Methacton unable to overcome first quarter deficit

Methacton was unable to overcome a 5-1 first quarter deficit on pace to a 9-8 loss to the Wildcats of Owen J. Roberts.  The host Wildcats took the lead on an unassisted goal by Jarrett Szczecinski but Eli Miller responded by notching his first of the day off of a Sean Aronow feed. 

Owen J Roberts scored the next four building the 5-1 lead on some strong unsettled play.  Coach Ryan noted "I think we didn't do a great job of keeping track of guys off ball during the first quarter.  They played well, got their heads up, and finished when they had the chance and we have to be better as a defensive unit on that stuff." 

Cody Ridgway scored the final goal of the first quarter off a feed from Clay Sobocinski with 3 seconds remaining. 

Miller opened the second quarter scoring on a strong individual effort from the midfield.  Coach Ryan said "Eli has been big for us thus far this year.  He is unbelievable at the face-off x and is really able to generate slides dodging from the midfield."  With the lead cut to two the hosts responded with goals by John Pennell and Tyler Graham taking a 6-3 lead into the halftime break. 

The opening of the second half was all Methacton as they drew an extra man up opportunity off of an Owen J Roberts penalty.  They wasted little time scoring just seconds into the man up as Cody Ridgway found Sam McAdoo in time and space and McAdoo put away his first of the day.  That connection continued as Ridgway assisted McAdoo two more times back to back to knot the score at 6-6. 

With the visitors gaining all of the momentum OJR coach Jeff Neese called a pivotal timeout.  During the break, Methacton was hit with a three minute non releaseable stick penalty.  While Methacton was able to burn the entire three minutes off with strong efforts on both the defensive and offensive ends, the momentum seemed to swing back to the Wildcats.  As the teams returned to even strength OJR took a two goal lead on back to back goals by Tyler Graham.  

Methacton controlled much of the possession in the fourth quarter and generated a number of opportunities but couldn't find the net until Cody Rigway found a cutting Sean Aronow for his first of the day with 4:19 remaining in the game.  OJR responded just under a minute later with Graham scoring his third of the day on an individual effort from behind the cage.  With a two goal lead OJR tried to slow the game down and managed to burn over two minutes off the clock on the offensive end.  However, LSM Gabe Ferraro intercepted an errant pass and pushed transistion finding Sean Aronow for his second of the day with just 56 seconds remaining on the clock.  

The hosts won the ensuing face-off and were able to salt away the final minute of the game for a 9-8 decision to improve to 2-2 overall (2-0 PAC-10).  Methacton falls to .500 mark both overall and in league (2-2, 1-1 PAC-10) and returns to action as they travel to Boyertown to face another league foe.