By Sam MacGilpin
@sam_macgilpin
As snow began to fall on Stagg field, so did Springfield’s lead it had built.
The Pride ultimately fell to Nazareth, 10-9, in a game that slipped away.
Turnovers proved costly for Springfield as the time for a comeback was too late.
Springfield head coach Keith Bugbee liked the team’s overall effort, but thought the decision-making could’ve been smoother.
“I just thought we played undisciplined today,” Bugbee said. “We would do something good but then turn it over right away. Just some bad errors.”
The game started slower than Bugbee’s fast playstyle would’ve preferred, but with nine minutes gone in the first quarter, fifth-year attacker Mason Nocito ripped one past the Nazareth goalie from the top of the box, giving the Pride a 1-0 jump start.
After a man-up Nazareth goal, Vincent Scialdone won the face-off and drew a pushing penalty. Man-up situations were an area of improvement for Bugbee’s squad, and first-year Jake Degnan capitalized off the penalty for his first career collegiate goal.
Quickly after Degnan’s snipe, Scialdone won the face-off yet again, leading to Nocito’s second goal of the game from the same spot, putting the Pride up 3-1 after one quarter.
“He’s [Nocito] amazing. He plays like an upperclassman,” Bugbee said. “He dodges hard and shoots hard. He played really well. We just need more of that from more guys.”
In the second quarter, goaltender and St.Johns transfer, Kaden Quirk, made a quick save, and Jackson Lane scooped up the ground ball, drawing yet another pushing penalty. On the man-up, Kevin Tierney crept up to the goal line extended as he scored a dump shot on a pass from Nocito, giving the Pride a 4-1 lead.
Nazareth responded with two goals, but Nocito scored twice more within a minute. Nocito notched his career-high of goals in just the first half of the game, as the Pride’s lead jumped right back to three.
“We had a ton of good opportunities, and we got the ball in some pretty good shots,” Bugbee said.
Nazareth held Springfield scoreless for the last seven minutes of the half as they cut their deficit to one at the break.
Although the Pride led by one, their lead was far from safe.
Nazareth scored four goals in just a three minute span, giving the Golden Flyers a 9-6 lead.
The Pride were stunned. They were held scoreless for 21 minutes straight dating back to the seven minute mark in the second quarter.
Fortunately, All-American long-stick midfielder Gavin Carzello’s helicopter checked the ball out of a Golden Flyer’s stick. Zach Barden backed his defender down as he scored with 19 seconds to go in the third.
“We didn’t have the greatest shooting game,” Bugbee said. “We had our chances, but we need to convert.”
Brady Soldo got things started quickly for the Pride in the fourth.. Soldo shook his defender behind the net and stuck his shot top corner to the goalie’s stick side, giving Springfield some hope.
The hope suddenly dwindled as two turnovers killed back-to-back possessions for the Pride and Zach Barden was slapped with a three-minute penalty with just five minutes remaining in regulation.
Springfield allowed only one goal, which was extremely impressive given the circumstances.
A minute after the penalty ended, Nick Stavasano scored off a pass from Tierney with 1:08 to go, making it a one-goal game. Scialdone, who went 9-12 on face-offs, picked up his final win of the game, but after a Pride timeout, another turnover led to desperate checks, and the clock hit zeros.
“This week is going to be a hard week of practice,” Bugbee said. “We have to be way more disciplined, and we’ll look over this game and see what we need to improve on.”
Nocitos’ career-high four goals led the way for Springfield, Tierney had a team-high two assists, and Quirk had a solid showing in net with a .545 save percentage.
After a seven-turnover fourth quarter, the Pride look to get their first win against Stevens on the road at noon on Feb. 24.