We knew that we had a 3 O'clock game vs our old friends Webster Thomas and got ready to play, we knew we could continue where we left off at the Gait Cup - defensive players Adam Fox, Matt Tatton, Jack Peacock and Dan Walker had finished the tournament really very well and Suggy and Chopper are doing an amazing job, together with the middies they have really played as unit and I've been very impressed.
Both our Goalies have been fantastic and get behind each other and share halves - SIVO!!!!!
I can't say how far the whole team has come and we are very good in most departments from Chas at face off to the attackers ball movement and relentless riding! We really felt good about our level of play.
I've wanted to win a tournament for a while and put Knights on the map and this and past teams have done everything in their power to do that. I put everything in to this program and it feels like every player is too.
We took the long walk from Vedder Halls down Moore St , under the underpass and past the monkey cages to the west grass fields to play Webster. They have some great talent and send players to play at Division 1 schools.
We started exactly how we wanted too and explained to the players the adjustments to maximise our potential and opportunities. The lads have taken to Coach Guy and he is doing a great job with them, we played offence exactly how we wanted to and started the game with 2 goals from James Pomfret and Oliver Loveland. Oliver has always been a smart player, it doesn't matter if he is marked by a big, fast or position defender he gets the job done, scores or finds the open guy, he makes people around him better.
Unfortunately we had other chances from Joe Baythorpe, Jake Parker and Matt Smith but didn't convert, we got sloppy with passing and didn't manage the game well at all it was maybe down to over confidence. We had a goal disallowed and some calls didn't go our way, it really seemed stacked against us. Webster Thomas have great coaches and they made the right adjustments and we struggled to make our own. They scored with a minute to go and added another late goal to make it 6-4.
We had cleaned up our clearing and where making better decisions, Foxy giving a nice outlet to Cheetham and it looked slick. Hal played amazingly well and we made a few uncharacteristic mistakes in def to give him no chance.
The players looked down at the end of the game, we knew we had blown the lead, we asked the players to sit in the shade after the game to talk to them, we didn't want to get down on them at all, we had been great at supporting each other in victory and I wanted to see the same in defeat, we had to be able to deal with situations that don't go our way. This wasn't anything to panic about, it was our first game of the tournament and we wanted to see improvement each game so that we where ready for the playoffs later this week. We needed an arm around our shoulder, we have come along way and this is a team that plays great lacrosse to watch, in a style I love and all have a very high Lacrosse IQ.
We are having a great time, love spending time together and nothing will change that off or on the field.
We went for dinner in the cafeteria, there is a girls tournament on at the same time so this gave time for a bit of snurging and took the lads minds off the game for a second or two, it's all in good jest and are always polite. They even use our defensive calls to communicate if they are good looking or not.
After more food and always ice cream - Suggy and Hal love an ice cream we went back to prepare to play Bucknells own future recruits at 7 in the main stadium.
Goals:
James Pomfret 2
Oli Loveland 2
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