NEVILLE Twp., Pa. — The Neshannock Lancers used stellar goaltending to upset the Ringgold Rams, 5-1, Tuesday at the RMU Island Sports Center.
Third-year head coach Mark Multari said the victory was a long time coming.
“Two years ago we lost to Ringgold, last year we lost to Carrick in OT. We had the game on our stick and we couldn’t clear the zone and they scored a late goal in regulation and we lost in OT. So it’s just been a long time coming.”
What did not take a long time was Neshannock getting on the board. The Lancers came out of the gate fast, opening the scoring from Tino Multari to take an early 1-0 lead. Nathan Boulanger tied the game 1-1 for Ringgold a few minutes later, but Hunter Harris gave Neshannock a 2-1 lead — a lead they never relinquished — with just over a minute to play in the first period.
Davey Cochenour scored the lone second period goal to give the Lancers a 3-1 lead as goaltender Riley Mastowski turned away everything he faced.
The Lancers kept it up in the third. Giovanni Valentine notched one just over six minutes in to extend the lead to 4-1 and Micah DeJulia made it 5-1 with just 1:42 left to play to seal the deal.
Riley Mastowski saved 53 out of 54 shots. Multari pulled Mastowski aside after a baseball game Monday and said he had a chance “to be the best goaltender in Western Pennsylvania.” And for 51 minutes Tuesday, Mastowski was the best.
TODHUNTER THE GREAT
