Springfield College kicked off its 2014 season the way it has kicked off the last few seasons: with a win over Gordon. The Pride, led by a host of returning players from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, scored a 20-9 win over the Dutchmen on Thursday in a game that changes dates, times and venues before it was finally played. The attack trio of Dylan Sheehan, Ryon Lynch and Ryan Murphy combined for 12 points with the latter two notching five points apiece.
The game had originally been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at Springfield, but the snow forced a venue change to UMass-Amherst’s Garber Field on Wednesday night. A second winter storm forced the game to be pushed back to Thursday and when Springfield’s venue was once again unable to host, the game was moved to Gordon. The schedule shift is important because it give’s coach Keith Bugbee’s team one less day to prepare for a showdown with Nazareth on Saturday.
This performance was vintage Springfield, though. The better team and with loads of experience, the Pride scored 12 of their 20 goals in the second half after allowing Gordon to climb within three at 8-5 at the half. A 7-1 third quarter erased any doubt and by the start of the fourth quarter, it was down to stat padding and running time. The Pride dominated at the faceoff “x” thanks to Branden Fernandez’s 16-for-21 effort and Mark Gonzalez’s 5-for-6 day, got solid goalkeeping from seniors Rob Maher and Connor Nash, and leaned on their high-powered attack trio to outclass Gordon on that end of the field. Like I said, vintage Springfield.
On the other hand, Springfield lost the turnover battle (23-19), struggled clearing the ball (13-for-20), and failed to capitalize on all but one of its extra-man opportunities. Against some of the teams SC has lined up, those three figures simply won’t get the job done.
Murphy’s three-goal, two-assist day would be the highlight in the box score on most days, but Lynch’s five assist game has that “crooked number” appeal that leaps off the page. Dom Roberto added three more goals while Sheehan, Kevin Freeman, Colby Verge, Devin Abad, Tony LaGuerre and Bryce Serriello added two apiece. Brendan Boss and Kevin Sainte filled out the rest of the box score for SC.
Jake Martin posted a three goals with an assist to lead Gordon, who also got goals from Michael Utz, Jordan Heckelmann, Dominic Dantona, Matt Dantona, Roger Evans and Thor Rasmussen.
Leading Scorers: Springfield – Lynch (5 assists), Murphy (3 goals, 2 assists); Gordon – Martin (3 goals, 1 assist)
Goalkeepers: Springfield – Maher (W, 6 GA, 8 saves), Nash (3 GA, 8 saves); Gordon – Cody Greenwald (L, 20 GA, 12 saves)
Faceoffs: Springfield – Fernandez (16-21), Gonzalez (5-6), Abad (1-5); Gordon – Peter Kovacevic (9-26), Sam Spellman (1-4), Steve Turpin (0-2)
Special Teams: Springfield (1-8, Sheehan); Gordon (5-10, Heckelmann, Dominic Dantona, Michael Utz, Martin, Matt Dantona)
