Rosemont, Pa. – Two teams, battling for their playoff lives, met at the Ravens Athletic Complex tonight. Although the Ravens came out hot to start, taking a 4-0 lead in the first eight minutes, the visiting Centenary College Cyclones mounted a comeback and pulled away from Rosemont in the second half to earn the 11-7 win. As a result of tonight's score, the Ravens fell to 3-10 (2-4 CSAC) while Centenary is now 4-9 (3-3 CSAC).
The Ravens grabbed the early momentum in the game to take that 4-0 advantage. The goals came on an "up" goal from Zach Bowe assisted by Justin Regan, a goal from Tyler Ferrara (again assisted by Regan), and two straight scores from Stephen Licata (the first assisted by Anthony Bottoms), but Centenary would score the next three goals to get to within 4-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Centenary would make it four straight goals to tie the game at 4-4 with 13:32 left in the half, but the Ravens' Ralph Ibezim would respond with a goal for Rosemont less than a minute later to put the Ravens back in front 5-4 with 12:49 remaining in the half. The momentum in the quarter appeared to switch towards Centenary, as they had control of the offensive play, but Rosemont was matching them on defense as the half ended with the Ravens hanging on to their one-goal edge.
The Cyclones would break out quickly with three straight goals within 3 ½ minutes to open the second half and to grab their first lead of the game, extending their lead to 7-5 with 11:31 left in the 3rd quarter. Rasool Smith would put the Ravens on the board with under 11 minutes left in the 3rd to move the Ravens back to within a goal, trailing 7-6. There was no more scoring in the quarter as the Centenary one-goal lead would carry over into the final quarter.
Desperate for the equalizer, the Ravens tried hard but could not find it. Instead, Centenary opened up an 8-6 lead with 10:25 left in the game. The Cyclones would score two more goals towards the latter part of the quarter to take their largest lead of the game, 10-6, with 4:14 left. Mike Manning would end the Ravens' scoring on an assist from Licata to make the score 10-7, but Centenary, sensing they had clinched the contest, celebrated shortly after scoring the final goal of the game with 1 ½ minutes left on the clock.
Licata led the Ravens tonight with two goals and an assist (three points). Kiefer Paul made some key saves in goal, saving 10 shots on goal.
The Cyclones' Trevor Krupinski had a big night, scoring four goals with 3 assists (7 points). Michael Muff (3 goals, 1 assist) and Nolan Gottshall (3 goals) also were key contributors for Centenary.
During halftime of tonight's game the team paid tribute to their graduating seniors of the Class of 2015: Brendan Dougherty, Dean Grisoff, Mike Manning, Dan O'Connell, and Justin Regan.
The Ravens will close out their season on Tuesday when they travel to Scranton to face the Marywood Pacers in a conference game. Face-off is scheduled for 6:00pm.
