Bison Brawl First Day - vs Westfield

I told the boys before we came out that they would have to deal with the high and lows of Elite level competition, Coach Vav and Guy where really trying to make steps to improve the team and with the disappointment of the Morning game.

In the pregame team talk I spoke about Adversity in life as well as Lacrosse and how you can turn it around to a positive and great things can come from bad situations, I wanted to see them turn it around for them as they had worked so hard and committed themselves to this program.

They certainly did that and the boys have showed lots of character in the last 7 days, the game was close all the way through but we went three down in the second half, we rallied with goals from Alex Winton in the first half and then Russell, Scott Dags. Joe Baythorpe came close from a feed from Matt Rowarth but hurt his hand and would join Tig at Hospital later that night with an open Fracture! Joe HHHhhariiss (in a cockney accent) then scored the equalizer when he dodged down the right alley to squeeze himself in front of the crease to finish on his off hand, the bench went crazy! with shouts of Hhhharrrriisssss!

The Defence played well and Elliott Hurry in the goal in the second half made some key stops!

Tim Collins  and Grady Fayle and their Wing middies won some important face offs and both have them have had great tournaments making a huge jump from the Gait Cup!

The game finished tied and as Tournament rules it would be Brave-heart which is two Goalkeepers in each goal and two players who take a faceoff to win the ball and go to goal, first goal wins!, we chose Ben Reddy as he can face off, defend and shoot like a cannon!, he didn't win possession and Westfield scored!

We had played a great game and the coaches where prod of the boys for showing they could bounce back, its just a like a penalty shootout in Football and not the nicest way to win or lose a game! On wards and up wards!

I can't say enough about Susan and Simon Smith they took the two boys to hospital and looked after them as we had another game to play! A big thank you from knights, also Alison Cara and Vincent who can't do enough for me and the boys I don't what we would have done without you!

First day at the Bison Brawl! Vs Webster Thomas

The morning was filled with excitement, I was sat in my room in the morning watching the other teams rolling in to register for the first day of the Bison Brawl Tournament at Bucknell University.
After the great few days we had had at The Gait Cup and the way we had improved I thought that we could go far!

We would play Webster Thomas from the Rochester, NY area at 2.30 in the first game of the competition, we walked over the the stadium which is a 10 minute walk over the road using a tunnel taking you under the busy road, it takes you to 5 grass fields next to the beautifully manicured soccer field and golf course. We would play on pitch one and everyone was excited for the game.

Hearts and minds our number one fan (above)

Unfortunately the game would not play out how we had planned at we where beaten not by an amazing team but usually by ourselves we made some major errors but we did have some Knight play very well and some highlights in the game to get excited about but for some reason we had taken a step backwards. Willy Baxter played amazingly well in goal but some of our Defenders created offense for the other team and failed to pick up important ground balls which every Lacrosse players knows Ground balls win games! Webster Thomas had some great players and one of their midfield players scored 5 goals!

The highlights of the game for everyone was Tig Bancroft's goal which was only a small reward for all the hard work he has put in during the last Tournament playing the Defensive Middie role with Grit, of course tig did his dance as promised that pumped up the boys and everyone crowded around him to congratulate him when he ran off into the Knights box!

Then came another reward for another Middie that had worked so hard clearing the ball and being generally Hench, definately one of the Knights players of the tour Ciaran Johnson, he never complains, takes long shifts on the field and plays as hard as his body looks! hence his new name Hench! he scored a great goal again to show that this kid is one of the best young athletes in Lacrosse!

Jay Moore is one of our top line middies and had played well in all the games scored a great jump shot, he has great technique and has been inverting behind goal, finding feeds for other players and
was rewarded with his own.

As everyone knows our mantra has been "23 Men" and a few players doesnt make a team and I and the other coaches where not happy with the lack of effort and desire to win in this game, it was simply not good enough and there was no other way to tell the team than straight. This has been my dream for a longtime and this means a lot to me and wanted to show them that, we had a meeting after wards and the players also held their own to air their views!

Compete, Intensity, Desire and leave a good impression on every team!

We would see if the players could bounce back in the next game against Westfield.

Unfortunately towards the end of the game Tig went over on his ankle and we found out later after a trip to the Hospital that he had a very bad sprain, he didnt deserve it but injury is part of an intense sport but everyone on the team have tried to help him, team mates getting his meals at the cafeteria and fetching him drinks, they are like a Family now!

Coach Zac Guys High School Highlight tape!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlMFn-FprRw

Gait Cup by the Unknown Knight!

The Gait Cup was the first half of our trip to America and it was undoubtedly a great experience. We were placed in Pool A in the top division, amongst some of the greatest youth teams from different parts of America. The team had mixed reactions about coming up against the best teams there but concluded that we had an opportunity  to impress and up our game. 

Our first game was an evening friendly against 'The Clams' who had a couple of players that were notoriously good. We lost but got a taste for the american speed, and a foresight into the rest of the tournament. The following day, the boys woke with the dread of having to play three games in the humid heat, the first was against the 'Hurricanes'. We lost again but we were still scoring a few goals each game and improving our defence. The  2 o'clock game that day was against a team from San Francisco, the "Alcatraz Outlaws" who were unbeaten so far. We managed to hold a steady game against them despite playing defence for the majority of the first half. We also made the most of our offensive plays, with a skilful around-the-back shot from Jake Howarth (a.k.a. Snakey). The rest of the match was postponed due to thunder and lightning, and the second half was to be played the following morning at 7:00am. For the rest of the afternoon the team pigged out of pizza from the local pizza place. The last day of the Gait Cup lay ahead the next day.  

We woke up stupidly early to face the second half against the Outlaws after performing well in the first half. The defence played well and seemed to be performing well under the offensive pressure from the west coast team. We lost but put in a lot of effort and everyone left the game pleased that we gave the current tournament leaders a good challenge. 

By this point, every player was having a shower after every game, however Ben Reddy seemed slightly less up for one and went to collapse on a mattress. Unfortunately this curly haired warrior had to miss the next two games due to a chest infection. The joker's stick skills and banter were sorely missed as we lost the first game against 'Velocity' in the mid-day heat.

But after this game we started the play off matches, and we were matched up against the 'Minnesota Jaxx'. We were all tired of losing and determined to get the win. After going 2-0 down, we started making better decisions in the offence and managed to win the game 10-4. Unfortunately, the stand-in LSM Elliot Condren had a head to head crunch with another player from the Jaxx, and came out of the game with concussion. Thankfully, he's now remembered how to count to ten without using his fingers. 

It was a fantastic feeling beating an american team, every player came off the pitch with a grin on their face. 

After the game, we reflected on the enjoyment we got from playing and were on a high for the next game.

The evening game on this day would decide whether we would have another game the following morning. We had to play the Velocity team we played earlier in the day. 

Regardless of the end result, we went on the pitch with the intention of having fun and enjoying what could be our last game of the Gait Cup. Ciaran Johnson broke some ankles with his explosive split dodges, Ben Reddy 'came back from the dead' to run the length of the pitch and put it past the goalie. When everyone tried to jump on him he said "Go away, I'm ill". Tim Nicol (Current Top goal-scorer) pinged a shot in, under-arm from far out and the game ended 4-2 to Velocity.

It was easily one of the most enjoyable games for many of the players and Coach Scott declared it was one of the most entertaining matches he'd been a part of.

Scott Dagnanleach was also selected for the All-Star game that was to be played that evening. An achievement the overwhelmed him but the whole team were proud and knew he deserved it. Despite the All-Star game being cancelled 10 minutes in, he managed to get himself on the pitch and dance about with some twinkle toes split dodges. The team were supporting Scott in proper English fashion and he even was asked for a photo afterwards with one of the locals. 

Overall, the Gait cup was a brilliant experience, the team improved massively by giving good competition to the Yanks and it wad definitely a tournament never to be forgotten. 

Next stop, Bucknell University for the Bison Brawl.

Finals & Moving day

Today was mostly comprised of having breakfast clearing out our rooms, watching the semi finals and final and moving to Bucknell for our second Tournament the Bison Brawl!

The final was an amazing game between Alcatraz Outlaws and Looneys of Maryland, the Looneys are made up of teams from powerhouse prep league the MIAA, teams like Loyola Blakefield and Calvert Hall etc watch the final from 2013 at the link below, it was a one goal game with an exciting end, Alcatraz had the chance of scoring on a one on one with 30 seconds left but their Coach called a timeout! Looneys where the Gait Cup winners in 2013!

http://www.bearessentiallax.com/app/Page/?n=65570&snid=&org=bearessentiallax.com

http://www.looneyslacrosseclub.com/app/index/list/?org=looneyslacrosseclub.com

We then checked out on the dorms and returned to the gym to hand in our keys! (Well most of them), The Coach Jancyk thanked us for coming he has had some great feedback about us and is excited about our return in 2015! He was surprised how well we did against the elite competition in the highest division and praised us for our high standard of play!

We got back on the school bus at 4pm which left some time to kill, I discovered that the playstation generation do not like to have nothing to do and can't sit still for too long!

The Bus ride was fine and they played music and had a laugh whilst a number of us slept and arrived at the beautiful Bucknell Campus. I was met by Joe Conner and he showed us around the air conditioned dorms! The lads seemed happy and went off to explore after settling in, it is a bigger campus than Gettysburg but we are finding our feet!

More pizza tonight for the boys! And an early night is in order! 

I'm excited about the tournament as we finished off strongly at the Gait Cup!

Zac and Vav have arrived also.

Look out for the return of the unknown Knight blog today!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DvY-xtdyO3A

All Star Game

All - Star Game

Dags and Austin who wanted to give one of our players a five pound note because he wanted to thank us for coming and enjoyed watching us so much! Thanks Austin!

The Longest Day - Knights vs Velocity

After the Jaxx game we made a fuss of Ben Reddy as he had miss the win and got him up and took him for dinner and to get some air, he felt better and wanted to play the next game that was great to hear as Elliott had to miss this game on medical advice!

We walked up to the Stadium to watch our neighbours the Haymakers (Ohio) that a few of the lads had made friends with, I also know coach Pritchard from All American Lacrosse Camp, on the way we decided to stop at the main tent near the stadium to check if any of our players had been named on the All-Star team, I thought a number of our players deserved it from Alex Winton, Scott Dags, Steve Ewing, Ciaran Johnson, Josh Peachey or Scott Dagnanleach...........we where so pleased to read that Scott had made it, he has dedicated himself to this for two years and was so proud of him as where his team mates and coaches, it was a great reflection on the team after all!

We left the stadium on a high to move to pitch 3 and everyone was laughing and joking and seemed really to be having fun!, we where happy for Scott and we all had fun during the warm up, I wasnt concerned and the coaches decided to let them have fun and keep smiling as it may make them play free loose!

We played our best game yet and had over 15 shots id say, I couldnt pick a player to highlight as everyone did exactly what they should have, Tim Collins was outstanding at Face-off, Ciaran came close to getting a well deserved goal as he has worked so hard for the team hitting the pipe and missing another shot by inches later in the game! Ben Reddy cleared the ball on his own to score which sent the bench wild! I dont think the Americans could work out why the coaches and players where laughing on the sideline cracking jokes, the players on the field pushed to the goal again and again and we just didnt stop,they scored a few goals on us but Elliott Hurry's last line of Defense take out on the crease was amazing and the energy on the bench was infectious!

Will Allsop had a standout game, played solid D and cleared the ball on his own, Will Baxter also cleared and drew a penalty whilst in the oppositions half!

We had finally found our groove and we where no longer nervous of playing American Competition, Tim Nicol capped off a great day with a great low rip and the game ended  but we could have won this game twice over in the end but didnt convert our chances...................but had great fun doing it. Id say this was the most fun I had coaching for a long time!

I think the game ended 4-2!

People stopped us after the game to say how much they have enjoyed watching us and that people have been talking about us all week!

It is semi finals and finals day tomorrow and we move on to the next tournament at Bucknell just as we are getting in the groove...............look out!

No Snurdge Rule Rowarth!

I really better go to bed and will give an update on the All-Star Game tomorrow I have been up since 5:45 and now its 00:37, I wanted to to update the blog so the parents can read this when they wake in the am UK time.

We've had a ball....................on to the next one!