GOLETA, Calif. — No. 5-ranked Fordham University received hat-tricks from Barnabas Eppel, Lucas Nieto Jasny and Luca Provenziani, while Thomas Lercari made nine saves in net, as the Rams stayed undefeated with a 12-10 win over No. 15 the University of California-Santa Barbara at Dos Pueblos High School.
The win improves Fordham to 16-0 on the year, while UCSB falls to 14-8.
With the score tied at two late in the opening quarter following Rams’ strikes by Nieto Jasny (6:40, penalty shot) and Provenziani (4:21, man-up) to match Gauchos’ goals from Dom Brown (6:12, man-up) and Leo Ohannessian (54 seconds), Balazs Berenyi put away a tip shot off a George Papanikolaou pass for a 3-2 edge in the final 29 seconds of the frame.
The Rams then got four saves by Lercari in the second quarter to build some momentum, while Eppel (5:17, man-up), Provenziani (3:00) and Luca Silvestri (31 seconds) swished shots to sandwich a response from UCSB’s Ryan McManigal (4:04) for a 6-3 scoreboard advantage entering halftime.
Fordham built a sizable lead by netting five goals in the third quarter for an 11-5 margin. Eppel (3:28, man-up; 1:42) and Provenziani (2:14, man-up) both completed their hat tricks in the quarter with Nieto Jasny (3:08) and James Oriskovich (6:25) also scoring during the eight minute stretch of time. Brown (3:56) and Brock Zamanian (37 seconds, penalty shot) accounted for the Gauchos’ pair to tallies during the run.
Nieto Jasny scored the first goal of the fourth quarter with 6:03 remaining in regulation to finish his hat trick and put Fordham ahead, 12-5. The Gauchos attempted to fight back by tallying the final five scores to close the gap as Ohannessian (5;34), Kai Ross (4:49), Luke Bachler (3:00, man-up), Adam Gyenis (2:18, penalty shot) and Zamanian (11 seconds) dented the twine. However, the run did not prove to be be enough to match the Rams who claimed a two-score victory.
The big difference in the game was the man-up advantage, as Fordham converted on four of their chances, while UCSB was three-for-17 with an extra-attacker.
For Fordham, Eppel (three goals), Nieto Jasny (three goals), Provenziani (three goals), Berenyi, Silvestri and Oriskovich provided all the offense the Rams would need to pick up the win.
Brown (two), Zamanian (two), Ohannessian (two) Gyenis, Bachler, Ross and McManigal combined for UC-Santa Barbara’s scoring with Levi Lentin stopping 10 shots in cage.
Information courtesy Fordham University Athletics Communications
