ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (April 12, 2025) -- The Pirates navigated choppy waters at the outset, but they righted the ship and eventually sailed to a 13-7 triumph over the Seneca Valley (Pa.) Raiders in a matinee non-conference battle Saturday. Earning the comeback victory preserved a winning streak now nine games long.
Rocky River (9-0) got off to a sleepy start perhaps, but credit the visiting Raiders -- on the second day of a two-day swing through the Buckeye State -- for bolting to an early advantage and putting the Pirates on their heels. Seneca Valley netted the first four goals of the game. The home side got things going with a Dominic Ricketti goal at the 3:39-mark of the first. And the Pirates never looked back.
The Ricketti marker would be the first of 13 straight goals for River. The Buccaneers got that one goal in the first frame, five more in the second -- tying the game on a Simon Pensom goal at 4:11 and overtaking Seneca Valley on a Michael Bebie net-finder at 2:11, five in the third, and two in the fourth. The Raiders got their final three tallies in the endgame minutes after a 40-minute drought.
Pensom scored both River goals in the fourth to cap off a fine five-goal afternoon. He went into Saturday's contest with four points (five goals, one assist) on the season.
CANNON FIRE ...
BUCS-SCORE HIGHLIGHTS: Rocky River filed 38 shots to Seneca Valley's 29 and 20 shots on frame to the Raiders' 16. The Pirates were a plus-4 in turnover margin (RRHS 8, SVHS 12) and a minus-4 in faceoffs (10, 14). The Double-R took 39-of-72 (54%) ground balls. River went 3-for-5 on extra-man opportunities. ... Goalkeepers Ayad Mehulic (44 minutes) and Gordon Hudson (four minutes) combined for nine saves. Bebie (2G), Connor Nesbett (1G, 5A), Pensom (5G), Ricketti (2G, 4 GB), Joe Smith (2G, 1A), and Ryan Taylor (1G, 2A, 12 GB) logged key contributions for the Pirates.
STREAK SMARTS: Rocky River's nine-game win streak is the program's longest since 2011, when the Sons of Blackbeard started off 16-0. The 2025 Pirates have outscored their nine foes 112-45.
ON DECK: River’s next game will be Tuesday, a home game against Northern Ohio Lax League foe Westlake. The Pirates and Demons will tee it up at 7 p.m. that night, and Tuesday will mark Senior Night for Rocky River. Eight Pirate Greybeards will be honored prior to the game.
by Skip Snow
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