Despite persistent offensive output, struggles on the defensive side of the puck sunk South Carolina Friday night as the Georgia Ice Dawgs took a 9-7 decision at home to remain undefeated in conference play.
Georgia came into the game fresh off an 11-4 scoring binge the night before against Liberty, with their only loss this season coming at Kennesaw State on Sept. 30. The Gamecocks entered Athens riding momentum from a weekend sweep of Coastal Carolina but never led in the game, missing top forwards Sean Davis and Alec Martone. Playing on an injured finger without a backup, goaltender Bobby Lombardi went the distance but also struggled, at one point surrendering three goals in less than three minutes en route to South Carolina’s second loss to the Ice Dawgs on the year.
Georgia led off the scoring 13 minutes in when Caleb Santa Maria tallied his tenth goal of the year off a one-time pass from Stephen Bray. The Gamecocks would answer back only 24 seconds before the end of the period when Mike Borst tipped in a centering pass from Ian Schneider just outside the goal crease to tie it for South Carolina.
The score stayed knotted at one through the first intermission but did not stay there long. After Jack Watson took a charging minor for South Carolina 2:41 into the second, Carter Penzien blasted one home 16 seconds into the man advantage to make it 2-1.
Penzien’s goal touched off a brief scoring frenzy in which both teams combined for five goals in just two minutes and five seconds. Nick Pizzo put home a Geoff Kostrzebski pass just 35 seconds after Penzien scored, followed by a goal from Bray for Georgia and one from Bobby Van Dusen to tie the score at three with 15:11 to go in the period. Just 13 seconds after Van Dusen’s goal, Austin Krusko beat Lombardi unassisted to give Georgia the lead once again.
Bray followed up with his second goal in less than three minutes to give the Ice Dawgs their first two-goal lead of the game, but South Carolina did not let up. Seconds before the halfway mark of the period Greyson Curry found Alex Kranis with a pass right in front of the Georgia net to put the Gamecocks within one again.
Georgia’s Zach Flasch netted the eighth and final goal of the second period off passes from Penzien and Alex Carey to reset his team’s lead at two with 4:19 remaining. The score remained 6-4 for the Ice Dawgs going into the final period.
The Ice Dawgs nearly doubled up South Carolina on shots in the second, 15-8.
Just 56 seconds into the final stanza Geoff Kostrzebski got the Gamecocks right back in it when he beat Georgia goaltender Emily Barber with a long wrist shot to put Carolina within one. In addition to the goal, Kostrzebski finished the night with two assists.
Georgia quickly answered back with a breakaway goal by Christopher Santa Maria and a long slap shot by Penzien that beat Lombardi low to go ahead by three with 13:01 to go.
But as they did all game, South Carolina quickly worked their way back in it. With Alex Carey in the box for interference, Van Dusen scored his second of the night on a close pass from Jim Hatton to make it 8-6. Borst followed up five minutes later with his second goal to put Carolina within one again with 3:51 remaining, but it wouldn’t be enough for the Gamecocks.
Penzien completed the hat trick with 1:06 left to top off Georgia’s 22nd consecutive home win dating back to October 2015.
"We didn't play well," said South Carolina head coach Allan Sirois after the game. "But we did put the puck on net which gave us results, offensively." In an Oct. 6 win at Irmo, Barber held the Gamecocks to four fewer goals than she allowed Friday night.
Sirois expressed disappointment with the team's defensive performance after having surrendered nine goals to the Ice Dawgs in consecutive matchups.
"It's all turnovers, two-on-ones, three-on-two, we just can't have that on our defensemen all the time and on our goalie all the time," Sirois said. "Forwards gotta come back and help out. Turnovers were horrible again tonight, so, we just gave it to them, really. We had it."
South Carolina next meets Florida at home Nov. 10 and 12 for a Friday to Sunday series. Next Friday's puck drop is scheduled for 9:15 p.m. at Plex HiWire ice rink in Irmo.