No. 9 UMass Stays Perfect in CAA
from press release
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Freshman Will Manny
netted a hat trick and senior All-American defenseman Diogo Godoi
was outstanding on defense as No. 9 UMass beat Penn State on a
beautiful Saturday afternoon at Jeffrey Field. The Minutemen (7-2,
2-0 CAA) took the lead for good early in the second quarter, but
had to fend off the pesky Nittany Lions (1-8, 0-1), who cut the
margin to one on three occasions but were never able to tie the
game.
Godoi intercepted a pass with less than a minute remaining as Penn
State was seeking to tie the game at nine. That set up the
game-clinching goal by Manny off a feed from Anthony Biscardi with
38 seconds left in regulation.
Godoi and Will Jeffery guarded Penn State's top scorer Matthew
Mackrides (25 goals, 30 points) most of the game and kept him
pointless. The Minutemen defense was excellent with great
contributions from long-poles defenders Tom Celentani, Casey Rahn
and Travis Tripucka. Shorties Bobby Tyler, Kevin Wright and Stephen
Zorkers also helped to limit Penn State on the offensive side of
the ball.
The Minutemen showed great passing all afternoon as all 10 goals
were assisted with Ryan Hantverk leading the way with three
helpers. Biscardi had two assists along with a goal. Senior captain
Bobby Hayes had a pair of tallies for the Minutemen. UMass' other
goals came from Steve D'Amario, Ryan Liebel, Christian Hain and
Kyle Smith.
With the game tied at 2-2 early in the second quarter, UMass ripped
off three goals in a row in a span of 3:15 to take a 5-2 lead with
8:50 left in the second quarter. Liebel's scored on a bounce shot
off a feed from Hantverk for the three-goal bulge.
Penn State drew within one goal early in the third quarter on
Colton Vosburgh's second goal of the afternoon, 3:51 into the third
quarter. The Minutemen responded with two goals in just over a
minute as Manny and Hayes each scored their second goal of the game
for a 8-5 UMass edge with 6:38 left in the third.
Penn State cut the UMass lead to one with 10:24 left in regulation
on a Brian Shea bounce shot. Biscardi's crease goal regained the
two-goal lead with 8:14 left. Anthony Basciano cut the lead to one
just a minute later. UMass's defense stepped up and goalie Tim
McCormack made was solid making two of his 12 saves in the fourth
quarter.
The Nittany Lions' goalie Dave Baker also made 12 saves.
