Box Score

Montclair, NJ (3/20/10) – Senior attack Patrick Nann (Livingston, NJ / Livingston) scored three goals while junior midfielder Robert Sinicola (North Caldwell, NJ / West Essex) tallied twice and assisted on four others as Montclair State pulled off its second straight upset of a Top 20 team as the Red Hawks knocked off Stevens, 8-5 at Sprague Field on Saturday afternoon.

Senior midfielder Taylor Bonner (Old Bridge, NJ / Old Bridge) had a pair of goals as Montclair squared its record at 3-3 overall while also defeating Stevens for the first time since a 13-5 victory during the 2000 campaign. MSU had dropped its previous nine games to the Ducks. Earlier this week, Montclair toppled No. 16 Wesleyan 10-8.

MSU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Sinicola fed Nann for the game’s first goal 2:55 into the contest. That’s the way the game stood until the early portion of the second quarter as the duo hooked up again with 13:23 to go as Montclair led 2-0. Stevens would get a goal back 39 seconds later as Blair Koontz (Montclair, NJ / Montclair) blistered a shot from the wing for an unassisted tally.

The Red Hawks responded as Sinicola set up Bonner in front for the first of the latter’s two goals as MSU led 3-1 at the break.

In the second half Bonner finished off another Sinicola feed 1:21 into the period and Nann’s hat trick tally with 7:59 to play gave the Red Hawks a 5-1 lead. Chris Laurita (Timber Ponds, NJ / South Brunswick) countered with a man-up goal for Stevens as the Ducks closed to within 5-2 with 2:08 to play in the third quarter. Sinicola scored unassisted with 1:12 to play and Laurita assisted on Kevin Rose’s (Garden City, NY / Garden City) goal with 16 ticks remaining as Montclair State held a 6-3 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Sophomore attack Tyler Meth (Basking Ridge, NJ / Ridge) widened the lead to 7-3 as he powered his way to the net for an unassisted goal with 11:03 left in the contest. The game then became a defensive battle until Nicolas Philippi (Mullica Hill, NJ / Clearview) connected with 6:12 left as the Ducks pulled within 7-4. The gap got even tighter as Philippi scored again with 4:09 left as the MSU was down to two.

But the Montclair defense stiffened as goalkeeper Andrew Rosado (Elmwood Park, NJ / St. Joseph’s (Montvale)) stopped two attempts while defenseman Anthony Dzienkiewicz (Jackson, NJ / Jackson Memorial) forced a turnover with 50 seconds left.

The Red Hawks then took that turnover and eventually turned it into the final score as Sinicola scored on a man-up opportunity with 18 seconds to go for the final margin.

Rosado made 12 saves for Montclair State, which was outshot in the game 32-22. Collin Marsh (Asbury, NJ / North Hunterdon) force three turnovers while long-stick midfielder Sean Gilmore (Elmwood Park, NJ / Bergen Catholic) had two ground balls while holding Stevens’ top scorer Laurita (14 goals entering the contest) to just the one goal.

Junior goalkeeper Dave Decker (Califon, NJ / Voorhees) had nine saves for the Ducks.

Montclair State returns to action on Tuesday, March 23 as the Red Hawks head to Danbury, CT to face Western Connecticut in a 7:00 pm matchup at the West Side Athletic Complex.