Montclair, NJ – Senior attack
Sam Morrissey (Hackettstown, NJ, West Morris Central) scored two of his three goals in the fourth period, including the game-winner with 3:15 remaining as Montclair State registered the final five goals in a 9-8 come-from-behind victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday.
Sophomore
Zach Schreck (Flemington, NJ, Hunterdon Central) scored four goals and added an assist for the Red Hawks, who are off to a 2-0 start for the second straight season. Montclair also took the lead in the brief series btween the teams at 3-2 with all three wins coming by a goal, including an overtime win at home in 2010 (4-3) and last year at Troy, 10-9 on
Michael Schreck's (Flemington, NJ, Hunterdon Central) game-winning tally.
Freshman attack Breanainn McNeally (Severna Park, MD / Archbishop Spaulding) scored four goals and had an assist for the Engineers (0-1), who led 8-4 late in third before Montclair rallied.
Montclair State led 4-3 at halftime but saw RPI put together a five-goal run of its own building an 8-4 lead with 3:17 left in the third. McNeally tied the game 1:32 into the half with his second goal and then scored twice seven seconds apart later on giving the visitors a 7-4 advantage with 5:11 left. McNeally set up Patrick Finn's (North Easton, PA / Thayer Academy) putting the Engineers up four.
Morrissey cut the lead back to 8-5 less than a minute later and unassisted tallies by
Connor Rich (Roxbury, NJ, Roxbury) and Zach Schreck to open the fourth brought Montclair State within a goal with 9:03 to play. The Red Hawks tied the game 26 seconds later as a caused turnover by junior midfielder
Colton Schenck (Flemington, NJ, Hunterdon Central) led to Morrissey's second goal knotting the contest at 8-8.
With 4:40 remaining freshman defender
Ryan Young (Jackson, NJ, Jackson Memorial) knocked the ball away from Finn giving the ball to Montclair State. After the Red Hawks cleared the ball downfield, Morrissey took a pass on the left side behind the net and drove in. Covered by a defender, Morrissey whirled and fired a shot inside the near post for the 9-8 lead.
MSU would win the ensuing faceoff and was able to run off some valuable time before a turnover gave the ball back to the Engineers. RPI would bring the ball back the other away with a chance to tie only to see that opportunity thwarted when goalkeeper
Michael Dorn (Blairstown, NJ, North Warren) intercepted a pass from behind the net with 1:02 left.
Montclair again flipped the field but RPI's Casey Colligan (Baldwinsville, NY / CW Baker) picked up a ground ball with 28 seconds to go giving the Engineers one last chance. With the clock winding down Colligan raced down the right side and got a step into the attack zone before
Connor Cunningham (Jackson, NJ, Jackson Memorial) poked the ball away with 19 seconds left. Cunningham got the loose ball with 11 ticks to play and the teams traded long-clearing attempts before the final horn sounded.
Dorn finished with nine saves for Montclair State which got a great effort from junior defender
Ryan Totin (Jackson, NJ, Jackson Memorial). Totin was 4-of-7 on faceoff wins and added three ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Kiel Dietrich (Andover, NJ, Newton) and
James Benfatti (Wayne, NJ, Wayne Hills) had two caused turnovers with
Brett Mangan (Maplewood, NJ, Columbia) leading MSU with five ground balls. Young and Dorn had four ground balls apiece.
RPI keeper Alex Castronovo (Garden City, NY / Garden City) had nine saves for the Engineers who won 15-of-21 faceoff attempts. Ben Piersak (Needham, MA / St. Sebastians) was 9-of-13 with T.J. Tynan (Beford, NY / Fox Lane) going 6-of-8 with five ground balls.
The Red Hawks are now off until Saturday, March 1 when it travels to Carlisle, PA to face No. 7 Dickinson College at 3:00 pm. RPI is on the road this Wednesday, February 26 at Plattsburgh State.
