Pioneers Soar Past Eagles

Alfred State overpowered Elmira en route to a 10-4 victory on Wednesday evening.

Joe Johnson (Churchville) opened up the scoring for Alfred State 5:16 into the first quarter after getting a pass from Tyler Baker (Rome Free). 36 seconds later, Johnson scored his second goal of the game to add onto the lead. With 8:20 left in the first quarter, Johnson finished his hat trick after getting a pass from Eric Passeck (Thomaston, CT) to put the Pioneers up 3-0. Nic Covelli (Carmel) made it four straight for the blue & gold when he scored with 5:31 left. 

James Mayer cut the deficit to 4-1 with a goal with just under four minutes left in the quarter. Four different Pioneers scored in the 2nd quarter. Baker scored from Covelli, Covelli scored from Passeck, Nick Griffin (Penn Yan) scored from Baker, and Johnson scored from Tucker Sutphen (Brockport). 

Johnson's fourth goal of the game was his 150th goal of his four-year career. He also now has 197 career points. 

The offenses slowed down in the 2nd half. Mayer scored the lone goal of the 3rd quarter. Nick Griffin scored from Covelli half way through the 4th quarter and AJ Soto (Churchville) netted his first after getting a pass from Griffin to make it 10-2 with 6:35 left. The Soaring Eagles capped the scoring with a pair of goals with under four minutes left from Kenny Powell and Sam Shaw. 

Johnson finished with four goals while Covelli had a pair of goals and assists. Griffin (2 goals and 1 assist) and Baker (1 goal and 2 assists) each had three points. Nathan Crowley (Irondequoit) was 9 for 13 in the face-off circle while Sutphen led the team with seven ground balls.

Alfred State held a 48 to 34 shot advantage in the game. Matt Cobb (Churchville) made four saves to record the win.

The Pioneers are on the road when they battle La Roche on Saturday, April 13th at 1 p.m.