SLUH 8 - Chaminade 4

Chaminade again played top-ranked SLUH very tough for most of the game. We doubled our previous offensive output from the last meeting, mostly through aggressive drives and sharp shooting. What was lacking was the defensive discipline and refusal to learn from mistakes, combined with an absence of the mental toughness needed to protect open water and fight for position and for 50-50 balls.

SLUH's Junior Will Page netted 4 goals, most of which came from leaving for offense early and beating the Chaminade defenders down the pool. I didn't keep track, but at least 3 of SLUH's goals would have been prevented by not watching offense and going early to defense at the first sign of trouble. Their anticipation of turnovers was fantastic and ours was lousy, on both ends of the pool.

Another SLUH goal came from our 2M guard swimming around the 2M on the front side instead of goal-side, leaving the SLUH 2M (John Heafner I believe) plenty of open water. There was another instance where John Heafner again overpowered his defender whose hips were down. And for the first time this season, we lost the kickout battle and SLUH made us pay with 2 man-advantage goals.

Should we meet SLUH again, our boys need to be prepared to play defense for 28 minutes. The SLUH boys work constantly for position, are relentless and always take advantage of mistakes. I still believe we are the only team with the defensive capability to beat SLUH this year, but it takes an enormous amount of focus and awareness and will require the same relentlessness and determination that SLUH brings to every game.

Goals: Kubik - 3, Meara -1
Assists: Benage - 1, Hoette - 1
Steals: Meara - 2, Benage - 1, Entwistle -1, Fernandez - 1, Kubik - 1, Stabler - 1
Kickouts: Arnold - 1, Faust - 1, Meara -1
Saves: Stabler - 13
Player of the Game: Kubik - 3 goals and 1 steal