Signature win? Check.
Riverhead fired seven shots in the opening quarter against West Babylon on Friday before the Eagles took their first. Nothing found the back of the net for the Blue Waves but the Eagles capitalized on their first attempt.
It was the start to something ugly.
Riverhead continued to shoot and continued to miss. West Babylon however, kept on scoring.
“Through a quarter and a half they had seven goals on nine shots from point blank range,” Riverhead head coach Vic Guadagnino said. “We had 18 shots to that point.”
Enter Jacob Coleman.
After the sophomore goalie substituted into the game, his acrobatic saves all of a sudden gave Riverhead all the momentum. They picked up two goals before half to make the score 7-3.
“That’s when we just started to chip away,” Guadagnino said.
The Blue Waves continued to fight and actually took the lead 8-7 in the fourth quarter on Austin Fitzpatrick’s third goal of the game with 5:40 left. But West Babylon’s Jake Satterly answered with the Eagles’ first goal against Coleman to tie the game and force overtime.
Five overtimes ensued. Sophomore John Ehlers won all five face-offs in overtime. Coleman was a brick wall. Shots were flying. West Babylon’s goalie Antonio Quintalino was matching Coleman save for save and ended up with a game-high 23.
“Both goalies were making outrageous saves,” Guadagnino said.
But no save was more crucial than Coleman’s 11th and final save of the game.
On a fast break with one minute left in the fifth overtime, West Babylon had a fast break and Satterly had a one-on-one with Coleman.
“Their best kid turns the corner and gets a shot at Coleman,” Guadagnino said. “And Coleman saves it with his left foot in mid-air.”
A scrum followed and Riverhead came away with possession. The ball was passed to Blake Carrara–who exited the game momentarily in overtime to throw up– to lead the fast break. He found Ben Weir who lobbed a pass ahead to Chris Flood and Flood, after curling in front of the crease, fired from point blank and won the game 8-7.
“Carrara hits Weir who then finds Flood for the dunk,” Guadagnino said. “It doesn’t get better than that.”
The win marks three consecutive victories for Riverhead (2-2 League II, 4-3 overall). They face East Islip on Tuesday.
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