinal game and improve to 9-8 on the season. The Blue and Gold finish 5-3 in conference play.
BY THE NUMBERS
HOW IT HAPPENED IN THE QUARTERFINALS
Despite allowing the first goal of the game to the Falcons, the Pride respond with nine unanswered goals in the first.
Lathan Collins saw a shooting lane and the net to register his first career goal to tie the game with 14:30 on the clock. Two minutes later,
Samuel Haverstrom gives the Pride the lead with a Collins assist. After a quick faceoff win from
Matthew Shingle, the Pride were back in scoring position. Haverstrom adds back to back goals but this time from a Shingle assist. Three saves from
Keegan Billie keep the Falcons silent.
Connor Heisman adds his mark with 8:25 on the clock to force a Falcons timeout. Out of the timeout,
Jacob Shannon grabbed a ground ball to allow
Nicholas Knepp to score from a Heisman pass. Two more goals from Haverstrom and Heisman set up
Nick DiCicco to score to make the game 8-1. A caused turnover from Venit sends the attack on as Collins adds another.
Haverstrom and the Pride continue to pour on the goals as Haverstrom adds another with 12:48 on the clock. A string of Falcons shots fall shy to set DiCicco up for his second goal of the game. The Falcons answer as the score was 11-3 in favor of the Pride. Another caused turnover from Venit kept the Falcons quiet until 5:06 as they cut the lead to eight. Collins pushed the score back to nine on a Haverstrom ball. Heading into halftime, the Pride held a six-goal lead.
The third quarter became a scare for the Pride as the Falcons scored four. An uncaused turnover gave Heisman a goal scoring opportunity.
Nicholas Knepp added a goal from Sporer on a man-up opportunity. A Pride dry streak gave the Falcons a chance to come back as they cut the lead to five.
Matt Buckley would end the quarter with 3:50 left to send the Pride into the fourth with a five-point lead.
To open the fourth, Billie added a save to allow Heisman to score to make the game 16-10. Six minutes go by as turnovers on both sides occur. A ground ball pickup from
Brian Young allows a successful clear attempt and Heisman shot that was high. On the next shot, Haverstrom finds the back of the cage with a DiCicco assist to make the score 17-11. Haverstrom caps his day after a failed Falcons clear to make the score 18-11. The Falcons answer but were held to end their season with a loss in the conference quarterfinal.
UP NEXT
Widener returns to the MAC Commonwealth Tournament on Wednesday, May 3
rd to face the top seeded York Spartans. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
