Mercer Island vs. Maple Valley Game Recap

Mercer looks to find their groove tonight against Maple Valley, and the Vandals look to see if they can capitalize on the rough luck of MI has had of late. 

The first face-off in the rainy MI stadium goes to Maple Valley.  Right away MI is offsides giving possession to the Vandals who can't convert. A quick change to MI who moves it up for MI before losing the ball and scrappy transition occurs. MV has already faced two Greg Mahony shots and made a save on a shot by Kevin Mahony. Maple Valley is moving the ball pretty well around their 2-3 offensive set but not getting anything to sink.

MI goes man down from some aggressive defense, serving a 1-minute penalty. MV faces some solid man-down which kills the penalty, and we are scoreless 5:31 into the game.  Kevin Mahony gets a great ground ball and moves it up for some settled offense for MI. Moving the ball to Dawson, he takes a shot and the MV keeper makes a save. Another change of possession gives MI the ball behind fallowing Christenson to hit Ellis for the first goal of the game.

MV exchanges possession with Mercer Island taking the ball behind.  Evan Adair takes Ankram out from behind the cage and scores top right beating him topside.  The score is tied up.1-1 with a minute left in the first quarter. Greg Mahony burns a heater past MV. MV gets the possession and shoots several more times to no avail. First quarter ends score MI 2-1 after one.

MI gains possession off of the Sam Franklin Face-off, touches the box and runs some settled offense before before getting called for a push forcing a man-down for MI.  MI kills the man-down penalty by clearing the ball through Brazg who, in turn, draws a 1-minute man-up for MI which MV kills. Now, with 8:45 left in the second, MI has possession working their 1-4. Kevin Mahony gets the ball around a couple times before sinking a shot that five-holes Fischesser making the score 3-1. MI narrowly shields a saved shot from MVs Eric Johnson, who left a ball on the door step no one could find.

Moving the ball up the field for MI is Brazg again who sets up some good ball rotation and a motion off-hip score by Kevin Mahony. With 6:40 left in the half, MI is up 4-1 and possessing the ball. Kevin Mahony feeds Frankel for a missed attempt, but Greg Mahony gets it done with another shot, scoring with 5:15 left in the second.  MV calls a time out to slow the Mercer momentum MI who is running away with this quarter. MV gets a one minute on a slash killed effectively by MI who continues possessing and shooting. In a scrum around the ball, MI goes EMO on an Ellis drive to the cage. MI is man up with 3 minutes left in the half. 30 seconds into the penalty and MI has three shots but no score while killing the Man up. MI turns it over, and gets it right back, calling a possession time out with 1:33 left in the half.  Mercer is up 5-1, controlling the clock and momentum, calls a time out with 17 seconds to take advantage of a possession. Greg Mahony gets a shot dodging a long pole up top right and buries one in the back of the cage with 4 seconds left in the half.

At halftime, MI is up 6-1. 22 GB for MI and 21 shots. 14 GB for MV and 6 shots  Interestingly, no one has scored on any of the four man-up opportunities yet. MI has to start scoring on man-up, their season average is below 25% to date. That said, hardly anyone has scored against them on man-up either. MI is dominating in both possession time and shots.

Opening the third quarter, Maple Valley gets possession and drives straight to the cage.  Schwartz saves this shot and hits Kevin Mahony breaking out. Kevin hits a great pass to Brazg who hits Christenson to Ellis who connects with Taylor Dawson for number seven and a text book fast break unsettled ball movement. Another quick MI possession moves the ball to Dawson who hits Frankel for another goal. Another face-off controlled by Maple Valley gives MV another opportunity to score.  Schwartz stops a Maple Valley shot, and moves another clear to Brazg during a Maple Valley man-up. Brazg keeps it and scores on a bounce shot making it 9-1. Because of a shot and inadvertent whistle, alternating possession goes to MI and gives Mahony another score from good ball movement just four minutes into the third quarter.  The score is 10-1 and not only does Mercer look like a different team, but Maple Valley looks like a different team as well.  Fischesser is taking a lot of difficult shots and is trying to keep the Vandals afloat.

After trading possession with MV, MI gets it to Kevin Mahony and he rings the bell again making the tally 11-1. MV gives MI another man-up but throws the ball away. Some great Maple Valley ball movement ends in a sick stick save by Schwartz and a quick outlet to Brazg who moves it to Mahony and he shoots a knuckleball at the MV keeper, and scores. Mercer gets another possession from a Maple Valley face-off win.  Howell moves the ball up with 1:55 in the third. At the end of three, MI is up 12-1 and Fischesser seems like a different keeper this half. MI gets possession back and begins more shooting. Six different MI players have scored so far, five goals for Kevin and three for Greg Mahony.  Maple Valley goes man up on another MI penalty for a minute.  MI successfully kills the penalty by getting possession and holding the ball.  With 8 minutes in the game, Matt Wright gets the ball up top and sends a bouncer over the shoulder of Fischesser making the score 13-1.

With four minutes remaining Taylor Dawson scores making the total MI 14-1.  Possession changes hands for a couple of minutes until Mercer gets possession inside 2 minutes.  Mercer cannot hang on to the ball now, and MI is forced to make a defensive stand but allows a goal inside on the crease on a feed from Morris to Butt to finish the game 14-2 Mercer Island.