Seton Hill opened their season with a tough road test as they took on national power #2 Limestone on Saturday afternoon. For the second straight trip to Gaffney, the Griffins suffered a heart breaking loss. SHU held four two goal leads in the contest but saw the Saints score the game winner at the buzzer for a 10-9 win.
The Griffins were tough defensively on their first two possessions as
Merritt Bailey had a save on the first possession and the defense forced a shot clock violation in the second Saints possession. SHU took advantage of the defense and used it for momentum in taking a 1-0 lead on a
Sean Stanners goal with 11:05 left in the first quarter. Limestone dominated possession for the remainder of the quarter and was finally able to get on the scoreboard late in the quarter to tie the score at 1. The Saints held a 9-5 advantage in shots with Bailey recording 3 saves.
Another Bailey save early in the second quarter led to another Griffin goal.
Bennett Johnson found Stanners who whipped a shot past the Saints keeper to give the Griffins a 2-1 lead with 12:11 to play in the second quarter.
John Miller beat three Saint defenders with a swim move then beat the Saints keeper for a 3-1 SHU lead with 9:14 to play in the half. The Saints then took advantage of two Griffin mistakes to tie the score at three. Limestone took advantage of a Griffin turnover for goal number two and then scored on a two many men penalty on the Griffins to tie the score at three with 6:52 to play in the second quarter. The game did not stay tied for long as
Jack Moran gave SHU a 4-3 lead 50 seconds later with a goal. The Griffins increased their lead back to two after forcing a Saint turnover. Moran found Johnson in front of the net and Johnson did not miss extending the lead to 5-3 with 4:26 to play. Limestone called a timeout with three minutes to play in the half and it led to three straight goals for the Saints who took a 6-5 lead into the halftime break.
Johnson scored his second goal of the game to open the second half scoring from a long way out to tie the score at six, three minutes into the second half. The Griffins retook the lead on a goal from
Collin Mitchell with 7:16 left in the third quarter.
Jack Miller converted a man up opportunity for the Griffins to extend the lead to 8-6 with 6:13 to play in the quarter. The Saints took advantage of a not so smart Griffin penalty to trim the Griffins lead to 8-7 with 3:12 to play in the quarter. The Griffins got that goal right back to take another two goal advantage on a goal from
John Hofseth with 1:57 to play in the quarter. SHU took a 9-7 lead into the fourth quarter. The Saints got a goal early in the quarter to cut the lead to 9-8. SHU then could not take advantage of a long man up opportunity and the Saints tied the game at 9 with 5:49 to play.
SHU called a timeout with 3:18 to play trying to set up a go ahead goal. The Griffins and Saints exchanged turnovers with the Saints getting the final possession with 14 seconds left to play. The Saints shot one wide with 4.7 to play but got off another shot just before the buzzer for the game winning goal.
Sean Stanners and
Bennett Johnson each scored twice for the Griffins.
Jack Moran added a goal and an assist.
Merritt Bailey recorded 10 saves in cage.
The Griffins will return to action next Saturday when they host Mercy at noon.
