Kings Point, NY - Junior attck
CHRIS MEIXNER (Hamburg, NJ/Vernon) scored 45 seconds into overtime as second-seeded Montclair State topped No. 1 seed United States Merchant Marine Academy to captured the 2003 Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Metro Tournament on Sunday afternoon.
Junior attack
SEAN PEKARSKY (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) scored three times for the Red Hawks, who posted their best season since 1994 when they last won the ECAC Championship. MSU finished the season 12-4 and avenged a 9-8 overtime loss to the Mariners on April 21st.
Trailing 9-7 entering the final quarter, MSU tied the game as
RICH DOYEN (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) pulled Montclair within one as he notched his first goal of the game midway through the period. Doyen then tied the game with 3:27 left to send the game into overtime.
In the extra period, Doyen fed Meixner who flipped a shot past Kings Point goaltender Walter Keane (Seaford, NY) for the game-winning goal. Meixner, who had three goals in the game was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
MSU scored first as
BRIAN SHADIACK (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) scored with 6:21 to play in the opening quarter. After a USMMA goal, Pekarsky put MSU in front, however, the Mariners tied the game with 28 seconds left as Nick Watts (Thomasville, GA) scored.
Meixner scored twice early in the second period as the Red Hawks built a 4-2 lead. But Kings Point responded with a four-goal run as Ross Cutler (Vienna, VA), and Tony McDonald (Weymouth, MA) each had a goal while Jim Krantz (Downingtown, PA) scored twice. Pekarsky pulled Montclair within 6-5 before half as he scored with 45 seconds to play.
The Red Hawks carried the momentum into the third period scoring 11 seconds in. Shadiack set up
JOHN DELLA PESCA (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) to tie the score and MSU took the lead as Pekarsky found the back of the net at 13:26. USMMA tied the game just over a minute later ah took the lead at 9-7 after McDonald scored off a feed from Krantz, who then scored during a two-man advantage.
VINNY DEGENNARO (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) made seven saves for Montclair State, which outshot Kings Point in the contest 28-25. Keane had 11 saves for Kings Point, which fell in the ECAC Championship title game for the third time.
