| Friday - Long Island Takes Western 13-4 |
July 27, 2007 - Long Island opened up the scoring early and often, with their first goal just 0:34 into the game when Matthew Gibson scored by backing
in from the top and then quickly turning for the shot. Long Island scored three more before Western
got on the board with 0:15 remaining in the first quarter. Francis McDonough (assisted by Daniel
Savage) scored the second goal for Long Island followed soon after by an unassisted Brian Smalley
goal. The fourth goal of the game came as Jeff Cohen scored from a feed by Gibson. 
Cohen, who by this point al ready had received his first of five penalties, became the topic
of discussion after he received two unsportsmanlike conduct calls and was ejected from the game in
the third quarter. Joe Resetarits scored on a fast-break cross-crease pass from Matt Pierotti.
Resetarits also scored the first goal of the second quarter after picking up a ground ball on the
crease. Long Island finished the scoring in the second quarter with five more goals.
The game was full of penalties. As of halftime there were nine. After eight more in the third
and five more in the fourth the game ended with twenty-two total penalties (11 per team). The
22 penalties were broken up into 5 unsportsmanlike conduct calls, 8 slashes, 7 technicals and 2 illegal
body checks. The first half ended with Long Island leading 9-2 and showing no signs of letting up.
During the third quarter Long Island scored the only goal at 8:55 when Savage hooked up with Cohen,
who scored the goal. With 0:28 remaining in the third quarter Cohen received his first unsportsmanlike
conduct call. Only 1:23 later, Cohen received his second and was eject from the game (as well
as the next contest). This was not before scoring three goals during the game up to that point.
The third quarter ended 10-2 for Long Island.
Pierotti, who led all teams in assists after day one, scored his first goal (assisted by Mitch
Keefer) during an extra-man opportunity. Savage scored one goal for Long Island and Jeff Tundo
scored his first of the tournament for Western.
Penalties, goalies and face-offs played important roles in Long Island’s decisive victory.
Goalies John Carroll and Steven Rastivo split halves for Long Island (with the exception of
one minute in the fourth when Carroll’s stick broke). Carroll and Rastivo each faced 6
shots with Carroll making 5 saves (83%) and Rastivo recording 3 saves (50%) for an average 66%. Western
only played Scott Bement in the cage. Bement faced 18 shots and only recorded 5 saves (28%). At face-offs,
Long Island also had a strong performance from Zach Pall who finished 12/18 (66%). Of his twelve
wins 10 were either technical wins or he picked up the ground ball himself.
Overall, the game demonstrated that the perennial favorites are strong this year.
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