On Friday night, the Ramapo ice hockey team extended their winning streak to three consecutive games with a close 4-2 victory over Stevens Institute of Technology. On Saturday evening, however, the streak came to an end with a 7-3 loss to rival Farmingdale State College.
Beginning with their win against the Ducks, the Roadrunners opened the scoring in the second period with a power play goal from forward Adam Moskal, assisted by Luca Carnemolla and Tommy Korpics. Three minutes into the third period, Ramapo extended their lead to two thanks to a goal from Anthony Fizer, assisted by Daniel Kulbanskiy and Robert Wogisch.
Less than one minute after Fizer’s goal, the Ducks got themselves on the board with a goal from Bernard Vitale, assisted by Maciej Kowalczyk and Kevin McNamara. Five minutes after Vitale’s goal, Stevens tied the game with an unassisted goal from Nicolas Dupuis.
In the final three minutes of action, the Roadrunners were granted a power play opportunity after a hold from Stevens’ Dylan Faulhaber. Ramapo’s Matthew Cochran immediately took advantage to give the Roadrunners their eventual game-winning-goal off assists from Fizer and Kulbanskiy.
With 56 seconds remaining, Cochran went to the penalty box, giving Stevens an opportunity with a one-man advantage; however, Fizer was able to hold off the penalty by scoring a short-handed goal off an assist from Wogisch, sealing the 4-2 win.
In goal for Ramapo, Alec Rittenhouse saved 18 of 20 shots from the Ducks, while Stevens goalie Brendan Breschard tallied 36 saves against 40 Ramapo shots. The win was both Ramapo and Rittenhouse’s fifth of the year.
Moving on to Saturday’s game, Ramapo traveled to Syosset, New York to face fierce division rival Farmingdale State. The Rams got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first period with a goal from Brendan Dixson, assisted by Nick D’alessandro and James Jensen. Early in the second period, Farmingdale doubled their lead to 2-0 thanks to a goal from Joseph Castellano off assists from both Reid Fesette and Luke Ferazi.
The Roadrunners finally got on the board seven minutes into the second period with a goal from Brady Vella, assisted by Cochran. However, the Rams struck back just 18 seconds later with Dixson’s second goal of the game, assisted by Jensen and Louis Saccone. Ramapo kept the pressure on, however, as Fizer netted his third goal of the weekend to cut the deficit back to one-off assists from Moskal and Brian Atwell.
The pressure from Ramapo would only last so long, as Farmingdale scored two consecutive goals to end the second period to extend their lead to 5-2. The first was scored by Fesette off assists from Luke Ferazi and Saccone. The second came off the stick of Dixson to complete his hat trick, assisted by Jensen.
In the third period, Moskal took advantage of a power play opportunity, scoring off an assist from Wogisch. From that point on, the Rams controlled the puck, adding another two scores before the final whistle, with goals from Dixson and Tyler Wodicka.
In goal for Ramapo, Rittenhouse faced 42 shots from Farmingdale, tallying 35 saves. For the Rams, Luke Richardson saved 19 of 22 Roadrunner shots.
As expected in a Ramapo and Farmingdale game, the play got physical and chippy with eight penalties between the two teams in the final 23 minutes of the game, including Ramapo’s Kulbanskiy being ejected from the game with an abuse-of-official penalty.
Ramapo is now second in their division with a 5-5-1 record, trailing only Sacred Heart University. This weekend, Ramapo will travel to face Hofstra University on Saturday evening, and on Sunday, will travel to the Empire Division-leading Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon for a crucial matchup.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
featured photo courtesy of @tessapofahlphotos, Instagram
