Auburn, ME- The Mustangs were able to secure their first win of the season on Sunday beating the University of New Haven 4-1. The first 10 minutes started with chances from both sides before Tim Van Tuinen was able to put the Mustangs up 1-0 after a beautiful play from Jonah Bird. The Mustangs would be able to maintain the momentum and notch the 2-0 scored by Cody Ivey with assist from Crewz Berry and Zack Mendourakos. The Mustangs would take that 2-0 lead into the Locker room after some great timely saves by Hunter Raye late in the period. '' We were looking for a response from our team tonight, and the guys responded with a great first period effort'': '' Said Coach Knoren''
New Haven was able to push the Mustangs back in their own zone for the first part of the second period before the Mustangs would create lots of great scoring opportunities that wouldn't find the back of the net. ''I liked our patience-- their goaltender made some great saves, but we kept working hard to create more offensive opportunities'' Said coach Knoren. Late in the 2nd period Cody Ivey would be able to find the back of the net twice completing his hat trick, while Sam Laroche added his first college assist, giving the Mustangs a 4-1 lead heading into the 3rd period.
Third period New Haven found lots of offensive zone pressure and gave the Mustangs some penalty troubles, but it was the special team PK units that kept it a 4-1 game. ''Our Penalty Kill units where great tonight, they were huge in the 3rd period preventing New Haven from scoring" Said Coach Knoren.
The Mustangs would be able to hang on to the 4-1 lead and earn their first ACHA win off the 2021-2022 season. ''After losing back-to-back games, we feel like the team really came back strong and responded to the task at hand, we played great in our d-zone, blocking shots, committing to the systems. It's great to see the team gaining some confidence and playing for one another'' Said the Captain Group.
The Mustangs will be back in action on Friday October 29th@ 8.30 hosting the University of New England. The Men's Hockey team would like to thank the fans for coming out and following the mask policy, we need your support and can't afford to lose the great Mustang crowd!
