AMCATS Lose to Tough Warrior Opponent at Home

PAXTON, Mass – Coming off of a 17-7 victory over Lyndon State on Thursday evening, the AMCATS hosted Eastern Connecticut State on Saturday afternoon in Paxton. ESCU had just returned from a trip to California where they lost two games straight. The Warriors were looking to right the ship while the 'Cats wanted to extend their winning ways. At the end of 60 minutes, Eastern got the best of Anna Maria heading back to Willimantic with a 12-6 road win.

The AMCATS got goals from a few of the usual suspects with Brandon Pavoni and Jake Klemba each scoring one. Cameron Perry led the offense for Anna Maria with two goals on the day, adding an assist. The other goal scorers for AMC, with one apiece, were Ryan Rockwal and Malik Griffith. Rockwal added two assists to his score line. Goalie Paul Schwarz allowed 12 goals on the afternoon but saved 19 of 31 shots he faced in the game.

Eastern Connecticut had seven different players score on the day, led by Harrison Urda's four goals on 12 shots. Ed Moran and Samuel Watson also had multi-goal games for the Warriors with two each. In net for ECSU was Chris Gorman. Gorman saved six of the nine shots he faced, allowing three goals, before giving way to Taylor Huta who finished the third quarter and the whole fourth. Huta allowed the other three AMCATS goals and saved two of the five shots he saw.

ECSU started the game with three unanswered goals, scoring less than five minutes in when Moran gave them a 1-0 lead. Urda scored his first at the 8:36 mark of the quarter and, with just over a minute left in the period, Watson scored to give Eastern a 3-0 lead. The AMCATS got on the board with 21 seconds remaining as Rockwal netted a goal, assisted by Perry, to make the score 3-1 at the end of the first 15 minutes.

In the second period, the Warriors again went on a three goal scoring streak, getting their first in a man-up situation seven minutes in with a goal from Connor Wyllie. Watson scored his second with just under seven minutes left in the half, and Brett Chin scored his lone goal of the game just after the five-minute mark. Anna Maria, once again, stopped the bleeding when Pavoni scored an unassisted goal to put his team within four, 6-2, just before half time. In the waning seconds of the half, Jacob Testa, who already assisted on two ECSU goals, netted on with 11 seconds on the clock giving the Warriros a 7-2 half time lead.

The second half would be a tale of two quarters. In the third there were eight goals scored between the two teams. Opened by Eastern just 17 seconds in, Moran scored with an AMCAT in the sin bin to extend the visitors lead to six. Klemba scored a goal just before the clock hit 12 minutes which was followed by back-to-back Urda goals, his third and fourth, at the 11 minute and eight minute points of the quarter. The 'Cats wouldn't go away, as Perry matched Urda's back-to-backers with two of his own, both in man-up situations, to pull Anna Maria back within five. Though AMC was fighting, ECSU scored two more in the quarter sporting a 12-5 advantage heading in to the final 15.

In the fourth, both defenses became extra stingy. There was only one goal scored in the period. With 9:10 left on the clock, Griffith scored his lone goal, assisted by Pavoni, to get within six goals. The last 9:10 of the game would be very defensive and the in-game excitement ended. When the clock struck zero, Eastern Connecticut had their third win of the season, 12-6 over the AMCATS, with Anna Maria falling to 2-2 on the young season.

The 'Cats will be back on the field Monday, March 19^th, when they travel to Boston to take on Wentworth at 6pm.