We won our 2^nd midweek home game of the season on Tuesday against the Plattsburgh Cardinals.  As I may have mentioned in an earlier update, we have been talking about being ready to play in these midweek home games since day one in February.  Last spring we went 0-3 in these games and did not play the way we were capable with guys running down straight from class.  While we started off slowly against Plattsburgh, we found our groove in the 2^nd quarter.

After falling behind 3-2 after the first quarter, Harry Giarrusso opened up our scoring in the 2^nd quarter and from there we would score 10 in a row to take a 12-3 lead early in the 3^rd.  During that run we scored in all kinds of ways, step downs, in transition, crease feeds, and driving to the cage from behind.  While we are far from a finished product on offense, we are definitely more versatile than we’ve been in a while.  We are also finally starting to run our scheme with the tempo and spacing we want, it has made a big difference.

It was another monster day for junior Henry Riehl who finished with 4 goals and an assist.  Henry has the ability to be the best player on the field every time he laces them up and has started playing that way this spring.  Another spark plug for us was senior captain, Joey Zelkowitz who was 2 and 2.  Joey was the most dangerous 2 way middie in the league two years ago and missed most of last year with an injury. It is exciting to see him returning to form in the past few games.   Sophomore Jack Gould is starting to get things going as well and also finished 2 and 2.  First-year AJ Kucinski is getting better and better every game, he also went 2 and 2, if you haven’t watched us play yet this year, you will like AJ’s game when you do!

It always helps when you win over 80% of your faceoffs like we did the other day!  I had John Jackson going 15 of 16 and Jake Madnick going 11 of 13!  These two guys are workhorses and make each other better every single day. Coach Brakeley is doing a phenomenal job with them as well, hopefully they can keep it up.

Finally, first-year Frankie Cosolito (Catholic Memorial, MA) scored the first two goals of his career against Plattsburgh.  Frankie made an impact this fall on the football field for Rit as a tight end and also was a major contributor for the hockey team this winter with Coach Sinclair.  After starting up with us a few weeks late due to the overlap with hockey, Frankie has worked his way onto our 2^nd midfield line. He is a tough match up at 6-4, 220.  Frankie’s 2^nd goal of the game came off a skip pass through the defense from Cedric Rhodes and Frankie let it fly from about 11 yards out and stuck it right in the upper corner.  I hope you get to see Frankie play in person soon as well, he’s a heck of a competitor and a great kid.

Next up we have the Polar Bears coming to town on Saturday.  They were a popular pick to win the league this year in the off season with all they had returning from a year ago but have gotten off to a bit of a slow start.  Recently they have started to round into form with the return of their face off specialist and definitely have the talent to beat anyone in the league. We expect them to bring it on Saturday, should be a great game.