Middlebury 17 -
By now you
have heard the final score and some details on the championship
game. Following are a few highlights as I saw them. Dunn started us
off on
the right foot with a great shot that hit a pipe on man up early and Seeley
followed with the rebound. Dunn then dodged the long pole and placed a
perfect shot past McGinnis for the second goal. Krieger made a couple point
blank saves in the meantime, so we were able to start the game off on the
right foot. The game balanced out as the first and second quarters wore
on,
with both teams playing well, getting good shots, making quality saves,
there was every indication that it would be a close game down to the wire.
unsettled quarter for us. McGinnis continued to come up big in the goal
on
a couple of occasions, further frustrating our opportunities. The 3rd
Quarter reminded me of a heavyweight fight with
time to take the initiative and catching us on our heels a little as they
changed the tempo. Their star attackman, Pete Milliman made a couple of
aggressive plays in transition, scoring one and assisting on another.
However, just as we appeared to be staggering Dunn stared them down and
counterpunched at the end of the 3rd on a great unassisted goal, tying the
score at 7 at the end of 3. He had posted up a short stick who was forced
to cover Matt after a switch off a pick. Matt had made a couple of
excellent looks inside so they were reluctant to slide. The goalie was
baiting Matt to shoot high by dropping his stick, Matt
stuck it inside his
earhole. That gave us a breath of life going
into the fourth. As our
fighters came into our corner you could see it in their eyes and hear in
their voices that they knew they had taken
standing and had plenty left in them. Experience and confidence took over
in the 4th Quarter. Dunn, Seeley, and especially Herbert and Carroll took
over on the offensive end. Not many teams had dodged with their attackmen
against their defense and we had talked during the week about that favorable
match up for us. Consequently, when Herbert in particular began to dodge
it
left Greg Carroll wide open on the crease for some in tight finishes. You
have to give Carroll a lot of credit, though. Watching the film, you can
see how he gets the proper spacing and back cuts just as the feeder is ready
and his defender either turns his head or slides. When they did slide
they
did not get any help on the crease for Carroll, again partly due to his
crafty play. Mike Saraceni replaced Carroll and
did the exact same thing on
the crease for a goal!
On the defensive end, Senior Nick Lesher switched to Milliman and changed
the tide of that match up, Sebby
Astrada continued his dominant play on-ball
and his incredible ground ball tenacity also impacted the game. Meanwhile,
Goalie Eric Krieger was more than up to the task of matching McGinnis in the
goal. The 7-0 run in the 4th Quarter tells you all you need to know about
this championship team. Throughout the season they took the best that
everyone gave, and other than one blemish against Bowdoin, they were always
up to the challenge.
Here are a few numbers that might interest you.
2002 Record: 18-1
4 Year Record of Senior Class:
66-5 (15-1 in NCAA playoffs)
4 consecutive appearances in National Championship, 3 consecutive victories
We'll miss the seniors. They are an outstanding group of players, leaders,
scholars and community members. They are gentleman and men that we can be
proud of. (Don't worry, they're normal college
guys, too!)
Seniors:Dave Seeley, Zach
Herbert, Matt Dunn, Peter Albro, Grayson Fertig,
Greg Carroll, Andrew Healy, Sebby Astrada,
Nick Lesher
All Americans were announced today:
1st Team Attack:
Dave Seeley and Zach Herbert
1st Team Midfield:
Matt Dunn
1st Team Defense:
Sebby Astrada
3rd Team Defense:
Nick Lesher
Honorable Mention Midfield:
Mike Frissora
*Herbert, Seeley and Dunn will play in the North/South game at Hopkins
Saturday, June 8 at Noon.
*Players of the Year and Scholar All Americans will be announced on Friday,
June 9
*Team Awards: MIP-Charley Howe; MVP-Matt Dunn and Zach Herbert;
Baggatawat-Dave Seeley
*2003 Captains: Christopher Davis, Mike Frissora,
Brian McGregor
Thanks for the great turnout at Rutgers, wish I could have said
"hello" to
all of you. Great feeling to have you there supporting us!!