The day began with an early wake up at 6:45 am, we knew it would be hard to raise professional sleepers Hal, Suggy and Sam Harris (insert one of his many knicknames here), Hal was surprisingly chipper and awake and the other two wher more of a challenge, Suggy was made to put his head under a cold shower by his team mates and Sam was convinced with some gental persuasion from myself, all in good fun.
James Pomfret was not happy when I told them that they couldn't eat breakfast, as apparently he needs his cereal. The game was too close to breakfast to eat and we could only go into the cafeteria once so we decided to eat after the game!
We stretched and got ready for the game and met at our usual time 20 past the hour. The lads seemed tired but happy to be playing another day and getting another two wins under our belt. Coach Guy and Knarr met us at the field. It's was a misty morning and a boggy pitch after a night of rain and reminded me of coaching under 16's at home. Writing this blog now the game seems like three days ago and as you will see we had a very busy and successful day. We have been playing some great stuff and really improved and learnt valuable lessons over the last few days. The way we are playing defence is to a very high standard and they really have leaning to time their slides a lot better and are recovering very well. The U.S. brand of Lacrosse is second nature now and from the goalies to attack we are really starting to get it.
We warmed up well and did the traditional wake up drill, past knights players will tell you what this entails, but I don't want to spoil it for future players. It's really not as bad as it seems but gets their heart pumping a little.
Chas Syme has been amazing on this tour and if we had a man of the match he'd probably win it in most games and the Knights fam would tell you he is our All-Star. Coach Knarrs tutoring has really helped and it was a shame he was leaving after this game to go back to D.C. Anyway back to the game we started well with Chas winning face offs and us moving the ball very well, we look slick out there and the way they move the ball and move their feet off ball is very impressive. The attack and middies ride very well and win back possession if we lose it.
Again we had players that scored their first goal of the tournament in this game and it was great to see them being patted on the head and swarmed by their team mates when coming off the field. We went four up early, with goals from Cheetham who is growing in confidence, Sam Wilks with a nice alley dodge and tight finish and Air Loveland (trademarked) from a great feed to the back post which Oli caught in the air and finished into the top corner, one of our goals of the tournament without doubt. Dan Aspin got his first goal of the tournament before halftime and Chas Syme won the face off and placed a nice shot to the off stick side. We got a little sloppy in the second half but we managed the game well and Matt Smith split a double team to put a nail in their coffin, as we say "Are they dead yet"
Hal played his best game yet making save after save until Tatton screened him on a shot and they scored a softy! Hal reminded him later on!!! Tats has marked the best player on the opposition team in every game and has handled the assignment really well.
I can't say enough about Jack Peacock, his leadership and athleticism is amazing and he is all over the field playing LSM or straight Def. Suggy also played very well and has really improved in every game.
We where willing Cammie, Elliott and Jake Parker to score as they do everything for the team and deserve their name on the score sheet.
We celebrated after and had a picture with the opposition and gott a picture with Coach Guy and Knarr for the album.
Another win and on to the next one.
After the game we had breakfast and walked to the 7/11 to stock up on Gatorade and snacks.
After games they have busied themselves with doing laundry, yes you read that right, they help each other splitting whites and colours and spending time with each other!
Goals:
Joe Cheetham
Sam Wilks
Oli Loveland
Dan Aspin
Matt Smith
Chas Syme
Thank and farewell to Coach Knarr
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