THE FACTS
No. 8 Dickinson (16-2) 13, Gettysburg (10-8) 8
What: Centennial Conference (CC) Championship Game
When: Saturday, May 4
Where: Carlisle, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Gettysburg outscored Dickinson 5-4 in the first quarter of action, but the Red Devils, ranked eighth in the latest USILA poll, locked down on defense and only allowed Gettysburg three goals over the final three quarters to win 13-8 and garner their third consecutive Centennial Conference Championship title.
THE LEADERS
•
Quinton Mather (Avon, Conn./Avon Old Farms) and
Ryan Cernuto (Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) each scored two goals to lead the Bullets.
FOR THE FOES
• Xander Usich was named the tournament MVP, with three ground balls and three caused turnovers in the contest. He tallied seven caused turnovers and six ground balls across both tournament games the Red Devils played.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Dickinson scored just 47 seconds into the contest as Luke Whalen connected with Sascha Gannon to get the Red Devils on the board. The response from the Bullets came just under two minutes later, when
Ethan Kessler (Ridgefield, Conn./Millbrook School) found
Quinton Mather. Just 13 seconds later,
Will Hedley (Charlotte, N.C./The Hotchkiss School) caused a turnover immediately after the faceoff and scooped up the loose ball, getting it to
Charlie Johnson (Wilton, Conn./Wilton) for a 2-1 Gettysburg lead. An unassisted tally by Liam Carney evened the score, but back-to-back unassisted goals by
Jack Dunleavy (New Providence, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) and
Stokes Myers (Nashville, Tenn./Montgomery Bell Academy) made it 4-2 in favor of the Bullets. With 6:07 showing,
Patrick Maroney (Hingham, Mass./Boston College H.S.) dished to
Ryan Cernuto for his first goal of the day, forcing a Dickinson timeout. Out of the break, Dickinson caused a turnover off the faceoff, which allowed Gannon to net his second of the day. A man-up opportunity with just over five minutes to play gave Dickinson their fourth goal of the day by Ben Trucksess as the Red Devils trailed 5-4 after the first quarter.
• Neither team scored in the opening five minutes of play. With 9:33 showing, Skyler Schluter connected with Whlane to tie the score once again, 5-all. A goal just over a minute later by Mather and assisted by Kessler gave Gettysburg their one-goal lead back, and Dunleavy connected with Maroney to push it back to two goals with seven minutes left to play in the first half. A goal by Owen Porter cut it back to a one-goal advantage again, and with just 30 seconds left in the first half, Schluter got his first of the day to tie the game 7-all going into the break.
• The Dickinson defense locked down Gettysburg in the third quarter, allowing just four shots while taking 15 of their own. A goal right off the faceoff by Jack Deady gave the Red Devils their first lead of the day, 8-7, just 16 seconds into the second half. Over the next 10 minutes of play, Dickinson took seven shots to Gettysburg's four, and both teams turned the ball over several times, but no one could find the back of the net until James Isaacson connected with 4:16 remaining in the quarter. Dickinson took six more shots in the last four minutes but couldn't convert, leading 9-7 going into the final 15 minutes of play.
• A goal by Ethan Gess 2:13 into the final quarter made it a three-goal Dickinson lead. John McKee won the ensuing faceoff and went straight to cage to stretch the advantage to four goals just five seconds later. Gess added another with 10:46 showing for a 12-7 Dickinson lead. Almost two minutes later, Cernuto connected for the Bullets, scoring Gettysburg's first goal since the 7:01 mark in the second quarter. That was as close as Gettysburg would get, with Dickinson adding one more tally in the last four minutes to seal their third straight Centennial Conference Championship victory.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Gettysburg made its 23rd Centennial Conference Championship appearance.
• Dickinson outshot Gettysburg 40-23. Dickinson also led Gettysburg in turnovers, 25-18.
• The Red Devils picked up 43 ground balls to Gettysburg's 32.
• Dickinson won 17 of 25 faceoffs.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg will wait to see if it receives an at-large bid the to NCAA Division III tournament when the field is announced tomorrow at 9 p.m.
