After only playing in five games last season, Webster Thomas goalie Owen Dalberth started his second game of the season tonight for the Titans.  The senior goalie was instrumental in the 13-12 win over Penfield this evening.  In the fourth quarter alone, Dalberth recorded six of his game total ten saves.  This included two in the last minute and one with time expiring.  Offensively, the Titans came into the final quarter down by one and scored five goals within the first nine minutes.  Senior Chase Gottstein led the offense in the final quarter with 2g-1a (of his game total 2g-3a).  Senior Nathan Hoban (who led the team with 4g-3a) also scored the game winning goal with 3:01 left on the clock.  Penfield’s offense was much more spread out with no player scoring more than 3 points: Ethan Aust (3g), Mark Henderson (1g-2a) and Derek Torres (2g-1a) led.

The game itself was a tale of two halves.  The Patriots came into the game strong; scoring both the opening goal and leading through each of the first three quarters.  Aust scored the first goal of the game 1:52 into the opening quarter.  The Patriots scored in their first offensive possession.  After and early save by Dalberth, Sean Smith set up a strong feed to Aust to put the Patriots on the board.  Thomas responded with their own goal two minutes later with an unassisted drive to the cage by Hoban.  The Patriots next goal was scored by Torres off a feed from Ethan Hamilton with 5:27 remaining in the quarter.  Thomas tied the game back up 12 seconds later with Hoban grabbing the loose ball off the draw and feeding it to Eli Adams.  The final goal of the quarter was Aust’s second of the night.  This time off a feed from Caden Harrington.  Penfield led 3-2 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Penfield extended their lead with Smith scoring his long goal of the game.  The second quarter was when the Patriots really pulled away adding another four with goals from Elijah Utz, Sam Lublin, Torres and Harrington.  The two Titan goals of the quarter were scored by Jagger Altieri and Evan Pashalidis.  The Patriots led 8-4 going into halftime.

As much as the opening half belonged to the Patriots, the second half belonged to the Titans.  Thomas scored the opening goal with Hoban assisting David Petz 0:49 into the half.  Penfield had a hard time staying out of the penalty box and Thomas scored off a man-up play with Ethan Shappee feeding Hoban.  The Titans kept up the pressure with two more before the end of the quarter.  They pulled within one (9-8) going into the final 12 minutes.

Thomas won the opening face-off of the fourth quarter and took the first offensive possession.  The tied the game for the first time since 2-2 with an unassisted goal from Gottstein.    Penfield responded three minutes later with their own unassisted goal.  Hamilton scored with 8:35 remaining to put the Patriots back on top, for what was the final time.  Thomas responded with four unanswered goals spanning five minutes.  With 3:01 remaining, Hoban scored to put the Titans up 13-10.  This was the last shot of the game for Thomas, who spent their remaining time with the ball in a stall pattern.  Penfield did not give up going into the final minutes.  They kept up strong pressure on the cage with nine shots in the final quarter.  The final three shots of the game were all for Utz with Dalberth coming up with two strong saves and allowing a single goal (with 0:38 remaining on the clock).

The Titans increase their record to 2-0 and will face cross town rival Webster Schroeder on Thursday.  Penfield (now 1-1) will face off against Brighton on Thursday.