Quarter 1

The Cubs win the opening sprint and get the ball inside after two passes for a Reynolds goal. The Cubs intercept the ball on defense and send the ball long for a one on on none Vavic goal. A Kranz steal leads to a Kranz assist as Vavic scores for the second time this quarter. The Cubs steal the ball once more and use the extra possession to earn themselves an ejection and another goal, this time from Altmayer. On the other end, however, the Cubs suffer their first exclusion but come up with a stop despite the disadvantage. The Cubs again take an ejection but a key save from Mueller keeps Long Beach Wilson goalless. The big save leads to another goal on the other end as Altmayer finds the net again. The Cubs take another ejection straight after the goal but a big blocked shot sends the opposition’s shot far from the target. The Cubs press the other team into a turnover which turns into a goal for Kranz. A beautiful pass finds a cross shot that ends the back of Long Beach’s goal as Agliozzo. Some nifty passing and teamwork earn the Cubs another goal from Vavic. The Cubs take an ejection but Mueller saves the quality shot that the opposition manages to get off.

Score 8-0

Quarter 2

The Cubs lose the opening sprint, but Long Beach Wilson fails to convert the possession into a score. The Cubs suffer an ejection and, thus, concede for the first time the match. The Cubs take another ejection, but Mueller comes up with another save to prevent the goal. Long Beach Wilson comes within inches of scoring but the Cubs manage to just push the ball out. On the other end, the offense looks like it’s finally coming back to form as Reynolds finishes an easy one with an empty net in front of him. The Cubs force an ejection but can’t score. On the other end, some lazy defense signals the second time the Cubs concede as the opposition’s shot finds the top left corner. The Cubs get broken down by some sweet passes from the opposition and concede a third score. After some confusion between the referees, the Cubs get a man advantage but fail to convert. They also fail to get back but some good goalkeeping from Mueller saves the defense. The Cubs take yet another ejection but manage to keep the ball from finding their own net. On the way back down, the Cubs earn an ejection and Vavic finds the net as he places the ball in the bottom right corner. The Cubs give up a penalty, but Mueller again proves his worth as he saves the shot.

Score 10-3

Quarter 3

The Cubs tie the opening sprint but lose the jump ball. The defense wins back the ball immediately, though and come down to a disappointing offensive shot. After a few wasted possessions and ill-advised shots, the Cubs finally get on the board with an Agliozzo score. The Cubs steal the ball but squander the four on two chance they get to score. After working the ball a little bit, Long Beach scores for the fourth time of the afternoon. The Cubs suffer another ejection and give up a goal to the top left hand corner off a precise shot from their opponents. The Cubs earn an ejection which queues an immediate timeout from Coach Healy. Out of the timeout, the Cubs squander their man advantage and nearly give up a goal on the other end, but Mueller steps to make the save again. The Cubs suffer another ejection but manage to keep Long Beach from scoring this time. On the other end, they earn an ejection and Altmayer scores to the near post on the left hand side. The Cubs use some stout defense to win the ball back quickly from their opponents but fail to convert the opportunity they get form the stop. The next defensive possession, however, they win the ball back and Kranz scores after a pump fake that sends the goalie the wrong way.

Score 13-5

Quarter 4

The Cubs win the opening sprint but give the ball away in an attempt to score. The Cubs work the ball around for Hale to score the fourteenth of the match. On the defensive end, the Cubs take an ejection but a big block ensures that the defense doesn’t concede. The Cubs suffer an ejection but steal the back immediately to allow their man back in the game. Long Beach calls a timeout and comes out to score immediately. The Cubs force Long Beach into an exclusion but take a poor shot and waste the man advantage. The Cubs again force an exclusion but give the ball away straight away. They put out a solid defensive possession, but hold the ball on offense to sub out the keeper. The Cubs then begin to eat away at the clock as they don’t take a shot on any of their subsequent offensive possession opting instead to eat out the clock.

Score 15-6

Post-Game Interview:

After the game, Coach Healy commented, “I think we had a strong start, something we’ve been missing the last couple of games.” However, he added, “I think we let up after the strong start; we only won the other three quarters by a total of one goal.” Junior Alex Mueller agreed, “We really got it done the first quarter, we came out rolling.”