The Monmouth Hawks took down the Delaware Blue Hens Saturday Apr. 19 thanks to the double overtime goal by Sean Ketchen, a graduate midfielder, and a stunning performance by the graduate goalkeeper, Tommy Heller.
The Monmouth Hawks and Delaware Blue Hens fought in a scoring battle on Saturday afternoon. Neither team was able to extend a lead that was larger than two goals. By the end of the first quarter, the game was tied at three a piece. Monmouth was able to manage a 7-6 lead at the end of the half. That lead was thanks to Ty Caffarelli, junior attacker, who scored three goals in the second quarter.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Monmouth led Delaware 11-10. With just 23 seconds left on the game clock, Tyler Owings, sophomore midfielder, scored to force the matchup into overtime. Both teams seemingly lost their footing due to the high temperatures in the extra frames, causing unnecessary turnovers and a second OT frame. Despite those hardships, Ketchen was able to put the ball in the back of the net with just over 90 seconds left on the clock. Ketchen’s game winning goal was his second of the game. This win was the Hawks first win in overtime in over a year. The Hawks were able to stay alive for nearly two overtime brackets because of Heller’s stellar performance in net. He tallied up 17 saves on 27 shots on goal. That was his second straight game with 17 saves, almost meeting his season high of 19.
It was Caffarelli that started the scoring battle. Just three minutes and eight seconds into the first quarter, Caffarelli scored both the game’s first goal and his first of five, assisted by Nick Teets, senior midfielder. A little more than two minutes later, Delaware’s Brendan Powers, took advantage of a man-up advantage, evening the score at one a piece. Power’s goal was assisted by Hank D’Ambrogi. Powers ended the game with four goals. Caffarelli’s five goals were a match for his career high number of goals in a single game.
The Hawks next match-up is against Fairfield University Stags at Rafferty Stadium on Apr. 26, where they look to build off their end of season momentum.
