Strong 4th Quarter Lifts Pioneers to USCAA Classic Title

Tied 7-7 heading into the final quarter, Alfred State outscored SUNY Delhi 7 to 4 in the final fifteen minutes to claim the USCAA Classic Championship 14-11 at Pioneer Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Pioneers now have won four in a row and five of their last six.

Delhi struck first in the high scoring 4th quarter when Luke Anderson scored his 5th goal of the game for the Broncos. Less than a minute later AJ Soto (Churchville) tied it back up and Ian Grana (Greece Odyssey) gave the Pioneers their first lead of the game just 24 seconds later.

After Malik Talbert tied it back up Teddy Alvarado (Hilton) scored his 4th of the game to make it 10-9 with 8:51 remaining. Talbert tied it back up again just 14 seconds later. Soto and Joe Johnson (Churchville) answered back with goals separated by just 34 seconds to give the PIoneers a lead they would never give back up.

Connor Filiberto scored with 6:13 remaining but the Broncos would not score again. Tanner Morrow (Grand Island), who was 9 for 11 in the faceoff circle in the decisive 4th quarter, scored just six seconds after Filiberto and Dominic Arresta (Southhampton) capped the scoring with his first goal of the game with just 2:21 remaining.

Delhi led 3-2 after the 1st quarter behind two goals by Anderson. Landon Drumm (Tully) and Alvardo scored for the Pioners. Grana, Drumm, and Alvarado all scored in the 2nd as the Pioneers sent the game into half tied at 5-5.

Talbert and Anderson scored in the 3rd to give the Broncos their biggest lead but Johnson and Alvarado scored in the final 5:08 to tie the game back up heading into the 4th.

Alvarado finished the day with four goals and two assists while Soto had two goals and three assists. Grana, Johnson, and Drumm all scored twice while Morrow and Arresta scored twice each. Morrow was 14 of 21 on faceoffs and led the team with 10 ground balls.

Anderson scored five times to lead the Broncos while Talbert tallied four goals. Jeremy Leary passed out four assists while Andrew Delligatti had three helpers.

In net, Ryan Amidon (Fayetteville Manlius) made 14 saves to record the victory while Eric Morse made 15 saves for the Broncos.

Alfred State held a 40 to 33 shot advantage and picked up five more groundballs (35 to 30).

The Pioneers defeated SUNY Canton 10-6 in the opening round on Saturday to advance to the championship game. Last season, the Pioneers advanced to the USCAA Classic final but fell to Canton in the championship game.

The blue & gold head down the road on Saturday to battle cross-county rival Houghton. Opening faceoff is slated for 1 p.m.