4th Quarter Comeback Lifts Pioneers Past Hiram

Alfred State scored the four unanswered goals in the 4th quarter as they erased a 6-3 deficit to earn a 7-6 victory over Hiram on Thursday evening. With the victory the Pioneers are 5-5 on the season.

Nick Rollason found the back of the net twice to open the scoring and give the Terriers a 2-0 lead with 8:34 remaining in the 1st quarter. AJ Soto (Churchville) scored with 7:40 left in the quarter to cut the lead in half.

Most of the rest of the half was a defensive battle as neither team scored until Rollason completed his hat trick with a goal with 3:38 remaining in the 2nd quarter. Joe Johnson (Churchville) made it 3-2 heading into the break after getting a pass from Eric Passeck (Thomaston, CT).

The offense picked up in the 3rd quarter as Tim Stucky scored 2:40 into the frame and Johnson answered nine seconds later after getting a pass from Passeck. Horace Johnson scored on an end-to-end play with 11:59 left and Stucky scored a man-down goal to give Hiram their biggest lead, 6-3, with 9:12 remaining.

Neither team would score the rest of the 3rd quarter and the Pioneers defense put the clamps on the Hiram offense the rest of the way. Branden Dickson (Bath) scored an extra man goal with 12:02 remaining after getting a crossing pass from Cole Reuben (Basom, Akron). Johnson scored his third of the game with 8:29 to cut the lead to one after getting a pass from Soto. The Pioneers remained down by one until moments after a timeout when Soto found the back of the net with 3:50 remaining to tie it. Johnson scored the game-winner with 2:02 remaining after receiving a pass from Dickson. 

Johnson finished with four goals while Soto had two goals and an assist. Dickson added a goal and an assist, Nathan Crowley led the team with five grounds, and Matt Cobb (Churchville) made nine saves in net to earn the win.

Rollason finished with three goals and an assist while Stucky had two goals and an assist for Hiram (6-6). Liam Osborne made 10 saves in net.

Alfred State held a 34 to 25 shot advantage in the game (18 to 11 in the 2nd half) and was 18 for 19 in clear attempts. 

The Pioneers travel to the Bulldog Classic this weekend. They take on SUNY Delhi in their opening round match at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be played after the hosts Dean College takes on SUNY Canton.