Sophomore forward Richard Harris scored twice this afternoon, giving him a team-high nine goals this season. |
Harris scores twice, now leads Skyhawks with nine goals this season
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (January 11, 2014) – The Stonehill College ice hockey team erased a 3-1 deficit early in the third period before eventually falling to Nazareth College today, 4-3, in non-conference action at Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex.
Stonehill sophomore forward Richard Harris (Grand Island, N.Y./Valley Jr. Warriors) netted two goals, giving him a team-best nine this season. Junior Stephen Balsamo (Atkinson, N.H./Brewster Academy) also found the back of the net for the Skyhawks, while senior captain Bryan Rooney (Canton, Mass./New Hampton School), and sophomores Travis Army (Englewood, Colo./Worcester Academy), Connor Fallon (Weymouth, Mass./South Shore Kings), and Kevin Airoldi (Kennebunk, Maine/Berwick Academy) each registered assists.
Nazareth was led by freshman forward Ben Blasko (Kingston, Ont./Brockville Braves), who posted a three-point effort with one assist and two goals, including the game-winner midway through the third period. Classmate David Seward (Williamsville, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) and junior Tom Seravalli (Richboro, Pa./Northwood School) recorded goals as well for the Golden Flyers.
Stonehill took an early advantage when Rooney found Harris for the game's first score 7:02 into the opening period, but Blasko evened the game at 1-1 five minutes later. Seravalli then gave Nazareth a 2-1 lead only 26 seconds later with his fifth goal of the season.
Nazareth would go up 3-1 on Seward's power play tally 9:23 into the middle period, but Harris cut Stonehill's deficit back down to one three minutes later. The Golden Flyers held a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission.
Balsamo beat Nazareth sophomore netminder Ed Zdolshek (Parma, Ohio/Ottawa Junior A Senators) to even the score at 3-3 just six minutes into the third period, but unfortunately that was all the offense the Skyhawks would muster. Blasko's second score of the afternoon at the 10:19 mark of the third proved to be the game-winner for the Golden Flyers.
Zdolshek made 26 saves between the pipes for Nazareth, while his counterpart, Stonehill sophomore Patrick Farrington (Sandwich, Mass./Bridgton Academy) stopped 32 of the 36 shots that he saw.
The Skyhawks were unable to capitalize on their power play opportunities, as they scored just once in seven tries with a man advantage. Nazareth was 1-2 on the power play.
Stonehill (6-8, 3-0-0 Northeast-10) will play four more contests on the road before returning home to the Foxboro Sports Center on Saturday, January 25th, when the Skyhawks are set to host NE-10 rival Southern New Hampshire University. Stonehill is next in action on Monday night at Western New England University in Springfield, Mass. Nazareth returns to the ice on Tuesday night at Buffalo State.
For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter and Facebook. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks mobile app on iTunes and the Android Market.