St. Anthony’s (FR) pulled away with a four-goal third period to defeat Longwood White (FR) 6-1 in a SCHSHL freshman division semifinal Wednesday at The Rinx – North Rink, punching their ticket to the championship series against Middle Country. Logan McCauley and Jake Evans each scored twice for the Friars, who improved to 16-2 on the season and will now face the 8-seed Cougars in a best-of-three format beginning Friday.
McCauley opened the scoring at 11:58 of the first period, unassisted, giving St. Anthony’s an early lead. Longwood White answered in the second period when Carter Vernillo buried a feed from Raymond Boos at 10:20 to tie the game 1-1, but the response was short-lived. Aiden Kollmar restored the lead for good just over three minutes later, scoring the eventual game-winner off assists from Francesco Mannino and Nicholas Tizzano at 7:30 of the second.
The third period belonged entirely to St. Anthony’s. Evans opened the flood with a goal at 10:50, assisted by Landon Ivezaj, before McCauley added his second of the night, unassisted, at 9:33. Tizzano notched a goal and an assist on the afternoon, finding the net at 2:18 off a Nicholas Neuner assist, and Evans capped the scoring with an unassisted tally at 1:47 to close out the 6-1 final. Evans finished with two goals for the Friars, building on a season in which he entered the game with 11 goals and 13 assists in 12 games played, while McCauley — St. Anthony’s leading scorer with 19 goals and 20 assists in 17 games entering the contest — added his two-goal effort as well.
Longwood White got production from Vernillo, whose second-period goal was one of just two he had scored all season, but the team could not sustain pressure against the deeper St. Anthony’s attack. The Friars used goaltenders Brody Morbillo and Leo Bonawandt, who combined to allow just one goal, while Longwood White turned to Riley Parrales and Malcolm Sherman between the pipes as the Friars pulled away. Nine total penalties were called in the contest, with Mannino and Giovanni Cipriani each picking up multiple minors.
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