Puyallup vs. North County - Recap
Submitted by walax on Sun, 2006-04-30 16:27.
Features
Well, I always enjoy a drive down to Puyallup, although it takes me more time to get there than the simple forty-five minute drive from Seattle no matter how many times I make the drive. UW Lacrosse club officers came with Walax.com to give a clinic and spend some time checking out a triple-header featuring the Puyallup Varsity versus North County Varsity.
As we pulled up, all of us were collectively surprised not just at the level of play from two teams who had started from scratch in January, but also the intensity both teams exhibited. Not only that, but the fans were intense as well! People here have taken ownership of the sport of Lacrosse and it was empowering to see.
The 3rd Quarter continues in a hard fought battle between North County and Puyallup with a 5-4 lead for Puyallup. The Panthers had started off strong in the first half with one goal in the first quarter, and three in the second. They added another in the third giving them the 1-goal lead half-way into the third. The last two goals have been unanswered by North County. Anthony Puntel, who will be attending the Air Force Academy next year, has a hat trick and assist, and has been better than even on face-offs.
North County also had a 3-point second quarter, but wasn’t going to stop then. With the intensity picking up on every single ground ball, North County began to shift momentum scoring two consecutive unanswered goals, the last one, a beautiful feed from the wing on a fast break and hitting the keeper on his stick-side thigh on its trip to the top corner. With that, Puyallup battles for possession on the face-off and gets a couple shots saved by County’s goalie, but nothing drops for them. This is also a very physical game- with this kind of intensity, the refs are letting the kids play unless it seems super dangerous, but man, lots of contact. Lots of possession changes in the third and into the fourth and the three goal third quarter puts North County up by one going into the fourth with the score 6-5 North County leads. Another point of note, all of these kids just seem “bigger” than a majority of the players I am used to seeing on the high school field. Both North County defense, and their goalie, appeared to be men among boys.
North county possesses the ball and on transition going one-on-one with the keeper, buries number 7 stretching their lead to two, with just over 8 minutes to play on a low to high corner shot and momentum maintainer.
With just over five minutes, North County rings in another on an inside shot fed from midfield to go ahead 8-5, with four unanswered goals. Puyallup gets a face-off courtesy of Anthony Puntel, and Puyallup sets up their offense to break the North County lead down with just over two minutes left in the game. Puntel works feverishly and Puyallup gets several good shots, but nothing sinks. At 1:16 left on the clock, Puyallup’s steam may have dissipated. Coach John Wherry calls a time-out with possession, and looks to set up a play to get one more. Unfortunately, that would not be the case, as North County wins a big one here in Puyallup and NC's Tupper walks with 4 goals in the victory. Coach Moore had this to say, “Both of these teams have very similar styles of play. That was a good game.” Indeed it was, North County wins 8-5.
