By James Boyle
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 4/30/14

SUMMIT, N.J. – Jarrett Ross scored with just over a minute left in the second overtime today amidst a torrential downpour to give host Summit a hard-fought 6-5 sudden-death victory over Seton Hall Prep.

The win was the 10th straight for the Hilltoppers, who improved to 12-1. Seton Hall Prep fell to 9-3.

“I’ve just been seeing that dodge the whole game,” Ross said. “I just felt like it was there and I just took it and got a goal for us.

“I felt like I had a couple opportunities there. So I just had to keep going for it and I got it at the end.”

The Hilltoppers were able to control the pace during overtime by patiently running time off the clock and waiting for their shot. Ross might have ended things earlier had a pair of shots in overtime gone the other side of the crossbar. But he made his third overtime shot count.

“It was huge,” Summit head coach Jim Davidson said. “I mean today was a messy day out here. I think we turned the ball over a little more than we were used to, but we had to basically calm ourselves down a little bit and just say, ‘Hey the weather had a lot to do with some of these turnovers today.’

“But we just felt like we had to get back to what we do. And we were getting good opportunities. It wasn’t going to be a set play. It was just basically, ‘Hey, let’s do what we do’ and be patient and see what the defense gives us.”

The Pirates, who found themselves trailing 5-3 after three quarters, battled both the elements and a strong Hilltoppers defense to stage a fourth-quarter comeback. Back-to-back goals from Pino Bio and Spencer Butler, tied the game at 5-5 with 2 minutes and 51 seconds left.

“Our defense is great,” Ross said. “Especially starting with our goalie Sam Bebout, all the close defenders, the long poles and the middies all just gel together as a unit and give us that confidence.

“It’s great for us as a team, especially for the offense because they know they can rely on our defense if it’s a low-scoring game.”

Unfortunately for the Pirates, Butler’s goal would be their last of the game as the Hilltoppers were able to take on the difficult task of turning momentum back in their favor. Part of that turnaround was thanks to the faceoff skills of Brian Hadley. The faceoff specialist won 15 of 16 faceoffs, including both overtime faceoffs.

Pirates goalie Colin Kirst was impressive in net with eight saves. His Hilltoppers counterpart Sam Bebout had a solid night in goal with four saves.

The Hilltoppers’ Andrew Chase tied Ross for the game high in scoring with two goals.

Seton Hall 2 1 0 2 0 0 — 5
Summit 2 2 1 0 0 1 — 6

Summit
Goals: Jarrett Ross 2, Andrew Chase 2, Connor Murphy, Matt Fischetti.

Assists: John Cordrey, Chris Zanelli.

Seton Hall
Goals: Pat Galvin, Joe McHale, Chris Donovan, Pino Bio, Spencer Butler.

Assists: Spencer Butler 2, Jules Heningburg.

Goalies: Sam Bebout (Sum) 4, Colin Kirst (SH) 8.