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River routs Rockets, 12-4

BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – Rocky River netted eight second-half goals and limited Bay Village to just seven shots on goal for the game, as the Pirates downed the Rockets, 12-4, on Tuesday.

The Pirates (6-2) got solid production up and down their lineup in hanging double digits on the Bay Memorial Stadium scoreboard. Seniors Aaron Kosmerl and Michael Snow scored hat tricks for the Maroon & White. Jack Aerni and Evan Connelly added two goals each, and senior midfielder Michael Malloy tallied three assists.

Tuesday night’s game at Bay Village marked the first of three straight road games for the Pirates. The Bay game also sends River into a break in the schedule: the Men in Maroon now have nine days of combined off time and prep time before their next contest, which will be April 21 at Olmsted Falls.

“It was great to get a nice win like that on the way into break,” said Head Coach Chris Skinner. “We took care of the ball tonight, and that set us up for some good opportunities.”

River committed just 18 turnovers in the game, the team’s fewest in a single game since having 17 miscues against Avon Lake on March 24.

Bay Village (5-4) struck first, with a man-up goal early in the first quarter, and the Rockets would hang tough with a 1-0 lead until late in the first when Nolan Weaver scored off a fine feed from Zack Konrad. With the score tied, 1-1, the Pirates got a key goal from Snow in the final minute of the first. The senior midfielder would score again early in the second quarter to lift the Pirates to a 3-1 lead.

The visiting side led, 4-2, when the second half got underway. And that’s when Kosmerl keyed a lightning-quick attack that saw the Pirates score three unanswered goals over a minute-and-a-half. The senior attackman scored the first two in that stretch, and a Jack Aerni goal closed it out.

And with those three scores, the Rockets were effectively closed out. Bay mustered only two shots on goal the rest of the way, with Ben FitzGibbon, Max Kovesdy and Titus Snavely snuffing out many an attempted dodge or shot attempt by a Rocket attackman. That trifecta combined to force seven Bay turnovers. On Tuesday they led a Pirate defense that has now yielded just 18 goals over the team’s last five games.

Rocky River went 13-of-14 on clears and finished the contest 5-of-7 on man-up opportunities. The two teams combined to commit 13 penalties. Bay went 2-of-7 on its extra-man situations.

Senior midfielder Keller Fisher went 13-4 on 17 faceoffs in putting the pellet in Pirate possession most of the night.

And with the night belonging to the Sons of Blackbeard, Rocky River has now toppled the Bay Rockets in each of 13 all-time meetings between the two neighbor programs.


NOTES …

BABY BUCS NOW 5-2:
Freshman netminder Ethan Mylett made six saves in a 5-2 Pirate victory in Tuesday’s JV affair. Fellow freshman Logan Fortune tallied two goals in the game; and freshman midfielder William St. Pierre hd two assists. Andrew Snow scored a goal and garnered a team-high six ground balls. Teddy Steuber had a team-high three caused turnovers. With the 5-2 win, the Baby Buccaneers are now 5-2 on the season.

PIRATE POINTS: River was tagged with just four unforced turnovers on Tuesday. The Pirates had averaged 8.3 such miscues per game over their previous three contests. … The double-R man-up game doubled its season output by going 5-of-7 at Bay Village. Over their previous seven games, the Men in Maroon had been 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) on extra-man situations. … With his three-goal performance on Tuesday evening, Aaron Kosmerl has now scored 20 points on the season. Kosmerl has scored 13 goals and garnered seven assists. That 20-spot leads the team (Nolan Weaver has scored 18 points; Michael Malloy has tallied 16).

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