Exeter 8  Cushing Academy 6
Sat, 4/2, Ashburnham, MA - The Exeter BIG RED notched their second win of the season with an 8-6 victory on the beautiful turf field of Cushing Academy. While the rest of New England was certainly struggling with the mud produced by the incessant rain of the last few days, Exeter and Cushing enjoyed ideal playing conditions in Ashburnham, MA. The game itself was a scoreless affair for the first quarter despite Exeter having many good shot opportunities. There were a couple of pipes, some good goalie saves, and a few shots that just missed. Exeter's defense was dominating the defensive end of the field. The usual crew of Tom Rubel, Dylan Cox, Alex Zani, and Jon Reed saw the most action, but they were helped by long poles Gus Davidson, Brett Hughes, and Ian Drummond. Cushing played a ball control offense and used up a lot of clock in each possession, but rarely did they generate much offense. The 2nd quarter was by far Exeter's best period of the day. Led by game ball winner co-captain Sloan Smith, Exeter registered six goals in the quarter. Sloan scored three of those goals and assisted on two of the others. Bobby Goulding, Michael Scalise, and Tim Redmond each tallied once in this period. Exeter yielded three goals to Cushing in the quarter despite very good overall play by all the defenders, and took a 6-3 halftime lead. The first eight minutes of the 3rd quarter looked like the opening period with Exeter dominating play, generating quality shots, but unable to score. To their credit, Cushing kept battling hard and hustling. They were rewarded with back-to-back goals near the 4-minute mark of the 3rd quarter and drew within one goal of tying the score. Exeter responded within 30 seconds of the second goal with a Chris Davis (1g,1a) score unassisted. With only 25 seconds remaining in the period, Tom Petty assisted Michael Scalise on his second goal of the day, and the lead was back to three with the score 8-5. Exeter did not control the face-off and somehow allowed Cushing to rip a shot home with just one second left in the 3rd quarter. The final period went scoreless with Cushing generating at least one very good opportunity that was thwarted by goalie Julian Rodier. Exeter's shooting problems resurfaced in the 4th quarter, but we controlled the ball and were content to use the clock to assure a 2-goal victory. Although it was not Exeter's best effort, there were certainly lots of positives to build upon, and some areas that will receive attention in practice.
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Team	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	Game Total
Exeter	0	6	2	0	8
Cushing	0	3	3	0	6

Game Ball Winner(s) - Sloan Smith

Game Scoring - Goals - Smith(3), Scalise(2), Redmond, Davis, Goulding

                           Assists - Smith(2), Petty(2), Davis

Saves/Shots on Goal - Rodier 10/16