The Game - Coaches Comments (now includes Coach Armstrong)

We arrived at Gettysburg at 12 (thanks to Tom and Bill Hardy) just in time to register, we booked into our rooms at the beautiful campus and took in a game before we had to get ready for our exhibition game against Cheasapeke Rock Lime from Baltimore (on Pitch 3). The lads where excited to play and we walked down to the game with the cross of St George flying, we drew quite a crowd and it was great to see our own fans Bob and Aca Carney, Jane Ford and Mick cheering us on.

We had a great start but went 1-0 down, but the knights fought back with Goals fom Dane Carney from an assist from Adam Jordan and then a text book fast break goal from Jamie Tomlinson, assisted by Jake Weddell to make it 2-1 to the Englanders. The Knights had to get used to clearing within 30 seconds and it took some getting used to, we played a lot of Defence in the first half but Eddie Thornber made some amazing saves and the D managed to keep them out for the most part, we just couldnt get the ball in our half enough and we went into half time 6-2 down.

We wanted to make this a positive expereince for the lads, making supporting each other a key point as we knew this game would be a learning process. The guys played a lot better and Jon Clowes stepped up and stripped the ball a number of time to put the ball on the Turf, then enter Ryan Hunns who went into over drive with three unanswered goals the first off a dodge for a fake and finish, then a stunning high bouncer off the hard dry turf and finished off the hat-rick with high to low shot on the run that stung the bottom corner.

The game finished 7-5 and we had learnt a lot, if we had had more posession in the first half we would have been closer to the win but the real tournament starts tomorrow in the main stadium at 9am, the warm up has got us excited and we are looking to make every game close with the experience we have gained today.
The games are fast and intense and the lads relished the new style and are excited to play again.

Goals
Ryan Hunns 3
Dane Carney 1
Jamie Tomlinson 1

Assists
Jake Weddell 1
Adam Jordan 1

Tomorrow's Games
Group Pool Games:

Game 1 vs Buffalo (9am/Pitch1)
Game 2 vs Shore Skipjacks (3pm/Pitch 2)
Game 3 vs CT Hurricanes (5pm/Pitch 4)

Check back for photos from Bob Carney soon.