Division III Men :      March 27, 2002 [ The Game Story]
Gettysburg 8 Middlebury 10 Scoring: Scoring: Rich Sharp Jake Vannostrand Ric Bremer Chris Baran Kevin Smith Vinny Merlino Sean Mcternan (3, 0) (1, 2) (2, 0) (1, 0) (0, 1) (0, 1) (1, 0) Zach Herbert Greg Carroll David Seeley Matt Dunn Mike Saraceni Mike Frissora (2, 4) (3, 1) (2, 1) (2, 1) (1, 0) (0, 1) Saves: Saves: Tim Mcginnis 17  (0.630) Eric Krieger 9  (0.529) Current Record :     (6-1) Current Record :     (4-0) Team Page For 2002 Team Page For 2002       The Game Story:

On a sunny day in beautiful Gettysburg, Pennsylvania a rematch of last year’s D3 National Championship game saw the #1 ranked Middlebury Panthers visit the #2 ranked Gettysburg Bullets. What started out looking like it could have been a very lopsided game wound up being a very close game won in the final minutes of the fourth quarter as the Middlebury Panthers capitalized on a few Gettysburg mistakes to pull out a tight 10-8 victory.

Middlebury pounced early as they scored just 58 seconds into the game when #15-Dave Seeley scored on a feed from #10-Greg Carroll. They then struck again quickly just over three minutes later at the 10:44 mark when #21-Matt Dunn drove down the left side and hit #3-Zach Herbert with a cross-crease feed to make it 2-0. The Bullets answered with their first goal of the game on a man-up opportunity at the 9:27 mark on a goal by #20-Ric Bremer off a feed from #13-Jake Van Nostrand. The Panthers were not done yet in the first quarter as they rattled off the next 3 goals of the quarter as Dunn drilled one from deep as Bullet goaltender #6-Tim McGinnis lost the ball on a screen, scored another goal in tight from Herbert, and notched the fifth goal of the quarter when #30-Mike Saraceni finished off a feed from Carroll. At this point it looked as if the Panthers may run away with this one, but the Bullets were able to answer with just 26 seconds left on a Van Nostrand goal from #4-Kevin Smith. This last goal by Gettysburg closed the first quarter scoring out and left the scoreboard with a 5-2 score in Middlebury’s favor.

The Bullets were able to climb back into the game and keep it from being a blowout mainly by shutting-out the Panthers for the entire second quarter. This was done as McGinnis stood tall in the goal making 7 very important second quarter saves helping to jumpstart the Bullets into scoring opportunities. The Bullets scored the third goal of the game just 49 seconds into the second with an unassisted #2-Chris Baran goal to make it 5-3. They then capitalized on a Bremer goal off a feed from #3-Vinny Merlino with 2:01 left in the quarter to make the halftime score 5-4 Middlebury. After the second quarter play it was clear that this one had the makings of a great game.

Coming out of the locker rooms both teams were more than ready to get the second half going. The Bullets struck first to tie the game up at 5 a piece, on a goal by #8-Rich Sharpe as he dodged and scored off a bounce shot to the upper shelf. The Middlebury Panthers scored their first goal in over 20 minutes as they finally scored again at the 6:29 mark of the third quarter on a goal by Carroll which was assisted by Herbert, to get a 6-5 lead back. The Bullets scored only 40 seconds later to tie the game back up at 6 as Sharp face-dodged his way to the goal to score another unassisted goal. The third quarter was small on scoring, but the intensity level was high throughout the stadium as both defenses braced themselves for a tight ending.

With the scoreboard showing a pair of sixes, Sharpe finished off his second-half hat trick as he scored his third unassisted goal at 13:04 to give the Bullets their first lead of the day at 7-6. The Panthers continued the seesaw scoring with a goal by #15-Dave Seeley at the 6:56 mark tying the game again at 7-7. The Bullets recaptured the lead, on what would wind up being their final goal of the game at the 6:15 mark, off a #22-Sean McTernan high heater on a Van Nostrand feed. The game was tied up one more time at 8-8 when the Panthers scored at 5:14 when Dunn scored his second goal of the game (from Mike Frissora) on a laser to the lower right corner. The Panthers would take the lead for good and start to show their big-game experience as they caused a turnover on a Gettysburg clear and scored at the 3:15 mark on a goal by Seeley from Herbert making it 9-8. The Panthers would add the insurance goal just 13 seconds later on the ensuing face-off as the Bullets failed to clear the ball again. Herbert picked up the loose groundball on the failed clear and fed a cutting Carroll. The Bullets were able to muster up four more shots in the closing minutes of the game, but were unable to score again. The final score off this clash of the top two ranked teams in D3 was 10-8 Middlebury.

Middlebury climbs to 4-0 on the 2002 season and head home to face Wesleyan in a NESCAC conference game on Saturday, March 30. The 6-1 Bullets will have no time to rest as they will head down to Chestertown, MD to face the #3 ranked Washington College Shoremen on Saturday in a big Centennial Conference matchup.