Thursday, September 24, 2009

Carmel vs. Salinas

Well it was a good day and a bad day at the same time. The Varsity lost a heartbreaker to the Salinas Cowboys at Hartnell College yesterday. Boy was it an intense and close game throughout. Game started out with a tie 1-1 at the end of the first quarter. At half Salinas was up 4-3. At the start of the 4th quarter we were up 6-5. The boys fought hard, overcame some bad calls, and garnered a 2 goal lead with about 4 and a half minutes left. Salinas mustered a few goals when it counted and went up 8-7. We had a breakaway and two "man up" shots at the cage to tie and go ahead in the final 2 minutes, but we just couldn't convert. The game ended with Salinas 8 and Carmel 7. It was a tough one to lose for sure. The good news about that game was it showed how far we've come as a program. Salinas is the 3x defending league champion and have become a powerhouse over the last few years in CCS. They have been the "benchmark" for us. We're getting very close to that level, very close. The coaches were pleased. The JV's dominance against Salinas, with Carmel winning 16-1. The tide is definitely turning. Keep it up boys.

Varsity Leading scorers and notable performances:

Nate Cohen (playing a badly strained groin muscle) came up with 2 big goals and 3 key assists. His solid defense made an impact throughout.

Jay Louis, 2 big goals and a couple of steals.

Zach Olpin, Sean Pickert, and Ben Regan added one goal apiece.

Jakub Kristl was big in the goal making some big blocks including a 5M penalty shot in the second half!

Brady Hopkins guarded one of the best players in all of CCS, Brian Morton most of the game and really made things difficult for him. He was great defensively and drew a key ejection late in the 4th quarter giving us a golden opportunity to tie up the game.

Ryan Marden had 5 goals and 3 assists for the JV's. Ben Price continued his dominance in the cage with 10 blocks. Mike Airola shut down 2M defensively and added a goal. Sam Stoffers continued his propensity to score a lot of goals with 4 tallies of his own. Dan Slade, 2 goals. Freshman Scott Robleski in his first JV action offered a beautiful assist towards the end of the game. Austin Robertson had 4 steals and 1 assist. Declan Harris had two first quarter goals and a steal. Way to go boys.

Big Game against Stevenson on Thursday. JV will play at 4:30, Varsity will play at 6:30 under the lights. It is important that we have parent and fan support. I'd have to say that last year, there were almost equal numbers of RLS fans/parents as Carmel. That shouldn't happen. Come on parents, make a night of it. Stay for the varsity game, eat a late dinner after. It will be worth it. This friendly rivalry is a lot of fun to watch and be a part of.

Coach Gaily

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