GREENSBURG, Pa. — An early season showdown between Kirk S. Nevin Arena foes ended with the Hempfield Spartans besting the Greater Latrobe Wildcats 3-1 on Thursday night.
It was a war of attrition for the Wildcats as Hempfield placed their foot firmly on the gas and didn’t allow more than a handful of Latrobe chances throughout the opening frame. Returning starter Vinny Amatucci was up to the task, only allowing an Aiden Dunlap tally late while recording 15 saves in the first.
Maxwell Short’s marker proved to be the game-winner, and, with 4:52 remaining in the second frame came after a resurgence for the Wildcats- who started to look like the Latrobe teams of old for short spurts of the period. As Hempfield continued to put space on the scoreboard, Josh Werner’s team became more and more intrusive into the Spartans offensive zone, piling up opportunity after opportunity before Nicholas Bruno ended the period by closing out the scoring with a goal at :54 of the middle frame.
Alex Schall broke the Matthew Overdorff shutout bid with 7 seconds remaining in the third frame, firing a puck through a screen and past the senior.
Overdorff backstopped the Spartans with a 21 save performance while Amatucci finished with 35 saves on 38 shots.
UP NEXT
Hempfield (3-0) gets a break on the season, as their next contest will not take place until December 3 when the Shaler Titans invade Kirk Nevin Arena. In fact, the Spartans will not play a road matchup the remainder of 2020, as Penn-Trafford and Thomas Jefferson head to Greensburg for showdowns.
Greater Latrobe (2-1) hosts Thomas Jefferson on November 23 at 7:15 at Kirk Nevin Arena.
