Division III Men :      May 26, 2002 [ The Game Story]
Gettysburg 9 Middlebury 14 Scoring: Scoring: Ric Bremer Pete Milliman Jake Vannostrand Wes Cadman Vinny Merlino Kevin Smith Nick Purkat Rich Sharp (3, 0) (2, 1) (2, 1) (1, 0) (0, 1) (1, 0) (0, 1) (0, 1) Zach Herbert Matt Dunn Greg Carroll David Seeley Mike Saraceni Grayson Fertig Peter Albro (4, 3) (2, 2) (4, 0) (1, 2) (1, 0) (1, 0) (1, 0) Saves: Saves: Tim Mcginnis 15  (0.517) Eric Krieger Matt Levy 12  (0.600) 0  (0.000) Current Record :     (17-2) Current Record :     (18-1) Team Page For 2002 Team Page For 2002       The Game Story:

The first half of this game was played evenly although Middlebury squeeked out a one goal lead at half time. Both teams were equally aggressive on groundballs but Middlebury held a slight advantage in shots on goal (23-17). Gettysburg Goalie Tim McGinnis had 9 saves while his counterpart Eric Krieger had six. Neither team scored on their man up opportunities in the first half and both teams had two penalties. Middlebury also held a lead in clears and groundballs but the score at the end of the second quarter was 5-4 Middlebury.

The opening face off was won by Gettysburg, after some passing around by the Bullet offense, #23 Brian Ford came around the cage from behind and made his move from the right wing. One inside roll later, his shot on goal went wide right. Middlebury gained possession after that but one of their players had the ball checked out of his stick at the midfield line and it rolled out of bounds. #4 Kevin Smith took the ball down the side closest to the benches, split two Middlebury defenders for a shot but there was no goal.

With Middlebury's first possession, the drew a 30 second interference penalty on Gettysburg's Vinny Merlino. The Panthers would not score on their first man up possession but with 11:11 remaining in the first quarter #15 David Seeley scored an unassisted goal amidst several Gettyburg defenders three yards in front of the goal. Midfielder Matt Dunn scored the following Middlebury tally as he attacked the goal from the top left and went one on one against a short stick defender. Middlebury won the ensuing faceoff and got off two quick point blank shots that did not find the back of the net. #28 Greg Bastis was called for a 30 second holding penalty and the ball was turned over to Gettysburg. The bullets werer unsuccessful in their first EMO possession and the ball wound up back in the possession of a Middlebury long stick. The long stick brought the ball down past the restraining line but did not get the ball into the box and was call ed for a failure to advance after he passed the ball off to a short stick. The next time Gettysburg had the ball, two players went to the goal and were both stopped by either the defense of Middlebury or by an errant pass.

#15 David Seeley once again took the ball to the goal as he had a short stick covering him. The shot he took went low and McGinnis was able to come up with the save. Gettysburg's first goal came on a mishap. The ball was fumbled inside of the crease, Krieger couldn't see it at his feet and #13 Jake Van Nostrand was able to poke the ball into the goal. The score came with 7:01 left in the quarter.

Middlebury won the face off and after settling down Gettysburg shifted into a zone defense. Middlebury passed the ball around the perimeter to set up their offense when #20 Peter Albro took a shot that hit upper left pipe. Middlebury got the ball back but it was taken away by #18 Matt Higgins. The ball found it's way in and out of the offense but they were stifled by Middlebury's defense. The Panthers were awarded the ball after an illegal body check call. #20 Peter Albro fired a shot and the rebound was goosed just wide of the goal. Gettysburg got the ball back but the Panther defense took the ball away once again. Middlebury scored on a goal by #3 Zach Herbert who was assisted by #21 Matt Dunn. Herbert was only open for a split second but that's all Dunn needed to feed him the ball. That goal came with :01 second left in the quarter At the end of the first the score was 3-1 Middlebury.

The first shot Gettysburg had in the second quarter went straight into the ground and looked like it was a result of too much whip and an off balance shot. Middlebury took the ball up to their offensive end and #28 Greg Bastis was stuffed on his shot by McGinnis. The ball was passed out and up to the other end of the field where Ric Bremer was open on the crease but missed the goal. After another quick possession by MIddlebury Vinny Merlino scooped up a groundball and streaked down field and found #16 Pete Millimen for a goal at 11:25 in the second quarter. Gettysburg almost scored again when a Kevin Smith pass to a cutting Sean McTernan who missed the goal on his shot. Middlebury got possession after a loose ball scrum. However they did not advance the ball and it went back to Gettysburg. #4 Mike Frissora from Middlebury was called for a :30 second holding penalty. The next time the Panthers were on offense #10 Greg Carroll went to the goal from the wing, took a shot on goal and got his own rebound shot again and missed the goal. Zach Herbert was the next to go one on one and he did so from the right wing. He took a shot that found the inside of the far pipe further increasing Middlebury's lead. Kevin Smith scored an unassisted goal with 6:12 in the period.

Both teams did a great deal of inverting their midfielders and having them make their moves to the goal from behind or from the wing. This resulted in multiple scoring opportunities for both teams.

#15 Matthew Bates brought the ball down on a fast break but the shot missed the goal. Nick Purkat went one on one with his man and then passed off to Ric Bremer for a goal 3:38 in the 2nd quarter. Gettysburg won the face off but threw a bad pass and turned the ball over to Middlebury. Middlebury was able to put together multiple shots on many of its possessions but Gettysburg seemed to only shoot once for each time on offense. Middlebury's Greg Carroll was found cutting from about 5 yards out for a goal by Zach Herbert at 1:50 in the 2nd quarter. The end of the 2nd quarter was capped off with an illegal body check penalty on Gettysburg's #35 Matt Stanley with :12 seconds left in the half. The score at the end of the half was 5-4 in favor of Middlebury.

There were multiple chances for each team to score, Middlebury could not get the ball to the open man on the crease and Gettysburg missed too many point blank shots.

MIddlebury retained the ball at the start of the third period but the shot they got off hit the outside of the net and McGinnis launched the ball to the other end. #16 Pete Milliman came up with the loose ball and streaked to the goal to score an unassisted goal with 14:27 in the 3rd period. Gettysburg's next goal came only 1:10 later and was scored by #33 Wes Cadman, the assist was from #8 Rich Sharp.

Middlebury won the face off and scored off a cutting Peter Albro. The pass came from the right side goal line extended and it looked like Albro was running alone in the desert, that's how open he was. Milliman found Bremer for score and before the ball was in the net, Bremer had time to fake one way, switch hands, turn and shoot. The next possession by each team were back to back and very quick. It makes you think the humidity had a near non-existent role in the way both team's players were running up and down the field.

Gettysburg had its fair shares of offensive opportunitites but they were squandered as Gettysburg's offense was held to one shot per possession. On more than one occassion the Middlebury defense took the ball away from the Bullets and enabled their potent offense fast and slow break situations. My take on Gettysburg's offense was that they were getting good shot selection but they weren't executing as well as they could.

Middlebury rattled off two more goals in :54 seconds, Matt Dunn scored unassisted and Zach Herbert scored on a pass from David Seeley. Middlebury was able to pull in front after several Panthers were wide open either on or cutting towards the crease. The second slide killed Gettysburg all day. One of the more enjoyable plays was a behind the back goal by Zach Herbert. The goal came after he was parked just above the goal line on the left side -- turned out to be his 4th goal of the game. Gettysburg padded the scorebook with the last two goals of the game and it was Middlebury whooping it up on the sideline.