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Neumann Wins Roller Hockey National Championship

The Roller Hockey Club won the Division II national championship and finished the 2007-08 season with a perfect 32-0 record. The team is pictured here with the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association championship trophy, which they won in March.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect season. Neumann College captured the 2008 Division II national championship in roller hockey, defeating West Chester University, 6-1, on April 13. The title capped an amazing run for the Knights, who finished the 2007-08 campaign with a record of 32-0.

West Chester tied the game, 1-1, early in the third period before Neumann went on a scoring spree to seal the victory. In a five-minute span, Jon Donahue, Steve Klenk, Dan Sangiorgio and Dominic Mariotti scored to put the game out of reach. Later in the period, Donahue added another goal to make the final score 6-1. Klenk and Vic Scotto each had two assists during the third period.

To reach the championship match, Neumann defeated Elon University 5-2, the University of Maine 9-2, and California State University at San Bernardino 7-1. In the seven games of the tournament (three for seeding and four single-elimination contests), Neumann scored 50 goals. A stingy defense, led by goaltender Sean Yingling, yielded only nine goals in the same number of games.

Sixteen clubs were invited to the national tournament, held this year in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Neumann has now reached the Final Four in the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association championship tournament for six years in a row, winning titles in 2006 and 2008.

In the seven wins at the national tournament, the offensive stars were Steve Klenk (12 goals, 8 assists), Vic Scotto (10 goals, 9 assists), and Jon Donahue (9 goals, 12 assists). Other key contributions came from Dominic Mariotti (5 goals, 8 assists), Tom Lamont (4 goals, 4 assists), and Dan Sangiorgio (3 goals, 3 assists).

Neumann College has established itself as a powerhouse in Division II roller hockey, which is home to much larger universities. Colleges and universities with an enrollment of less than 18,000 fall into Division II. Neumann’s undergraduate enrollment is less than 2,200.

Since the start of the 2002-03 campaign, counting exhibition, regular season and tournament playoff games, Neumann’s record is 159-15-7.

Approximately 200 roller hockey clubs belong to the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association, which has seven member organizations that govern the sport in different areas of the country. Neumann belongs to the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association, which includes 31 clubs.

4/14/08