In an absolute thriller, Cathedral Prep had to regain a second half lead it gave up to North Hills and valiantly did so in the final minutes in an emotional section win, 9-8.
Long before the Indians and the Ramblers took the face off, both sides knew the significance of this pivotal game. Two teams, both undefeated in Division II Section II play, vying for a temporary spot at the top of the conference with Hampton. And on a beautiful spring evening at North Hills, momentum swung both ways and a riveting section match ended in wonderfully dramatic fashion.
Early on it was all Prep. The Ramblerss offense really stretched out the Indians defense and made the opportunities count. Erik Hultgren scored two of his three goals of the evening within the first six and a half minutes of the first to give Prep an early 2-0 lead. The Indians responded nicely when Jared Saffer capitalized on a man-advantage and scored with three minutes remaining in the quarter.
But it was the Ramblers that began cashing in off of crisp ball movement and a number of fast break transitions to go on a three-score run and a 6-2 lead. With about two minutes left in the first, Mike Aho found Dave DiPlacido for his first of four goals on the night. Prep opened up the second quarter scoring when DiPlacido scored twice within 18 seconds of one another. As sharp as the offense played, the Ramblers defense held firm and goalie Adam Hagmaier made a few solid saves.
Midway through the quarter, North Hills finally put an end to Prep's consecutive scores with a powerful and perfectly placed bounce shot from Brady Cummings. It only took two minutes for Prep to respond when Bob Buettner scored off a feed from Evan Hornick to give the Ramblers a 6-2 lead. Again, the Prep movement was precise and it started to feel like the Ramblers were primed to pull away.
That was until the closing seconds of the half when the Indians began an unstoppable and unanswered six-goal tear to eventually take a two-score lead late in the fourth.With only 2.4 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Joshua Buzzard carved through the Prep defense and cut the deficit in half, 6-3. The third quarter was completely dominated by North Hills. Cummings, who ended the evening with an incredible five-goal performance, scored twice for his second and third within a minute of one another. And moments later Buzzard knotted the game at six with his second score of the game with under eight minutes left in the third.
With about four minutes left in the third, North Hills was given a man-up advantage and an opportunity for its first lead of the game. The Indians didn't squander the chance and Cummings lifted North Hills to a 7-6 lead. The Indians took the one-goal lead into the fourth where the physical play of both sides continued. North Hills appeared to have really worn down the Ramblers and had the defense playing on back its heels. Cummings took note of that and continued his drives towards the goal, scoring his fifth and elevating the Indians to a 8-6 lead with under six minutes to play.
Prep needed to get something together offensively and end its 23-minute scoreless rut. Until it was Buettner who assisted DiPlacido to give new life to the Ramblers with just under five minutes to play. The fourth quarter had been unbelievably tense but Prep brought whole new meaning to the word when Alec Vroman tied the game at eight with only 1:19 remaining. The game was totally up-for-grabs, someone had to step up and be the hero. Hultgren, who had been a factor all game but hadn't scored since he opened the game with two goals, earned his hat-trick when he juked past three North Hills defenders and scored with 1:08 to play.
A 9-8 lead for the visiting Ramblers with one minute left. North Hills was in dire need of someone to step up. The Indians had a few legitimate shots on goal but couldn't seem to find a way through. Then, with only 15 seconds remaining, Buzzard ripped a shot to potentially send the game to overtime. But Hagmaier came up big with a huge head-save and preserved a priceless section win on the road.
Cathederal Prep (4-0, 4-2) travels to New York this weekend to take on McQuaid Jesuit (1-3) and St. Joseph Collegiate (4-4) before its game on Monday at local and section rival, Erie McDowell (2-2, 2-5). Last season, Prep played and beat the Trojans twice including a 6-5 overtime win at McDowell. Prep hasn't lost to the Trojans since 2008.
North Hills (2-1, 3-5) has over a week and a half to rebound from the loss and prepare for the other unbeaten team in the section, Hampton (2-0, 2-4). The Indians host the Talbots on April 27th and will look to avenge a 13-4 loss last season.
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