Rams Fall to William Paterson in PK's
William Paterson - 3, Farmingdale State - 3 (2 OT)
Paterson advances to Finals, 4-2 on Penalty Kick
Wayne, N.J. - Farmingdale State faced off with
the 22nd ranked team in Division III, William Paterson, on Sunday
afternoon in the ECAC Metro Semifinals, held in Wayne, N.J. The
Rams held a 3-1 lead early in the second half, but Paterson came
back to tie it at 3-3 and after two scoreless overtimes, the game
was decided on penalty kicks.
William Paterson's Steve DeMatteo opened the scoring in the 25th minute to give Paterson the 1-0 lead, before Farmingdale's sophomore forward Ryan Paul (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) knocked in a cross from junior defender Mat Arthurs (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) to tie the game at one. Just four minutes later, freshman forward Ryan Standridge (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) scored off his own rebound for the 2-1 Rams lead.
At the start of the second half, junior midfielder Frank Volante (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) added another Farmingdale goal for a 3-1 advantage with 44 minutes left to play. The Rams held Paterson scoreless in the second until the 70th minute when Helder Andrade scored and with 24 seconds remaining in the game, Paterson's Joe Strawman tied the score at 3-3 in a scramble in front of the net.
The two overtime periods saw just seven combined shots between the teams, forcing penalty kicks to decide the winner and who would move on to the ECAC Finals.
Farmingdale senior midfielder Tom Mueller (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) and Arthurs were succesful on the first two attempts, with the Rams holding the 2-1 edge in PK's. But Paterson stuck their final three attempts and Farmingdale missed two for the final 4-2 win by Paterson.
Junior goalkeeper Patrick Gubbins (East Patchogue, N.Y./Bellport) made nine saves in the loss for the Rams.
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