MADISON, NJ - Senior attack Kevin Shadiack (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) notched four goals and two assists while senior goalkeeper Alex Kajencki (Medfield, MA/Xaverian) played stellar in goal making seven saves as the second-seeded College at Florham Devils knocked off fifth-seeded Messiah, 9-4, in the Semifinals of the Middle Atlantic Conference Tournament on Wednesday evening.
With the win, the Devils improved to 11-5 while the Falcons dropped to 9-8. Earlier in the day #6 Widener upset #1 Elizabethtown, 8-5, to advance to the MAC Championship game against FDU.
The Devils started the game on fire, jumping out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the fist quarter on a man-up goal from freshman midfielder Brian Gill (Levittown, NY/East Meadow) and an even strength goal by Shadiack. Shadiack then recorded the first two goals of the second quarter off assists from Gill and sophomore attack Adam Koontz (Oak Ridge, NJ/Jefferson) to give FDU a 4-0 lead with 7:51 left in the first half. Freshman attack Seth Molek (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park River Forest) converted off a pass from Koontz to make it 5-0 and Gill converted again on the man-up, off a feed from Koontz, with 0:42 remaining to give the Devils a 6-0 halftime advantage.
Messiah began the third quarter with a man advantage and scored to get on the board just 0:08 into the period. The Devils responded immediately though, as Shadiack took a pass from Koontz and found the back of the net just 0:17 later. The Falcons cut their deficit to 7-2 with 8:43 to play in the third, but freshman midfielder Mike Sheehan (Colonia, NJ/St. Joseph's Metuchen) scored on a man-down and junior attack Drew Canfield (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) scored on a pass from Shadiack to give FDU a 9-2 lead with 2:38 left in the quarter. Messiah cut it to 9-3 with 1:11 left in the third but the Devils did a marvelous job of running out the clock in the fourth as the only goal of the quarter came when Messiah scored as time expired to reach the final score of 9-4.
Gill finished with two goals and one assist while Koontz recorded four assists for FDU.
The Devils return to action on Saturday, May 8, 2010, at home against Widener in the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship Game beginning at 1 pm.