Sonoma Squeaks By Minnesota

San Diego, CA - In a back and forth affair Sonoma squeaks out a win over Minnesota 13-12 in overtime.  

The Gophers lead out of the gates getting to a 1-0 lead and then 3-1 to end the 1st quarter.  A lone tally by Hayden Dall ('21) got the Seawolves on the board in the first.  The Gophers executed their ride well and caused numerous turnovers stretching their 2 goal lead to three in to end the half 6-3.  The Seawolves got goals from Conor Stinde ('20) and John Beglin ('20).  Defensively the Seawolves were paced by goalie Andrew Moore('21) making 4 big saves.

The second half started and the Seawolves struck first with a goal from Joey Piombo ('20), however the Gophers kept battling and stretched their lead to 9-4 towards the end of the third quarter.  Late in the third quarter faceoff man Kieran Fara ('21) won 4 faceoffs to end the quarter and the Seawolves capitalized two goals from Dall, one from Angelo Lagomarsino ('19), and Trent Jones ('22).  Gophers lead 9-8 going into the fourth shaping up to be a battle.

The fourth started off with a Gophers goal, but the Seawolves would not be denied.  A few timely stops by the defense and goalie Jackson Feinstein ('21) held the Gophers in check.  Meanwhile, goals from Brent Tovrea ('19), Piombo, and Chase Barloga ('22) gave the Seawolves their first lead of the game at 11-10.  As the quarter came to a close, both defenses held strong but the offense scored a few more knotting the game at 12 as the game finished regulation.

In the overtime period, Fara won the opening face but Gophers defense held.  With the Gophers on offense and shot clock time winding down, a well timed slide forced a turnover and Sonoma clear.  The offense worked patiently, but with just 20 seconds left in the quarter Dall took a hard dodge and roll to stick a back handed shot to win the game for the Seawolves with just two seconds left in the overtime period.

"This team never stopped battling." stated Head Coach Panchito Ojeda.  "Fara came up huge at the X, but it was the blue collar mentality that lead to a team effort in earning that victory.  We needed players to make plays and that is what happened all over the field, but particularly Dall.  Our goalies came up huge in critical moments and allowed the offense an opportunity to win the game."  

The Seawolves are now 2-0 on their Spring Break trip and head to play #3 Concordia-Irvine on Tuesday at 1pm.

Photo Credit Brian Baer