Reading, Pa. – #8 Bryn Athyn College defeated #6 Alvernia University 8-2 in conference action.
Scott Witmyer led the Lions with a hat-trick and two assists. Travis McCurdy scored two goals and two assists. Danny Triesler, Sean Feyler and David DalCortivo scored a goal each.
Both teams came out in the first period strong, with the goalies facing many shots. McCurdy put the Lions on the board first, on a two-on-one with 2:18 left in the period. Bryn Athyn would head into the break with a 1-0 lead.
The Crusaders came out pressuring the Bryn Athyn defense in the second period, but the Lion defense laid down to block shots and kept the Lion lead. 6:30 into the second period, McCurdy scored, glove side high, on a one-one, off a picked pass from Billy Martin in the neutral zone. Four minutes later at 10: 46, Witmyer picked up a blocked pass in the neutral zone, skated to the blue line, deked pass a Crusader defender and scored a backed-handed goal. With 8:45 left in the second period, Witmyer took a shot from high off the right circle, while the Lions were crashing the net. Triesler picked up the loose rebound in the slot and scored to increase the Bryn Athyn lead to 4-0.
Alvernia got on the board less than a minute later with a strong side goal, that crept between Bryn Athyn's goalie's pad and post. The Lions would score four answered goals before the Crusaders got on the board again.
Before the end of the second period, the Lions on the power play cycled the puck in the offensive zone. Raymond Norfo found Witmyer between the circles, who took the puck and scored to rebuild the Bryn Athyn lead.
40 seconds into the third, Alvernia scored a quick goal. Bryn Athyn's Feyler answered with a goal two minutes later, after McCurdy passed him the puck from the back door to score from the point. The Lions didn't let down the offensive pressure. With 10:50 left in the game, DalCortivo scored after the Bryn Athyn power play found him open at top of the point.
With 8:36 left in the game, Johnson picked up a blocked shot in the defensive zone, skated up to the offensive blue line to find Witymer. Johnson took a shot on net, while Witmyer crashed the net. The puck found Witymer's blade and scored to cap his night with a hat-trick.
Kyle Watters made 37 saves between the pipes for the Lions. Johnson reached his 100th career point tonight against Alvernia.
"We rebounded from our last game in a positive way. We worked together as a team and did what we needed to do to get away with a win." said McCurdy.
Witmyer added, I wouldn't have been able to do what I did tonight without my team behind me. We have created a tight knit family and it feels good. Having a hat trick tonight was a plus and it felt good to find the net again, but without my teammates it wouldn't have been possible."
Bryn Athyn will head to Farmingdale State next Saturday for a non-conference game. The game is set for 8:00 pm.