Salesianum lax beats Cape 11-10 on goal in final seconds
Salesianum’s Mathew Riley is tough enough on face-offs, but in the final minutes of a 10-10 game battling Cape wrestler C.J. Fritchman, the last thing the Vikings needed was to lose the crucial possession on an inadvertent whistle with the possession arrow pointing to Salesianum. Most fans are looking for excitement, not clarification of rules.
The Sals played at their Abessinio Stadium home and scored with 10 seconds remaining in the game for an 11-10 victory. The fans in the stands were rocking and rolling and trading barbs for 48 minutes. Evidently, “Slower Lower” is offensive to beach kids from the richest public school district in the state.
Sallies led 10-6 entering the final period, but a pair of fourth-quarter goals from Hank D’Ambrogi and Gabe Best brought Cape back to even 10-10.
D’Ambrogi would finish the game with four goals, while Best, Jaden Davis and Mikey Frederick each scored two goals.
Assist leaders for Cape were D’Ambrogi with three, Frederick and Best with two and Davis with one. Michael Sposato had 10 saves.
Caelan Driggs scored the winning goal with just nine seconds left on the clock and finished with four goals for the game. Colby Bushweller had two goals, while single goals were scored by Dylan Mooney, Rowyn Nurry, Dominic Rottura, Matt Riley and Griffin McGovern. Jackson Skinner had nine saves for Sallies.
“I’ve been saying we need to play a complete game to beat good teams,” said Cape coach Mark D’Ambrogi. “We made errors in the first three periods that put us in the position of having to come back.”
The game ended as a freight train rumbled east behind the northside stands. No one heard the lonesome whistle blow.
