NETANYA, ISRAEL — The Israel men’s national team held off a furious late comeback by the Birthright/USA All-Stars in an 8-7 overtime win at Shapira Field on Wednesday night.
The blue-and-white held an 8-5 lead with two minutes left remaining, but, the Stars controlled the faceoff X and Mount Union star Brent Greenberg took matters into his own hands, scoring three straight goals to force overtime.
Alec Aloni scored at 1:35 of the extra period to secure the win for the Israelis.
The match was the second of a four-game exhibition tour that pits all-star squads of American college players on their Taglit-Birthright trip against Israeli squads.
Aloni led Israel with three goals, while Yochanan Katz (two goals, one assist), Eddie Kovel (two goals), and Seth Mahler (one goal, two assists) also had big evenings. Aaron Feinberg (one goal) and Glen Tobin (one assist) cracked the scoresheet as well.
Andrew Landsman (30:00, 5 saves, 4 GA), Jacob Reiner (15:00, 2 saves, 1 GA) and Andrew Copeland (16:35, 3 saves, 3 GA) each saw time in goal for the Israelis; Copeland was credited the win.
Greenberg (three goals, one assist), Josh Della Puca (two goals) and Jake Cotton (two assists) paced the All-Stars offense, while Brett Berkenblit, Alec Karofski and Max Waldman added singles.
Additional caps – Joshua Bernstein, Chris Friedman, Jesse Hartman, Eric Kansky, Avraham Kolel, Gabriel Leonhard, Cooper Levitan, Jonathan Rathauser