Firebirds’ Late Run Falls Short in 15-12 Loss to Chestnut Hill

WASHINGTON, DC – The Firebirds out-scored the Griffins, 6-1 in a frenetic final seven-and-a-half minutes of regulation, but they ultimately fell short by a final score of 15-12 in East Coast Conference play Friday evening at Woodrow Wilson HS.

University of the District of Columbia (2-7, 1-5 ECC) had a commanding edge in faceoffs, winning 24-of-31, doubled-up Chestnut Hill in ground balls (46-23), and out-shot the Griffins, 50-35. Chestnut Hill (5-6, 3-4 ECC), however, had three fewer turnovers (25-22) and six more goalkeeper saves (13-7) en-route to its third straight victory.

Sophomore attack Chase Fraser (Elementary Education – Aldergrove, BC/Blue Ridge HS) led the Firebirds offensively with a game-high five goals on 15 shot attempts. He also scooped up a game-high nine ground balls and went 2-of-2 on faceoff attempts. Sophomore attack Brock Thompson-Marshall (Business Management – Sooke, BC/Claremont Secondary) registered four points on two goals and two assists, and sophomore midfielder Quinton Pavan (Childhood Education – Port Coquitlam, BC/Blue Ridge HS) added three points on two goals and one assist.

Freshman specialist Teilen Celentano (Accounting – Ottawa, ON/E.S.P. Louis-Riel) won 20-of-27 faceoffs and collected seven ground balls, and freshman midfielder Darien McPhail Millard (Psychology – East Windsor, NJ/Union CC) went 2-for-2 on faceoffs, scored one goal and scooped up six ground balls.

Defensively, junior goalkeeper Pat Payne (Environmental Science – Catonsville, MD/CCBC Catonsville) made seven saves and allowed 15 goals in a complete game effort. Senior defender Philip Foster (Mass Media – Baltimore, MD/Dean College) led UDC with two caused turnovers and senior Kamaal Stanley (Business Management – Saratoga Springs, NY/SUNY Delhi) had one caused turnover as well.

The Griffins were led by attack Dylan Klusaritz with a game-high seven points on three goals and four assists. Midfielder Tanner Fisher put a team-high five of his 10 shots on goal to add three goals, and Alec Dambach and Christopher Merten each also pitched in with a pair of goals.

Thomas McDermott stopped 11 of the 17 shots he faced, allowing only six goals in 51:05 to pick up the win in goal for CHC. Drew Lamela faced a barrage of Firebird shots as he allowed six goals and made two saves in the final 8:55.

Fraser scored the game's first goal nearly two minutes into the action, and later Millard broke a near-six-minute scoring drought by both teams with a goal at the 6:44 mark, as UDC took early leads of 1-0 and 2-1. Fisher and Klusaritz each scored, respectively, in response to each of the Firebird goals as the teams were even, 2-2 at the end of the first period despite a 15-6 shot advantage by UDC.

Fisher and Fraser, both out of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia and products of Blue Ridge HS, traded goals early in the 2^nd period as Fisher scored his 2^nd at the 13:40 mark and Fraser answered at 12:48. The Griffins, however, would take the lead for good with a 3-0 run, with three different players tallying in a span of less than three minutes to take a 6-3 lead near the eight-minute mark. Pavan temporarily stopped the bleeding with an unassisted goal at the 7:10 mark, but Klusaritz would score the final goal of the half with only 29 seconds remaining and give Chestnut Hill a 7-4 lead heading into intermission.

The two teams traded goals in the first 1:30 once play resumed, but Dambach scored consecutive goals at 11:48 and 6:39, and Michael Plaia contributed an assist and a goal of his own all during what amounted to a 4-0 Griffin surge that saw the visitors extend their lead to 12-5 with under a minute left in the 3^rd quarter. Pavan scored his 2^nd goal of the day with 30 seconds remaining, but UDC would trail 12-6 heading into the final quarter. In games UDC has lost this season, the Firebirds have been out-scored 40-13 in the 3^rd quarter.

Chestnut Hill scored the first two goals of the 4^th quarter at 13:38 and 7:30 to extend its lead to a game-high eight-goal margin, 14-6 with 7:30 remaining. The Firebirds showed no quit though as Fraser, Marshall and senior attack Ben Taylor (Biology – New Westminster, BC/Simon Fraser University) each scored a goal in a span of less than two minutes to cut the deficit to five with 5:17 left to play. A 30-second penalty on UDC resulted in a goal by CHC's Christopher Mertens at the 2:33 mark to make it 15-9, and even though UDC ended the game with another 3-0 run, it was too little too late.

Next up, UDC will travel to Rockville Centre, NY to take on its 4^th nationally-ranked opponent this season in No. 9 Molloy on Saturday, April 18^th at 12 p.m.