Benesch, Farmer Lead No. 8 Mars Hill to Win
from press release
WINTER PARK, Fla. -- Eric Benesch and Tyler
Farmer combined for nine goals on the day to lead No. 8 Mars Hill
past host Rollins College 12-6 in a Deep South Conference contest
Wednesday afternoon in Winter Park. Rollins drops to 3-5, and 1-2
in DSC action, while the nationally ranked Lions advance to an
overall mark of 5-2, and 2-0 in conference play.
Mars Hill saw scoring action from five different players, with
Eric
Benesch (Bloomingdale, Ontario) leading the charge with five goals
and an assist for a game high six points. Tyler Farmer
(Calgary, Alberta) was next in line with four goals and an
assist
of his own on the way to a 12 goal, five assist total for the
Lions. Dylan Price (York, Pa.) played 56:39 minutes in goal for MHC
and made 10 saves.
Chuck Magid was 8-for-10 on faceoffs and tallied two of the
Tars’ six goals. Eric Schmit joined Magid on the scoreboard
with two goals of his own, while freshman Justin Wright notched a
goal and two assists to lead the team in overall points on the
day. Hudson Atkins Jr. found the back of the cage to complete
the scoring efforts for Rollins as they took on their second
nationally-ranked DSC opponent of the season.
The Tars saw uneven action on the field as they trailed in shots
34-29, and ground balls 26-17. However, thanks to
Magid’s 80 percent success rate on faceoffs, along with
Schmit who went 6-for-11 and Andrew Post who was a perfect 1-for-1
on the afternoon, Rollins dominated in specialist play winning
15-of-22 faceoff opportunities.
Mars Hill found the back of the cage first with an unassisted goal
from Benesch just two minutes in to put the Lions up 1-0. But
Magid found the equalizer four and a half minutes later off of a
Wright feed to know the score at 1-1. Benesch and Jason
Messineo rallied to close out the first quarter, ripping two shots
past Rollins goalie Zach Cole within 51 seconds of each other to
put MHC up 3-1 at the end of the first period.
Schmit opened the second quarter to pull Rollins back to within one
as he ripped an unassisted goal past Lions goalie Dylan Price with
11:25 to go before the half. Tyler Farmer, and Benesch
notched the next two tallies, giving Mars Hill a three goal
advantage with 6:24 before the break. But Magid tripped-up
the Lions’ attack with a rocket past Price off of a feed from
Vossler to pull Rollins back to a two goal deficit.
Benesch closed out the first half with two late goals at the 57 and
26 second marks to give Mars Hill a 7-3 lead at the break, but
Rollins was not about to back down as they entered into the third
quarter with goals from Schmit and Wright to pull back to within
two with 5:18 before the final period.
Tyler Farmer closed out the third quarter to put the score at
8-5,
leaving the Tars in just a three goal hole with 15 minutes of wide
open clock ahead of them. But the Lions entered into the
final quarter with plenty of momentum from Farmer’s third
quarter closer, and went on to outscore Rollins 4-1 in the
remaining period.
A stingy Mars Hill man-down defense held the Tars silent on seven
of their eight advantage opportunities, and led the game in caused
turnovers as they racked up 11 against their conference
opponent. Price and Kevin Woods (New Market, Ontario) led the
game with three caused turnovers apiece, while Post headed up the
Tars with two of his own.
In goal,Cole and Doug O’Brien split time, with Cole making
nine saves in the first half, and O’Brien collecting two of
his own in the final 30 minutes of play. Their counterparts,
Price and Spencer Stobbe, made a total of 12 saves, with Price
setting aside a game high 10 shots.
Mars Hill will play at Saint Leo on March 20, at 12 p.m. The Tars
return to action on March 26, when they kick off the road
stint of their 2010 slate. Rollins takes on DSC opponent
Catawba at 7 p.m. in Salisbury, N.C.
