March 4, 2011
Manley stops Marauders
Seton Hall Prep's Matt Manley (left) makes one of his 38 saves yesterday.
Click Here for more photos from Seton Hall Prep at St. Peter's Prep
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
NEWARK – By nearly every measure it was a game dominated by St. Peter’s Prep. The Marauders held a 40-15 advantage in shots on goal, had a seemingly endless supply of scoring opportunities and controlled the offensive tempo for most of the contest.
But when faced with a hot goalie, all of those advantages weren’t enough to give St. Peter’s Prep a win.
Junior netminder Matt Manley made 38 saves in a spectacular performance to lead 10th-seeded Seton Hall Prep to a stunning 4-2 victory over the Marauders in the second round of the NJSIAA Non-Public tournament yesterday at the AmeriHealth Pavilion.
“You can’t play like that and win,” said Seton Hall Prep coach Bruce Parker. “You shouldn’t be able to win if you play like that. But we did.”
“I think we dominated physically, we outplayed them,” St. Peter’s Prep coach Mike Goodrich said. “We had a ton of chances, we didn’t finish. When you give a team life, that’s what happens.”
Seventh-seeded St. Peter’s Prep (10-13-2) seemed poised for a big night offensively as it needed just 4:36 to get on the scoreboard when Vincent Senerchio redirected an Ian Thompson shot for the opening goal.
The visiting Pirates (5-15-2) tied it up on Frank Pinho’s power play with 6:12 left in the first period and from there it was Manley who took control of the contest.
Manley recovered from the early set back to make 14 saves in the opening period. The junior made 10 more in the second, highlighted by a jaw-dropping glove slave on the Marauders’ Will Simson early in the period. Manley would rob Simson again late in the period when he stopped Simson on consecutive breakaways.
“They were dominating play, but there’s an old adage in hockey, a hot goalie takes his team to the win,” said Parker, calling Manley’s effort between the pipes ‘superb.’ “We had a hot goalie today and we got a win because of him.”
In the third, Manley made an out-stretched stop with his right leg to stop a Senerchio rebound with 10:04 to keep a game, which could have easily been a three of four-goal lead for St. Peter’s tied.
“We’re one of those teams that have to really work hard to get our chances and then hopefully we bury them,” Goodrich said. “Tonight was not our night to score. They protected the house so we couldn’t get a lot of rebounds. My hats are off to them, they won the game.”
Manley’s play in net kept Seton Hall Prep within striking distance until it was able to deliver a devastating blow to the Marauders late in the third.
Playing a man-down, the Pirates Alec Marsh intercepted an errant pass near his own blue line and raced down the left side. The Seton Hall winger unleashed a laser from the blue line that appeared to deflect off the stick of a St. Peter’s Prep defender and into the top-right corner of the net with 3:20 left in the game.
“We made a mistake that cost us,” Goodrich said. “You can’t turn that puck over and that’s what we did.”
Marsh, who had a part in all four Pirate goals, would assist on Ryan Dwyer’s empty-net goal with 58.3 seconds left and add an empty-netter of his own with just 9.7 seconds remaining.
St. Peter’s Prep would finally get a goal for their efforts when Simson buried home a Robert Butko pass to make it 3-2 with 16.8 seconds left, but by then it was too late to complete the comeback. Nick Bretzger made 11 saves in net for the Marauders.
Seton Hall Prep will face St. Augustine in the next round. While St. Peter’s Prep season ended on a down note, Goodrich believes the best is yet to come for his team which returns all but three players next season.
“I think if we look where we’ve come from and where we are today, we’ve come a long way,” he said. “We were 2-10 in the (Gordon) Conference last year. This year we were 7-5. I feel like we made a big stride this year.”
Ian Thompson assisted on the Marauders' first goal of the game.
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
|
| Seton Hall Prep Pirates (5-15-2) | 1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
| St. Peter's Prep Marauders (10-13-2) | 1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
First Period |
||||
| SPP: Vincent Senerchio (Ian Thompson) 4:36 | ||||
| SHP: Frank Pinho (Alec Marsh), PP, 8:48 | ||||
Second Period |
||||
| No Scoring | ||||
Third Period |
||||
| SHP: Marsh (unassisted), SH, 11:40 | ||||
| SHP: Ryan Dwyer (Marsh), EN, 14:02 | ||||
| SPP: Will Simson (Robert Butko), SH, 14:44 | ||||
| SHP: Marsh (unassisted), PP, EN, 14:51 | ||||
| Shots: St. Peter's Prep 40; Seton Hall Prep 15 | ||||
| Goalies: SPP: Nick Bretzger (11 saves). SHP: Matt Manley (38 saves) | ||||