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Wesleyan Rallies to Knock off Monmouth 14-11 to Advance to Fifth Place Game at Division III Collegiate Club Championship
VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Wesleyan University goalie Stephen Ranney (Jr., Marietta, Ga.) made 12 saves to earn Player of the Game honors and anchor a Cardinals' defense which allowed the team to rally past Monmouth College 14-11 and advance to the fifth place game at the 2008 Division III Collegiate Club Championship on the campus of Villanova University.
The Cardinals will next be in action at 9:00 a.m. on November 2 versus Grinnell College in the fifth place game. Monmouth will conclude the tournament at 1:00 p.m. against Carnegie Mellon University in the seventh place game.
Down 6-2 with 3:50 left in the second period, Wesleyan clawed its way to within a score by halftime courtesy an advantage goal by Mark Ramos (Fr., Bala Cynwood, Pa.) at 3:21 and a pair of markers by Ryan Beck (Jr., Newton, Mass.) at the 2:35 and 42 seconds marks to trim the deficit to 6-5 at the break.
The third period saw a slugfest as Beck tied the game at 6-all on an exclusion chance at the 5:56 mark before Andrew Jaycox (Jr., Hatfield, Pa.) put the Cardinals ahead 7-6 for their first lead since a 1-0 advantage 27 seconds into the game.
Monmouth answered back as Joe Moran (Jr., Naperville, Ill.) punched in a score at 3:07, but Wesleyan countered with back-to-back scores by Jaycox at the 2:55 and 1:13 marks to take a 9-7 lead. The Crab People halved the lead before the end of the period as Jeff Skalon (Fr., Shamburg, Ill.) deked his way through the Cardinals' defense and unleashed a shot which found the back of the cage with one second on the clock for a 9-8 game and a dramatic fourth period.
Looking for a cushion, Wesleyan used goals by Jaycox (6:39) and Beck (6:06) to build the lead to 11-8, but the Crab People would not go silently into the night pinching the Cardinals during a 3-1 scoring run to pull to within 12-11 with 1:30 left on the game clock.
Facing overtime or a pair of Monmouth goals to steal the victory and a berth in the fifth place game, Wesleyan buckled down behind Jaycox and Beck who closed out their nights with goals at 1:11 and 28 seconds, respectively, to push their scoring totals to six and five goals in the game and help the Cardinals hang on for a 14-11 victory.
Overall, the game was a story of offensive output and defensive excellence as the Wesleyan offense put in 14 goals off 17 shots on goal and Ranney blocked away 12 of 23 shots on goal by Monmouth.
For Monmouth, Moran and Josh Dunn (Fr., Lyons, Ill.) netted pairs of scores, Ken Collins (Fr., Chicago, Ill.) and Skalon found the back of the cage for hat-tricks and Frank Wasielewski (Fr., Chicago, Ill.) made three saves between the pipes.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Monmouth | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| Wesleyan | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
Wesleyan Goals: Andrew Jaycox (6); Ryan Beck (5); Michael Bailey; Jared Courville; Mark Ramos
Monmouth Goals: Jeff Skalon (3); Ken Collins (3); Josh Dunn (2); Joe Moran (2); Steve Collins
Saves: Monmouth - Frank Wasielewski (3); Wesleyan - Stephen Ranney (12)
Ejections: Monmouth - 6; Wesleyan - 7
