Box Score DOYLESTOWN (PA) –Delaware Valley College erased a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter, but could not complete the comeback as the Aggies fell to visiting Hood College, 9-7.
The loss marked the first Delaware Valley setback on its home field and dropped them to an even 3-3 on its inaugural varsity season. The Aggies will host Bryn Athyn College on Wednesday, March 25 before travelling to Manhattanville College on April 2 to begin Freedom Conference play. Meanwhile, Saturday's win improved the Blazers to 4-4 overall.
Delaware Valley got out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to
Chris Coyle adding to his best total with a pair of tallies. His first came just 56 seconds into the game off a feed from
Riley Kratzke while his second was a laser from out high just a minute and a half later. The Aggies defense held Hood scoreless in that quarter.
However, the second stanza belonged to the Blazers as Alex Villegas got them on the board just 30 seconds in and Patrick O'Brien capitalized on a man-up opportunity just 32 seconds later for the 2-2 tie. Malik Brown broke the tie a little over three minutes later as he grabbed the ball at the X position, danced through the defense and scored from in close. Hood held onto the 3-2 advantage into halftime.
The Blazers got the first two goals of the second half before Coyle found the back of the net for his third of the afternoon on an assist from
Matt Brady to make it 5-3 with 6:16 remaining in the third quarter. Hood answered back when Brown found Tai Foster with under a minute to play in the stanza to regain the three-goal advantage heading into the final quarter.
The Aggies got a spark in the fourth quarter as they scored three times in a 66-second span. The first came from Kratzke on a pass from
Seth Clauser and, immediately after the goal, the Blazers were called for a late hit which resulted in Delaware Valley retaining possession in the offensive zone after the goal. The Aggies capitalized on the man-up opportunity just seven seconds in as Coyle ripped his fourth of the day.
Bill Long capped the run and tied the game at 6-6 with his fourth of the year and 11:28 to play in regulation.
With 6:54 remaining, Delaware Valley was called for a penalty and Hood scored on the man up situation with Gio San Fillipo finding the back of the net to regain the lead. The Aggies found themselves down a man again exactly one minute later and this time it was O'Brien who was credited with the man-up tally. O'Brien added one more to put the Blazers back up by three, 9-6 with just 3:17 to play. Clauser scored his first of the day and ninth of the year just 15 seconds later, but it wasn't enough and Hood escaped with the 9-7 victory.
Coyle led the Aggies with his four tallies to give him 14 goals and 16 points on the season. Brady, Clauser and Kratzke each picked up two points on the afternoon.
Jacob Tomasik played all 60 minutes in net and made nine saves.
Hood got three goals from O'Brien while Brown and Foster pitched in with two apiece. The highlight for the Blazers was their 4-for-4 effort on extra-man opportunities compared to just 1-for-7 for Delaware Valley. Joseph McCullogh made 10 saves.
