The Air conditioned Bus turned up early and a few late stragglers wandered down after cleaning their teeth, doing their hair and just generally being teenage lads, all to be expected. We boarded the luxury bus that had wifi after ensuring all the lads had their passports, wallets and phones!
The two hour journey was pretty chilled with Cheetham only awakening once we had arrived at the Pizza House on campus, he knows his food that one! McCardle and Kai sat up front with the coaches and Sarah Allsop and entertained us. TJ chipped in to confessing he had a Chick-Fil-a problem, the blog today will include lots of food issues as our topic of the day! We found out later that Billy also has a Diet Coke and Chinese food problem that we haven't discussed in our ever growing self help group! Ethan likes to build next level ice cream and cake combos and Harry or Harold loves a rainbow slushy.
We arrived at campus after a 2 hour drive, checked in and gave out the room keys (to be lost later), dinner cards and wrist bands, losing things which is another topic we will explore!
BAD NEWS for all past Knights we got the hook up and ended up with the amazing air conditioned halls near the main stadium, sorry fellas these boys are getting the 5 Star treatment!
Game 1 - Top Gun Clams loss 7-5
We had a quick turn around to get ready for the game the boys looked amazing in the new uniforms gloves and improved helmets complete with feather decals from Laxwraps a little surprise for the boys! We warmed up next to the field joined by Chip, cam Majors uncle who I grew up playing lacrosse with, it was great to see him and the rest of our travelling fans Mr & Mrs Jones, Mr Beaumont and Sarah Allsop! As is tradition we have the team talk before going out to play and told the players they had no pressure, we had worked hard for this and no team here knew what to expect! We played Top Gun fighting Clams who are in the top 6 programs in the country and we tried to keep the lads relaxed, we could tell that they where nervous and excited!
Unfortunately Captain George Dunn came down with an illness and as his mum mentioned later his nickname is sicknote sid!
We started the game very well and went 4-0
up and it could have been more, Nathan Edwards had a great chance early from
inside with a low fake but his shot ricochet off the bar! Elliot scored from a quick break with the dangerous Dan Jones drawing a slide and passing inside to team mate Elliott Bickerton with a clever low finish! 2015 hero Joe Cheetham stung the bottom corner off an alley dodge to put us 2 up! The whole team looked surprised but also overjoyed! Dan Madeley had won us possession after possession for us and at one point laid a big hit on a Clams midfielder, the sideline erupted! Ed Loveland then scored coming around the cage to finish high over the goalkeepers stick. Cheets then scored his second with a trademark Cheets high to high!
The defence without George played very well and where very stingy in the first half with Will Abbott having a great game, Jordan Hall as LSM playing hard and doing a great job and Oli Chadwick is a rock for us. Kai Shawcross stepped in for Dunn and we didn't miss a beat. Ethan our number 2 made some important saves and led the defence with his communication.
Tom 'The Enforcer' McCardle is our engine and plays all over the field riffing up the opposition! Cam Major left it all on the field and was exhausted after he game playing great Short Stick Def and is not beaten often! He worked so hard!
We changed things around at halftime and JD Bulmer could and should have scored with an underhand step down!
Clams are a great team and fought back in the second half and put pressure on Lewis Moore but he made a fantastic save late in the game. We became too eager in defence which resulted in not being organised.
Dan Jones is a fantastic player, it seems easy to him and one of the youngest players on the team, he finished with a cannon to the top corner, Billy then almost scored splitting through three defenders but unfortunately the Goalie made a nice save. Clams proved too strong for us and closed the game out 7-5.
The lads seemed disappointed but this really was one of the best opening performances of any Knights team at the Gait Cup we have played Clams in the opening game in 2 previous tours and wasn't close. We told them so after the game after having to find two single left gloves! Water bottles and stray sticks, the boys grouped together to find them.
It's amazing how fast the lads become close being forced into this environment I try to tell them they are family before we come over here but it only happens when they experience the same things! It was a great start and think they surprised themselves!
Game 2 - Velocity loss 4-3
We ate in the cafeteria and the lads seemed relaxed and happy, we needed to get back to the halls to get to the main stadium to play Velocity from Virginia. We thought if we eradicated the mistakes, had less penalties and cleaned up our play a little we could blow this team away. It proved a more difficult task in the end.
George Dunn had been rushed in his room by all the players after our first game and had began to feel better and decided to play in this game!
Billy scored our first goal from a great look back feed by Ed Loveland and clever cut by Billy from behind the goal.
We began to be over confident and turned the ball over a number of times even when riding very well to win the ball back. Velocity went 2-1 up afte a number of chances for us by Mike Pomfret, Joe Cheetham, Ed Hilditch Jordan Hall and Jonesy. We tried to re group after a time out but continued in this vein with more chances from Patrick McGowan inside on a low shot, Will Prescott and Marius 'Max' Robinson. Even George Dunn had a shot from the outside which went well wide!
We also had 3 man ups which we over complicated after a lot of practice time which disappointed me.
Jonesy weighed in with another crank to the top corner which helped with a mini fight back and then Ed Loveland scored soon after with a low bouncer on a fast break and assist from Oli Beaumont, the crowd and parents really got behind us but we failed to equalise.
We tried to force the defence out to put pressure on them at the end and the Enforcer MCCardle did a great job of stripping the ball, Harry Emuss had a great game also stripping the ball on our 'Axe' play.
We had the chances to win the game 5 times over and man ups on top of this. We made the opposition look good and was disappointed with our finishing and understanding of our offence.
We talked about if after the game outside the stadium, TJ and Ben have done a great job of coaching and we are looking for the players to take responsibility on the field and be accountable. As always we want them to lift each other and get behind each other.
Cam Major was the recipient of a bad slash to the forearm and was struggling and Joe Cheetham has a calf strain
The lads showered except Dunny who is allergic to water and we took them to the 7-11 to stock up on bad foods such as rainbow slushies, water, Gatorade and Swedish Fish! They also went to the pizza house! These boys can eat! We had a great evening and tried to spend time talking and laughing with them all. McCardle had a classic moment with a stop sign on the way home stopping some kids on the side walk and Kai finding Scotty the Scarecrow! Weird but so funny and had the lads English and American in stitches! They are all becoming a solid family!
Up tomorrow for an early game with the Cavs at 9pm we will earn a win and it will be a great feeling!
4-3 loss
