MILFORD, Mass. – It was meant to be a special night to honor Milford’s 18 senior players, but Oliver Ames spoiled the party with a stunning fourth quarter rally.
Tiger senior Garrett Goslin scored Oliver Ames’ sixth unanswered goal of the quarter as OA upset Milford 8-7.
Milford outscored the Tigers 5-0 in the second and third quarters to extend their lead to 7-2 entering the final frame, but slowly and surely, Oliver Ames chipped away at the lead, starting with sophomore Cam McGrath’s second goal of the game with nine and a half minutes left in the fourt.
“It was a great, great effort on the kids part,” Oliver Ames head coach Fran Yung said. “We kept on saying that you can’t give up on yourselves.”
Senior captain Ryan Chase scored about a minute later to make it 7-3 and with just under seven minutes to go, senior Justin Davidner – who scored in the first quarter – found classmate Corey McLaughlin who scored to make it 7-5.
“We made some adjustments,” Yung said. “Like with Ryan Chase, we told him you can’t shoot standing still. The goal he got, he dodged, he kept on running and he shot and it went in.”
Junior Tim Duvall made it a one goal game, scoring with 3:53 remaining before sophomore Colin O’Hearne tied it 39 seconds late. Goslin gave OA the lead and capped the scoring with his shot off the post and in.
Milford was able to get to sophomore OA goalie Mike Carroll in the first three quarters, but the underclassman came up strong when it mattered most in the waning seconds of the game.
“He’s been stronger in the second half,” Yung said. “I would love to see him do well because he’s got great potential. He works at it everyday. To me, he’s one of the hardest workers out there.”
Milford’s Eric Overdahl recorded his 300th career point in the third quarter but it wasn’t enough as the Scarlet Hawks see their postseason hopes dashed as quickly as their fourth quarter lead.