Get our free mobile app

Thursday, June 10

NJSIAA TOURNAMENT

Group 4 Final

Hunterdon Central 7, Southern 2

Junior goalie Tyler Sininsky was outstanding with 14 saves to backstop another strong defensive performance, but Hunterdon Central's defense and goalie Dillon Baehr matched them and the Red Devils used a four-goal run in the third quarter to put away the Rams and claim the Group 4 championship.

Chris Bill gave Hunterdon Central a 1-0 lead with an EMO goal with 1:45 left in the first quarter and Sean Creter scored with 6:48 left in the second quarter to give Hunterdon Central a 2-0 halftime lead.

Southern finally got on the board when senior attackman Luke Bruther set up sophomore midfielder Joey DeYoung for a goal at 6:22 of the third quarter. Hunterdon Central answered just over a minute later, however, on a goal by Brendan Lehrer and then used an EMO goal by Nick Thorne and a goal by Dylan Johnson to open a 4-1 lead. Southern got one back when DeYoung scored off an assist from Bruther again with 31.5 seconds left in the half, but Creter won the ensuing face-off and scored to make it 6-2 heading to the fourth quarter.

Johnson scored the only goal of the fourth quarter at 10:51 off an assist from Eric Molto.

Hunterdon Central's defense stifled Southern all game and limited the Rams to just 19 shots. Baehr finished with nine saves.

Wednesday, June 9

NJSIAA TOURNAMENT

State Finals

At Hopewell Valley High School

Group 1 Final

Mountain Lakes 7, Manasquan 5

Manasquan jumped out to an early lead and held a one-goal advantage at halftime but Mountain Lakes controlled the second half to deny Manasquan in the Group 1 final for the third straight season.

Goals by Owen McCusker, Casey Mulligan and Blake Gorski staked Manasquan (17-4) to a 3-1 lead midway through the first quarter before Mountain Lakes used a goal by Reid Tietjen late in the first quarter to make it 3-2 and a goal by Cade Shuckman at 8:15 of the second quarter to tie the score 3-3.

In the final minute of the first half, Manasquan junior goalie Carter Groezinger made a key stop on a man-down situation and the Warriors turned it the other way where Mulligan scored with 11 seconds on the clock, giving Manasquan a 4-3 halftime lead.

Mountain Lakes found the equalizer early in the third quarter when the Lakers forced a turnover with a strong ride and Tietjen set up Matt McCrink for the goal. Shuckman then scored at 9:19 to give Lakes a 5-4 lead, its first of the game, and then completed his hat trick with 35 seconds left in the third quarter off a pass from Riley Albergts for the eventual game-winning goal.

Manasquan pulled to within 6-5 with 5:10 left with senior Mike Farinacci threaded a perfect pass to the crease that junior Robert Pendergist deposited into the net, but the Lakers (17-1) regained their two-goal advantage when Tietjen scored off an assist from Albergts with 2:53 on the clock.

Mountain Lakes senior goalie Shane Nachshen was outstanding in making nine saves,, many of which robbed Manasquan on high-quality chances.

Manasquan junior face-off specialist Max Pauwels was excellent in winning 12 of 16 face-offs including winning 11 in a row between the 8:01 mark of the first quarter and the opening draw of the fourth quarter. Junior goalie Carter Groezinger made 10 saves and produced three man-down stops.

At A.L. Johnson High School

Group 2 Final

Summit 9, Rumson-Fair Haven 6

The Bulldogs (20-1) mounted a second-half rally after falling behind by five goals at halftime but the Hilltoppers (17-0) never relinquished their lead and used one final surge to win a battle of unbeatens and claim the Group 2 state title.

Down 5-1 through a 30-plus minute weather delay in the second quarter and 6-1 at halftime, Rumson scored four straight goals to start the third quarter to pull within 6-5. Junior attackman Christian Bockelmann scored off an assist from senior attackman Luke Devlin to make it 6-2 before senior midfielder Patrick Jamin scored to make it 6-3 with 7:50 left in the third. Jamin then scored again to cut the deficit to 6-4 before Devlin netted his second of the game to close the gap to 6-5 with 3:10 to play in the third quarter.

That was as close as Rumson would get, however. Summit regained its multi-goal lead on a tally by Dylan Sebastian with 2:01 left in the third quarter to start a three-goal run that would put the game out of reach for RFH. Summit's lead grew to 9-5 before Devlin scored his third and final goal with just under five minutes to go.