The Washington College Shoremen return to yet another Centennial Conference Final and got revenge for an early loss at the hands of the Red Devils in the process. The big story of the day was the match-up of the brothers, Dickinson senior attackman Brian Read and Washington Sophomore Chis Read. Both were first team All-Centennial and likely All-American candidates. Younger brother Chris had the slightly better day, as his 6 goals (on 15 shots) were enough to overtake Dickinson. The elder Read still had 3 goals and an assist. Both goalies played well, with Dickinson's Kevin Riley being the reason that Dickinson stayed in the game early.
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior attackman Brian Pryor (Dallas, TX/St. Mark’s) broke a 2-2 tie with three straight goals spanning the second and third quarters to help No. 2 Gettysburg to a 12-7 win over Haverford in the 2006 Centennial Conference semifinal on Friday afternoon at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium. The Bullets have now reached the championship game in all six conference tournaments, having won four of the previous five, including the last two.
Pryor added two assists for a game-high five points, marking the third straight game in which he has tallied five points. Senior attackman Evan Gallant (Lutherville, MD/Loyola Blakefield), junior midfielder Jared Harriman (Yarmouth, ME/Yarmouth) and junior attackman Greg Montgomery (Asheville, NC/St. Andrew’s School [DE]) each scored two goals, and Harriman and Montgomery also handed out one assist each.
For the Fords (10-6), senior attackman Joe Mauri and sophomore midfielder Dean Granoff each scored twice, while junior goalie K.C. Peterson made 12 saves. At the other end, 2006 Centennial Conference Player of the Year Pat Vaughan (Cockeysville, MD/Loyola Blakefield) made eight stops for Gettysburg (15-1).
Haverford opened the scoring with 9:34 remaining in the first quarter on an unassisted goal by sophomore attackman Mike Distler. Distler made a nice move about 15 yards out to shake his defender and beat Vaughan to the far post, but it would be the Fords’ last lead of the game. The Bullets tied it up just over two minutes later on Harriman’s first goal of the day. Pryor assisted for the first of his five points. Four minutes after that, he set up senior midfielder Chris Renzi (Fairport, NY/Fairport) for the 2-1 lead. Renzi was also 12-of-19 on faceoffs and scooped five ground balls.
Haverford sophomore midfielder Matt Thorne-Fitzgerald tied it up with 2:36 to play in the first, but Pryor would take over from there.
Five-and-a-half minutes into the second quarter, Vaughan made a save and started the clear attempt out of the Bullets’ end. He fired a long pass out of the crease to junior midfielder Andrew Mavraganis (Lancaster, PA/Hempfield) on the attack side of midfield. He dumped the ball to junior midfielder Kevin Freehill (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin), who was streaking into the box, where he found Pryor wide open for the score.
It was all defense for both teams for much of the second quarter, and Vaughan made a fantastic save on Distler with under two minutes to go before halftime. Distler ran across the crease from left to right in a 1-on-0 and fired a tough shot that Vaughan denied. At the other end, the Bullets worked the ball around looking for a good shot with under 30 seconds showing on the clock. Haverford played tough defense, and did not give Gettysburg a good look, so Pryor fired the ball through traffic from 20 yards out, and a Fords’ defenseman got a stick on it to deflect it into the goal with five seconds left and give the Bullets a 4-2 halftime advantage.
Coming out after the break, Pryor scored again on an assist from sophomore attackman Trip Dyer (Ocean View, DE/Worcester Prep [MD]). Two minutes later, Gallant would cap the 4-0 Gettysburg run when Harriman fired a screaming pass from a low angle to Peterson’s left across the crease to a wide-open Gallant on the far side. Gallant made a nice move to score his first goal of the game. Mauri halted the run when he converted a pass from junior defenseman Steve Selsor, cutting the Bullets’ lead to 6-3 with 9:58 to go in the quarter.
That stop would only be temporary, as Gettysburg rallied to score three more goals in the final 6:28 of the third quarter. Montgomery started it with a man-up goal, and he fed Gallant for another score with 59 seconds showing on the clock. Just 16 seconds later, junior midfielder Ted Leonard (Wallingford, PA/Strath Haven) scored, giving the Bullets what proved to be an insurmountable lead despite a four-goal fourth quarter by the Fords.
Haverford netted four of the game’s last six goals, including tallies from senior midfielder Ben Reed and Granoff in a 1:30 span early in the quarter. That mini-run was ended when Gettysburg junior midfielder Devin Hewitt (Groton, MA/Holderness School) picked up a ground ball off the ensuing faceoff after numerous players for each team had a shot at it. He ran in on the net uncontested from about 20 yards out to Peterson’s right, cut across the crease and went high over the goalie’s left shoulder for the score. It was Hewitt’s first point of the season. Each team would score twice the rest of the way.
The Bullets move on to face No. 8 Washington (Md.), which defeated No. 15 Dickinson, 9-5, in the day’s second semifinal. Brothers Chris Read, a sophomore attackman for Washington, and senior Brian Read, a senior attackman for Dickinson, accounted for nine of the game’s 14 goals, and each led his team in scoring. Brian Read led all players with six markers, and Chris Read netted a hat trick.
It appeared that the Shoremen (13-3) had the game in hand, taking an 8-1 lead late in the third quarter on Chris Read’s fifth goal of the game, but a spirited comeback by the Red Devils (11-4) brought a sizeable contingent of Dickinson fans to its feet over the last 18 minutes of play. Junior attackman Drew Peace scored on an assist from Brian Read with 3:26 to play in the third, and Read scored the next two goals unassisted. Peace struck again, unaided with 8:28 to go, cutting the deficit to three goals at 8-5, but Chris Read put the capper on the game with 3:11 left.
Washington senior goalie Kevin Thibadeau made 10 saves and allowed just five goals on the day, while, and Dickinson junior Kevin Riley was nearly as good in the opposite end with 14 saves on 23 shots on goal.
The Bullets and the Shoremen, owners of all 12 previous Centennial Conference championships will square off for the sixth straight year in the conference title game. The opening faceoff on Sunday is set for 1 p.m. at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
Semifinal #1: Haverford at Gettysburg Score by Quarter 1 2 3 4 - F
Haverford (10-6) 2 0 1 4 - 7
No. 2 Gettysburg (15-1) 2 2 5 3 - 12
Goals:
Haverford: Dean Granoff 2, Joe Mauri 2, Mike Distler 1, Ben Reed 1, Matt Thorne-Fitzgerald 1.
Gettysburg: Brian Pryor 3, Evan Gallant 2, Jared Harriman 2, Greg Montgomery 2, Devin Hewitt 1, Ted Leonard 1, Chris Renzi 1.
Assists:
Haverford: Steve Selsor 1.
Gettysburg: Trip Dyer 2, Pryor 2, Kevin Freehill 1, Harriman 1, Montgomery 1.
Goalies: H (K.C. Peterson – 60:00, 12 saves, 12 GA); G (Pat Vaughan – 60:00, 8 saves, 7 GA).
Semifinal #2: Dickinson vs. Washington (Md.)
Score by Quarter 1 2 3 4 - F
No. 15 Dickinson (11-4) 0 1 2 2 - 5
No. 8 Washington (13-3) 2 3 3 1 - 9
Goals:
Dickinson: Brian Read 3, Drew Peace 2.
Washington: Chris Read 6, Ryan Morrison 2, Jaeke Donahue 1.
Assists:
Dickinson: Ed Boyd 1, Read 1.
Washington: Jimmy Kielek 2, Mike Sutter 2, Kevin Nolan 1, Andrew Ostrusky 1.
Goalies: D (Kevin Riley – 60:00, 14 saves, 9 GA); W (Kevin Thibadeau – 59:28, 10 saves, 5 GA; Gordon Cohen – 0:32, 0 saves, 0 GA).
