Bainbridge Defeats Mercer 15-10 in the Jungle
In what could be viewed as the game of the season, played at Mercer Island where Bainbridge had their hopes of a championship dashed by Mercer, they return to deliver retribution. MI has shown early season poise, but is a younger team than last year. This will be a battle for sure!
Dylan Masi opens it up with the first goal inside the first minute; you can feel the intensity in the air. Casey Skelton finds net scoring the second before two minutes expire, then Max Olson finishes a crease drive with net making the score 3-0 BI with over 9 minutes in the first quarter.
MI makes a save in the shooting gallery that is BI's offense, and turns it up for a drive and feed from Eliis at attack and a crease finish by Frankel.
BI is dominating the pace of the game in this first quarter with a run and gun offense shooting in transition. Bowen is making some big saves. Knight, Alailima, Olson and crew are shooting almost every touch.
Freshman Phenom Conner Beckwith goes coast to coast as his first varsity game and first shot -SCORES!, MI has scored the last two, but hasn't found the secret to BI's transition, and goes man down for one. MI finishes the quarter kiling a man down and fighting to even possession, at the end of one, Bainbridge leads 4-2.
MI forces a possession switch off the whistle, and Dawson carries over to get a touch. We see an offset iso from behind, as Wright earns a man-up. Elliss drives the lane from behind and firs but lands outside. BI moves the ball up to their attack, as Masi finds Wright for a pocket finish on Bowen, and BI leads 5-2 After a defensive stand, MI gets a transition and four passes perfectly executed from Mac Beckwith to Frankel as he finishes top shelf, and we are 5-3.
BI takes another dace-off, and takes the ball behind, when Masi feeds to Skelton who finishes another right in Bowen's face tallying number 6 for BI Taking another face-off, BI loses the ball on a shot, letting MI get a time out and a breath with 4:59 left in the second.
MI is called for two penalties, going 2 men down giving Clayton Knight an opportunity to tune the net with just over four minutes in the half. Bainbridge leads 7-3. BI seems to be relentless working towards the cage. The Gilbreaths are handling and clearing the ball to keep possession MI gets a clear and calls a time out with 1:23 to plan on their next possession. MI isn't able to capitalize on their time out, and turn it over on a shot. BI takes the offensive, draws a penalty, but cannot convert in time, and the half finishes 7-3 Bainbridge in the commanders chair.
MI 10 shots for the half, and BI more than 3 times with 31. This is an offensive battle right now.
Starting the second half with a man advantage, max Olson starts the shooting with more of the same, firing a twinefinder past Bowen, and upping the lead to 5. A minute later, Brian Glbreath comes over Midfield to ake a shot on cage, hitting his mark, and BI leads 9-4.
In answer, Mercer finds AJ Ellis who then finds Matt Wright as he lands his fade away jumper for 1, and the Islanders up the score to 9-4. Bowen, a junior, has taken a remarkable amount of shots already. The MI defense cant seem to find the answer to Max Olson on attack as he scores another wrapping the pipe on a feed from Masi. With 8:40 left in the 3rd, MI will have some work to do in pacing a 10-4 deficit.
After trading possessions and BI killing time on offense, MI gets a go with the ball again, this time, noticibly silent Greg Mahony drives, loses the ball, drives through one, two, three guys, and finishes adding a point to the MI total just over a minute left. Thirty seconds later, Greg Mahoney does it again, and MI is alive with 33 seconds left. as the final seconds tick away, Max Olson hits Skelton for another crease shot, and MI is down by 5 again with 14 seconds. As the third quarter ends, Bainbridge leads 11-6.
With 10:18 in the final quarter, MI takes advantage of a man-up opportunity and Ellis finishes one that has the BI keeper looking to see if it went outside. MI is still down, 11-7, and has given possession to Bainbridge off the face-off.
Fighting for the next possession, MI gives a man-up to Bainbrdige that doesn't go wasted. Sam Snow rips a burner past Bowen from up top. I think most people had to look and find the ball it moved so fast.
Bainbridge takes another shot from Clayton Knight which hits a D-stick and trickles past Bowen to make the total 13 for Bainbridge.
On the next transition, MI moves the ball looking for Attack help, when Ellis pops high on the crease, catches high, and finshes low with an underhand wrist shot to raise the MI tally up one.
Under four minutes, and MI has another man-down situation, but manages to escape unscathed. with unsettled transition on BI's defensive half, MI gets a man-up opportunity and takes a time out.
With 4 minutes of clock left in the game, MI's AJ Ellis drives hard at the cage up top, leaning in and shoots a nice bounce shot making the total 10-14 with over 1:30 left. MI is shooting to score, but not leaving any balls in the net. Brian Gilbreath takes another coast to coast, and the spartans will call a time out for one last play in the 47 seconds of game clock. Masi will attmept to possess the ball, running off another 20 seconds, but MI steps out giving it right back. Masi hits wright as he is double-teamed, and BI wins 15-10.
From a failed transition Michael Choe takes a flick from dawson and finalizes a shot on the doorstep with over 7 minutes left to play. BI possesses the ball managing the clock effectively, and taking a few possession shots. MI forced to attack the ball and push hard at all levels. Bainbridge had a host of big scorers: Top of the heap, was Max Olson, finishing 4g1a on the night, and dominating at Attack. Casey Skelton had three goals, Wright went 2g2a and Clayton Knight went 3g1a for the night. MI's biggest story came from AJ Ellis's 3 goals and 3 assists. Coach Hush had this to say about the win, "we still have plenty to work on." Coach O'Hearn welcomed the game, "we have a young team, and this kind of game is great for us to have." MI's Netminder Bowen took 53 shots while BI only dealt with 29. Look for tons of pictures up on Shutterfly of tonight's game!