Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (9-2, 1-0 CSAC) withstood a furious rally by Kean University (5-4, 0-1 CSAC) and held on for a 14-12 victory on Wednesday night. Freshman Dante Poli (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks South) led the Ospreys with four goals on the night. The contest was the Colonial States Athletic Conference opening game for both teams.
 
Stockton started fast as Poli tallied the first three goals of the game in the opening 7:05. The Cougars answered with a trio of markers of their own to knot the game at 3-3 after the first frame.
 
The Ospreys took control of the contest in the second period, hitting the net six times while holding the visitors scoreless for a 9-3 margin at the break. J.J. McKenna (Barnegat/Barnegat) scored twice while Poli, Eric D'Arminio (Roxbury/Roxbury), Luc Swedlund (Randolph/Randolph) and Erik Anderson (Monroe Twp./Monroe Twp.) scored one goal each.
 
Anderson, D'Arminio, Logan Holleritter (Oak Ridge/Jefferson Twp.) and Joey Tiernan (Voorhees/Eastern) picked up assists on four of the six markers.
 
Tiernan opened the scoring in the third period on a helper from Swedlund, to stretch the lead to 10-3 before Kean bounced back. Two straight tallies sliced the margin to 10-5 before another Anderson goal put Stockton up 11-5 heading into the final quarter.
 
D'Arminio, from Poli, ballooned the lead to 12-5, but the Cougars would make the game interesting. Three straight goals cut the margin to four at 12-8, then Matt Thermann (Spring Lake Hts./Manasquan) won a faceoff, drove to the net and scored his first career goal for a 13-8 lead with 6:16 to play.
 
Kean would score the next four goals in a span of 2:28, to make it 13-12 in favor of Stockton with just one minute to play. Stockton was able to ice the game and D'Arminio capped it with his third marker of the game, firing the ball into the empty net as time ran out for the 14-12 victory.
 
D'Arminio scored three times with one assist and a team-high six ground balls while Anderson also scored four points on two goals and two helpers. McKenna also tallied twice and Swedlund tied his career high with two assists.

Netminder Justin Ruiz (Holmdel/Holmdel) kicked out 17 shots, his 11th consecutive game with double-digit saves in gaining the win.
 
Kean was led by Mike Snellen with four goals and two assists, with teammate Tyler Roberto adding three markers to the total. Nick Moffa won 18-28 face-offs and scooped a game-high nine ground balls. Matt Palmieri caused a game-high three turnovers for the Cougars.
 
Goalkeeper Thomas Francy played the first 34:24 making eight saves but taking the loss. Ryan Sieb finished the game with seven saves to his credit.
 
Stockton will travel to LaPlume, PA to face Keystone College in another CSAC Matchup on Saturday. Game time is set for 4 pm.