CHESTER, Pa.—Widener University fell behind 3-1 after the first period and trailed 4-3 at intermission before holding The University of Scranton to one goal in the second-half en route to a 9-5 victory in the quarterfinals of the Middle Atlantic Conference tournament Monday evening.

Last Saturday, in the regular-season finale between the two teams, Widener scratched out a 6-4 victory.

The Pioneers, now 10-5, will advance to Thursday's semifinal game against second seeded Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. With the loss, Scranton ends its 2007 season with a 7-9 mark under first-year head coach Kevin Dugan. The Royals' seven wins is their most since 2003, which was also the last time that Scranton qualified for the MAC tournament.

After Widener's Brian Stromko broke a 0-0 tie with a goal off an assist by Gavin Goane with 6:14 remaining in the first period, things appeared to be going in Scranton's favor, as senior attacker Edward Boate (Media, Pa./Penncrest), sophomore attacker Thomas Kornobis (Merrick, N.Y./W.C. Mepham) and sophomore attacker Nick Youngstrom (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) scored goals within a six-minute span to give the Royals a 3-1 lead. An unassisted goal by Scranton freshman attacker Phil Lindner (Parlin, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) kept the Royals ahead by intermission, 4-3, after Widener scored twice on goals by Cory Malampy and Stromko within a six-minute span tied the game at 3-3.

Widener held the Royals to just three shots attempts in the third period and took the lead for good on three straight goals by Chris Matthews, Justin Upp and Luke Weber, 6-4. Nevertheless, Scranton fought back and made it a one-goal game on an unassisted goal by Youngstrom, his second of the game, with 1:53 left in the third period.

Once again, Widener's defense came to the forefront in the final period by limiting the Royals to just four shot attempts. Matthews scored an unassisted goal with 12:39 remaining to extend the Pioneer's lead to 7-5 before Upp took a feed from Clint Quedenfeld with 6:53 left and fired a shot past Scranton senior goalie Thomas Davis (Media, Pa./Penncrest) to extend the margin to three, 8-5. Quedenfeld closed out the scoring with a goal off of an assist by Stromko with 4:53 remaining.

The Royals will bid farewell to eight seniors next year, including Dan Stallone (S. Plainfield, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen), who finished his career fifth in goals (96) and tied for seventh in total points (124) in Scranton history. Davis also left his mark on the Scranton record book, ending his career second in saves (503) and fourth in goals against average (11.74).

2007-05-01