Small Scores Eight; Albany Holds off Delaware
from press release
Corey Small scored a career-high eight goals and Albany held off
a late Delaware rally in a 15-12 non-league victory on Friday
afternoon at John Fallon Field.
Delaware (2-3) trailed 13-7 after three periods, but began the
final quarter with five unanswered. Martin Cahill
jump-started that run with a pair of goals, one off a turnover and
the second with an underhanded shot on a man-advantage. Mark
Steverson later converted from right of the crease off a pass from
Kevin Kaminski. Cahill tallied his third goal of the stanza
by shooting through a screen in an extra-man situation that closed
the gap to one goal with 6:00 remaining.
Albany (2-1) regrouped when Small was tripped in the box, but the
play continued with a flag down and Brian Caufield sent a crossing
pass to Joe Pompo who connected on a blast into the net with 2:57
to play. Small tied the school's Division I single-game
record when he split a defensive double-team for his eighth goal of
the game one minute and 24 seconds later.
"We stress that you play to the whistle and that's what happened
on Pompo's goal," said Small, who equaled a UAlbany standard that
was established by All-America Merrick Thomson in 2004. "I
got a little shooting lesson early today and it helped. I had
six or seven shots (in my last game) that weren't great."
The Great Danes, who lost a triple-overtime thriller to the
visitors in last year's matchup, rolled to a 4-0 lead in the
opening seven-plus minutes. Small, who extended his
point-scoring streak to 20 straight games, found the cage twice in
that outburst, including a behind-the-back shot.
The Blue Hens, who reached the 2007 national semifinals, were
still behind 7-3 in the second quarter, but then reeled off three
in a row. Curtis Dickson, a first-team All-Colonial Athletic
Association attacker, and Pat Lombard tallied unassisted goals
before halftime. In the third quarter, Kaminski, a sophomore
midifielder who had three goals and one assist, drove around a
UAlbany midfielder to rifle in a 16-yard shot from the right side
that sliced the deficit to one.
Albany came back with a string of four consecutive goals over the
next six minutes. Small, who had the first three goals in
that stretch, ignited the run when he intercepted defenseman Dan
Mills' pass and hit an open net. He added another goal by
taking a pass off a cut and delivering from right of the crease and
later came up with a loose ball that he sidearmed past goalkeeper
Noah Fossner. The senior attacker would eventually give his
team a six-goal cushion on the last play of the third period when
he scored just before the horn.
"We had a sense of urgency and we were ready for the double
teams," said UAlbany coach Scott Marr, whose club was coming off a
double-overtime win in it last outing on Feb. 25. "I think
you saw a senior that was tired of our slow starts. When we
can score early goals that helps with our style. We played
the game at our pace."
UAlbany's Pompo scored three times, his seventh straight multiple-goal game. Goalkeeper John Carroll made 13 saves. Dealware's Josh Coveleski added a pair of goals, while Dickson has scored at least one point in 31 consecutive contests.
