Salem State Edges Anna Maria

Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications  

PAXTON, Mass.- Timothy Eddings (Endicott, NY) scored four times, and Payton Cabral (Lancaster, Mass.) recorded a hat-trick to give Salem State a 14-13 victory against Anna Maria on Tuesday afternoon at Richard Caparso Field. The Vikings improve their record 2-0 while the AMCATS dropped to 0-3 on the season.

In the early minutes of the game, the Anna Maria College AMCATS were in complete control and wasted no time in scoring the first goal of the game. Eric Farrell  (Milford, Mass.) scored from about 15 feet, with Lam Bedenkop (Marson Mills, Mass.) credited with the assist at the 14:23 mark. However, Salem State Vikings answered right back when Eddings evened up the score at the 12:18 mark. 

Salem State took advantage of Jake Lupo's (Howell, NJ) penalty for tripping and Connor Vittands (Gloucester, Mass.), the reigning LEC Player of the Week, put the Vikings on top with a beautiful pass from Coleman Ballweg (Portland, Maine) at the 7:44 mark. The Vikings were up a man again, and they took full advantage of the opportunity to notch their third goal of the game. Vittands scored from the right side, giving the Vikings a 3-1 lead at the 5:00 minute mark, which was Vittands' second goal of the game.

Late into the period, the Vikings were a man up again when Jeremy Dewar was sent to the penalty for unnecessary roughness. Cabral scored with an assist from Cameron Collins (Peabody, Mass.) at the 14:53 mark. Early on in the period, Salem State goalie Ryan Cohen (Bedford, Mass.) made an unbelievable save as he denied Anna Maria from cutting the deficit to two.

Jeremy Edison (Wallingford, Ct.) was penalized for two minutes for cross-checking, and Salem State took advantage of being a man up during those two minutes. Three different Vikings scored during the time period, Cameron Smith (Beverly, Mass.) , Matthew Lindstrom (Peabody, Mass.), and Ballweg  all scored, giving Salem State a 7-1 lead. However, Hank Gittiness beat Cohen to the net, and the Vikings' lead shrank to six at the 10:01 mark, with Ethan Quinn credited with the assist.

Vittands was flirting with a hat trick on two different occasions, but it was denied by Nicholas Lopez (Lowell, Mass.). Anna Maria took advantage of the Vikings missing as Gittines scored his second goal of the game, and the score was 7-3 still in favor of Salem State at the 5:50 mark.

The Vikings were a man down when Mike Zarro (Peabody, Mass.) was penalized for slashing, and Bedenkop scored with an assist from Tommy Girard (Newbury, Mass.). However, the Vikings answered right back when Kyle Tammaro (Saugus, Mass.) passed to sniper Cameron Collins (Peabody, Mass.), who delivered, and the score was 8-4 at the 4:26 mark. Late into the period, Salem State added another goal when Eddings scored his second goal of the game. Gittines recorded a hat trick as the game was 9-5 heading into the half. 

Anna Maria had 25 ground balls compared to Salem State's 17. The Vikings were 10 of 15 on clears, and the AMCATS were 6 of 11. In terms of faceoffs, Anna Maria had won 12 faceoffs, while Salem State won three. The Vikings took advantage of the man-up situation as they were 4of 6 compared to the Anna Maria, who were 1 of 2. The AMCATS had 10 caused turnovers, while the Vikings had five. Cohen saved 8 of the 13 shots for Salem State while Lopez saved 5 of 14 shots.

The Vikings took the lead to 9-5, but the AMCATS quickly struck back at the start of the second half. Gittines scored the sixth goal for Anna Maria, assisted by Farrell, at the 14:16 mark, as the AMCATS replaced their goalkeeper Lopez with Christian Williams (Brooklyn, NY). 

The Vikings had a one-man advantag and Eddings scored his third goal with an excellent assist from Smith, putting the Vikings up 10-6. However, Cohen, the Vikings' goalkeeper, attempted to clear the ball but dropped it, leading to Carpenter's seventh goal for Anna Maria at the 7:57 mark.

Anna Maria continued to dominate in the Vikings' zone, and Bedenkop scored his second goal, shrinking Salem State's lead to just one goal. Ethan Quinn (Dudley, Mass.) scored on Girard's assist when the AMCATS were a man up, making it a tied game. Cabral scored the Vikings' go-ahead goal, with Collins assisting, at the 5:17 mark, making it 12-10 in favor of the Vikings.

During the final 15 minutes, Salem State added two more goals while Anna Maria added three more to secure the win.    

Throughout the game, Anna Maria had 53 groundballs compared to Salem State's 23. The Vikings were 8-9 on man up goals, while the AMCATS were 2-5. Salem State successfully cleared the ball 16 times out of 30 attempts, while Anna Maria was successful 15 times out of 20.

Cohen saved 22 of 35 shots, while Lopez saved five out of 14 shots before being replaced by Williams, who saved two out of nine shots. Caden Rakes replaced Williams for the final three seconds of the game.

Ultimately, Salem State held on to its lead and secured a hard-fought victory. The Vikings are set to play their first game of the season at Alumni Field against Mt. St. Vincent this Saturday, March 2, at 1:00 p.m.