First-Time Starters Are Heroes in UMass Win
from press release
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. -- Two players making their first career starts scored the biggest goals of their careers and lifted No. 16 UMass to a thrilling 13-12 win over No. 10 Georgetown in the ESPNU Warrior Classic on a sunny Saturday at Rentschler Field. Senior Christian Hain scored the game-winner with 33.5 seconds left in the fourth less than a minute after sophomore Steve D'Amario tied the game at 12 with 1:29 left in the fourth. Freshman Will Manny tied his career-high with five points including his fifth hat trick of the season.
The win is a big boost for the Minutemen (8-4) as Greg Cannella's
squad looks to return to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in
a row. Saturday's thriller featured eight ties and five lead
changes including three in the fourth quarter in front of the crowd
of 6,415.
Georgetown falls to 7-5 overall with Big East games vs. Rutgers
and Villanova remaining.
Coming off a timeout, Hain sprinted 15 yards into the attack zone
and bounced the game winning goal past goalkeeper C.T. Fisher's
right side, with a little more than a half minute remaining.
Defenseman Tom Celentani caused a key turnover with 18 seconds left
to seal the victory for UMass and Greg Anderson ran the ball up the
field to virtually kill the clock in the fourth.
Georgetown's Andrew Brancaccio scored five goals in the game to
lead all scorers. Craig Dowd had four assists.
D'Amario tied the game with 1:29 remaining by taking a sharp angle
to the right side of the net and picking off the top left corner of
the goal. The Minutemen scored the final three goals of the game
with Manny netting his third of the game with 4:48 left in the
fourth. Celentani set up the goal to bring UMass within one at
12-11.
After a sluggish third quarter where Georgetown scored the only
goal of the period, the fourth quarter featured fireworks from both
teams with 11 combined goals. UMass took a 9-8 lead on Anthony
Biscardi's second goal of the game off a rebound with 12:47 left in
the fourth. The Hoyas scored the next three goals of the game as
Scott Kocis tied the game at 9-9 with 11:48 remaining. Ricky
Mirabito and Brancaccio gave the Hoyas a two-goal bulge with 9:12
remaining at 11-9.
The Longmeadow, Mass., connection of Ryan Liebel from Kyle Smith
cut the margin to one at 11-10 with 8:45 left on a man-up goal.
Travis Comeau, the Hoyas' top goal-scorer coming into the game,
finally scored with 6:18 for anther two-goal advantage. But the
Hoyas were kept off the board for the rest of the game.
UMass got off to a great start as face-off man Greg Rushing scored
six seconds into the game as he won the first of his 12 face-off
wins and dashed down and scored for a 1-0 lead. Georgetown took a
5-2 lead early in the second quarter, but UMass scored five of the
final six goals of the first half for a 7-6 lead at
intermission.
UMass finishes the regular-season at Drexel next Saturday at 4
p.m. The game will air live on Comcast SportsNet New England.
