Garfield moves on to the Semi-finals

Final score is in and Garfield beat Curtis 12-7.  Garfield kept it close, but top performances from Sophomore Caldwell Rohrbach and All-American Drew Snider push Garfield through to the Semi-finals over a strong Curtis performance.

In the first quarter, Drew Snider comes out blazing from the face-off, tallying his first of the day just 1 minute and 8 seconds into the game, on Henderson as he returns for Curtis in cage.  Fifteen seconds later, Snider adds a second to the total, and Garfield is up 2-0 just a minute and a half into the first quarter. 

Curtis gets a possession, setting up their offensive set only to have Snider steal the ball and move it for a settled attack by Garfield.  Nothing comes of this possession, and Curtis takes the ball back to the other end.  This time, Landon Carr connects with Lehr and scores the first goal for Curtis with 6:11 left in the second quarter.  Curtis comes right back with Landon Carr again feeding Carlstrom and Curtis ties up the game 2-2 with 4:43 remaining.  Though Garfield has dominated face-offs, the pace of the game and moementum is up for grabs.  Garfield gets a possession on a Curtis hold, and Snider earns his hat trick in the first quarter finishing a high overhead shot with 2:05 left unassisted.  Going into the second quarter, Garfield leads 3-2 over Curtis.

Starting the second quarter, Garfield wins the face, and runs their offense looking for the weak side attack.  Rohrbach makes something happen and feeds Calleghan for his first and the team's fourth 2 minutes into the third.  Curtis wins a face, loses the ball and allows Garfield to drive on the cage when Henderson makes a save to redirect the ball up field.  His clear is stolen creating a Garfield fast break that Ben King polishes off inside and we are 5-2 with 7:55 remaining.  Seconds later, Ben King ices his second wih 7:30 left in the quarter putting Garfield up 6-2.

Curtis answers right back with a solo take by Carlstrom with 4:06 left in the second quarter, working against some tenacious defense.  Garfield is held scoreless for the remainder of the half, and enters halftime up 6-3.  Garfield's stats lead Curtis's, but 13 shots and 23 ground balls is not enough to cement a game with 17 ground balls and 8 shots giving up 5 goals.

Curtis comes out the second half on a mission, firing their first of three 3rd quarter goals as Cudahy finds Wood for his first of the day, keeping it close at 6-4 in just 35 seconds out of the gate.  Again, Curtis answers their own, with another at nine minutes as Jamie Yergler finds Carlstrom who brings Curtis within one.

Snider snaps the Bulldogs from a three-goal Curtis run and answers with a solo shot thirty seconds later making the score 7-5.  Curtis bounces right back with the answer from Yergler again, as he finds net on Montoya making the score 7-6 and keeping it close.  At the end of three, Garfield still leads 7-6 with Curtis close behind.

Now Garfield's turn to come out firing.  Rohrbach hits Snider for a big goal at 11:24 in the fourth.  Rohrbach takes the next one solo, as he extends the Garfield lead to 3 less than a minute later.  Moving the ball, Garfield passes around looking for another shot working against a tenacious defense, as King who is having a breakout game, finds Travis to finish another net and Garfield has scored three unanswered themselves.

Curtis will bring the ball inside for one more in the third, scoring on a feed from Cudahy to Blaisdell at 8:32 in the third.  Both teams change possession in the third, and offensive possession helps maintain control of the Garfield lead but neither team adds any more points in the remainder of the period.

The fourth quarter question would be answered by Rorhbach as he blazes two goals in the remainder of the period in a stalemate of offense scoring unassisted with 3:18 and 3:04 left in the game to put the lead on ice for Garfield finishing the game 12-7, but beats a strong Curtis team.  Snider finishes with 5g 1a, and Rorhbach finishes with 3g 2a. Garfield will play Issaquah on Wednesday in the Semi-finals, check the schedule for game location and time.