Game 4: 3/25 vs. Lake Washington

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Sammamish Suffers First Defeat

http://www.walax.com/?q=lake_washington_puts_away_sammamish_96

Sammamish lost their first game of the season last night, 9-6, to Lake Washington. LW now stands alone at the top of the Evergreen Conference with a 3-0 record. SLC (3-1) falls to second place. LW offered the first 'real' competition for SCL. Down 2-0 early in the contest, the team hung in there, taking the lead in the third period after being tied at halftime. But with seconds remaining , LW hit net to lead 7-6 at the close of the third frame.

Entering the fourth period the guys were gassed. They were playing without a couple of guys and did not have a full rotation of players to step in and offer the middies a break. The play at that point in the game got pretty sloppy. Some of the credit needs to go to LW's defense who made things difficult when the guys got in close. But some point-blank opportunities were squandered as well.

IMHO, the guys need to learn that lacrosse is a possession game. Good passes need to be made, bad passes need to be caught, all balls in the lacrosse need to be maintained. When the ball in your possession gets put on the ground and lost, the middies have to run, will get gassed, and you loose the opportunity to control the game.

Matt had a good game in face-offs. He did 17 of the 19 draws and won 15 of those. He was credited with 12 ground balls.

Matt's season totals: 4 games, 6 goals, 2 assists, 8 points, 40 gb, 49/56 face-offs, 87.5% face-off wins.

Added Note: SLC leads the league in point differential at +37 points!

Game 3: 3/19 vs. Liberty

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Perhaps I need to clarify in the title of this blog that these news and notes are from a dad's perspective...

Team won 16-0. SLC has outscored opponents 42-2. And regarding blow-outs, Matt took 18 of 18 face-offs. For the season Matt is a whopping 32 of 39 for a win percentage of 82%.

Which leads me to ask if anyone understands the value of the face-off middie? People understand "points" but most don't recognize the importance of a face-off win. The win means the other team doesn't get the ball. The win means your team has the opportunity to score before the other team. The win means you get the opportunity to control the game and clock. Adrenaline Lacrosse calls the face-off specialist a "special breed of player and considered by many as the most valuable player on the field."

Speaking of points, Matt scored the game's first goal and had a few possible assists dropped or shots on goal that missed. He scooped up 13 ground balls to add to his league-leading total of 28 GB (did I mentions this blog is from a father's perspective?).

Big game on Tuesday vs. Lake Washington. LW is also undefeated, has already been battle tested in a 10-4 win over Redmond. LW will field the Bernstein Boys, Jake and Cody, who bring years and talent into play. Jake is an All-American candidate and will most likely perform the team's face-off duties. Matt will be tested for sure, and the game will be a good test and measure for where SCL is really at in terms of athleticism, toughness and lacrosse IQ.

Game 2: 3/16 at Mt. Si

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Bit of a route: 13-0

Matt scored two and notched one assist for three points. Took seven of nine face-offs. He said he lost the two when he was "just trying stuff".

The team is playing well. They are passing and moving the ball with efficiency this year. Not a lot of dropped balls and turnovers like last year.

Game 1: 3/13 at Klahowya

Matt and the team played well. Below is article from Walax.com:

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Sammamish's Young Leads Off in 13-2 Victory over Klahowya

Submitted by walax on Sat, 2010-03-13 22:58.

• Headline News

Using a balanced midfield attack led by junior Matt Young, Sammamish travelled to the Kitsap Peninsula on Saturday and defeated Klahowya 13-2 in the opening game of Division II action. Behind 6 1st quarter face-off wins by Young, Sammamish controlled the tempo early building a 4-1 lead with goals by 4 different scorers. Junior attackman Brian Headland got the scoring started off a ride 5 minutes in.

A minute later, Matt Young fired a shot on the run to extend the lead to 2 before Klahowya answered back with a strong top side dodge from attackman Johansen. Unfortunately for Klahowya, that was as close as the Eagles would get as Sammamish using balanced scoring from 4 other scorers including Tyler Wright, Andrew Wenzl, Sam Chapman and Neil Hones to extend the lead to 8-1 at half. The second half saw Klahowya controlling much of play due to penalties and solid ball control. However, they were unable to penetrate Sammamish's defense eventually scoring with 9 minutes left in the quarter.

A man up opportunity due to an offsides from Klahowya was quickly taken advantage of as senior attack Alex Cornell found a shooting lane courtesy of a skip pass from Neil Hones. Sammamish added 3 more in transition as they ran off some clock leaving with a 13-2 win. Coach Hawley and his team from Klahowya fought hard, and a credit to him should go out for accommodating Sammamish with a game time delay of two hours so that junior players from Sammamish could take the SAT test and still play. Overall, a great start to the Division II schedule with a clean, hustle filled game. Credits go to Sammamish's Keeper, Scott Johnson for 11 saves in net. Stay tuned to Walax for plenty more in game coverage throughout the season!