As I indicated in my message yesterday, we beat Stevens yesterday by a score of 9-7. I give them a lot of credit for being hit hard by graduation, but still improving as a team. I thought they were a much better team than the team we handled easily in the playoffs last year. The game last year was also a May playoff game and we had a bunch of seniors. We’re much younger and it is still March, so time will tell where these two teams go this season.
They improved in terms of depth and athletic ability and their goalie made some nice stops. Last year they did not match up athletically with us and their goalie struggled, so goals came in bunches. They took the air out of the ball on their offensive end by handling with middie vs. a short stick and one attackman behind. It only hurt us once or twice for goals, but they were effectively able to control the pace of the game. Overall, our defense played extremely well, for the most part playing patiently and not giving up many shots. The few times we lost our patience, they capitalized and created excellent opportunities. It was a goalie’s nightmare for a game; not many shots, long possessions and when they did shoot, they were quality shots from good spots. Consequently, Palmisano did not have many saves, but there were only a couple of soft goals at the same time.
The fact that they were patient and did not take many shots had a bit of a mental effect on the offense, but also a direct effect in that when there are not a lot of shots or turnovers, there are also no fast break opportunities, which is an area we thrive on. We were solid on offense, but could have been better had we finished some of the quality opportunities we created. A few of those opportunities ended in quality saves, a few ended in poor shots and then a unusually large number ended with us getting off quality shots and hitting the pipes! I think the pace of the game just took the edge off the offense and made the difference between a solid output and what could have been excellent. Man Up is an example. I told the team before the game that Stevens is overly aggressive and we would end up with some EMO (Extra Man Offense) opportunities. They were relatively under control, but we did end up with 6 chances. On each of the 6 chances we had opportunities to score, but only cashed in on the first one. That translates to 4-6 minutes of possession time, 6 possessions which otherwise might be quality 6 v. 6 possessions, only one goal and a heightening of the tightness the offense might have already felt. If we were looser I think we would have converted 3 or 4 of those opportunities.
Having said all this, we battled a tough team that was ready to play; we did a lot of things well, and see some great possibilities for what is still a very young team.
The game ball was awarded to Freshman Long Stick Midfielder James Guay who picked up a bunch of ground balls, took the ball away several times, and was outstanding with the ball in his stick creating several excellent offensive chances. He and fellow Freshman Long Stick Midfielder Glenn Bickley are both fun to watch with the ball in their sticks. I have to check Bickley’s stick several times in practice for legality, as I am certain that he has to have an illegal pocket, but he has always checked out as legal!
We play Gettysburg at Gettysburg on Wednesday, always a fun game, always a tough game.