Landon Lacrosse 10 Northern 7

The Patriots, undefeated (5-0, averaging 19.4 GAA; 2017 18-2, winning MD 32 South-1 last year), is an annual game on the Landon schedule.  Northern had some size and some young guns on its roster. They enter the field with their own flag in the front of the line and vociferous fans behind.

The visitors obviously knew that they had to stop Joey Epstein; so, they concentrated on his movements. The Bears’ first broke the 6’ x 6’ plane on the front of orange metal and net sideways pyramid @ 10:39. The play began with a pass from behind that did not reach the intended target. Instead the ball fell to the ground where Gilbert Sentimore scooped it up and fired a goal.

Joey E and Gilbert connected on two consecutive, almost identical plays. The attackman at X moved, the crease attackman mirrored that movement, the Patriot D prepared to slide, Joey passed, and Gilbert showed his soft hands by quick-sticking goals @ 9:47 and @ 5:41. That pattern impressed one of the Northern fans who thereafter yelled “Get #3” every time the home team brought the ball into their O zone.

The Patriots scored with one of their young guns at 4:53

END OF THE 1^ST QUARTER BEARS 3 PATRIOTS 1

There were no scores by any team for the first five minutes of the penultimate period. The home D was a virtually impenetrable web—Mo Sillah (3 CTs, 2 GBs), Drew Wellington (1 CT and 4 GBs), Alex Hagerup and Ryan Giles (1 A, 2 CTs and 5 GBs)—did not allow Northern much room to roam freely.

The Patriots started a mini-revolt by rifling the first goal of this period at 7:00 decreasing the Bear margin to only +1 and drawing rebellious cheers from the visiting fans.

The Northern invasion irritated Bear Captain, John Geppert, who initiated two replies. Forcing a slide from his MF position, John fed Graham Hertzberg for Landon goal #4 @5:30. Soon thereafter #7 found an open Garrett Kurtz for the next score @9:28.

Gilbert pleased the coaches when he fed Billy Banfield for the next tally @ 3:24. The next addition to the scorebook of a goal started with a Joey E assist followed by a “no, no, no…yes” (coach talk) backhand goal by Gilbert @ 1:52.

HALFTIME SCORE BEARS 7 PATRIOTS 2

The Landon coaching staff ignores the sabermetricians who base their rankings based on a large scoring margin. Coach Bordley and his wise teachers/mentors/coaches place greater emphasis on the principle that  “the play’s the thing”  (Hamlet) to improve the future of the team. Numbers 15, 16,17, 22, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 33 and 35 were able to test their metal against the visitors.

The Patriots earned their 3^rd goal at 9:05.

A CT in the Bears D zone resulted in Ryan sprinting down the field on a fast break. He passed the ball to Joey E who ripped a shot into the corner of the NHS goal @ 5:33.

The young Patriots responded with two responses at 2:56 and then 1:46.

Literally as the clock expired (@0:00), Joey G beat the Patriot goalie with a one-handed goal.

END OF 3^RD PERIOD BEARS 9 PATRIOTS 5

The team from Owings, MD did not give up and they successfully fed their crease attackman at 11:11 and 8:35.

John moved his team’s score to double digits with an 11-yard shot @ 5:00.

Speed in the MF and attack kept the ball away from the opponents to wrap up Win #7.

FINAL SCORE BEARS 10 PATRIOTS 7

KHARI BATEN “THAT’S A BEAR” AWARDS

[numerical order]

Joey Epstein

Gilbert Sentimore

Will Bou

Billy Banfield

Ryan Giles

Drew Wellington

Mo Sillah

Next game at StA 4/11  4:45 (the Bulldogs did not practice today and instead  watched the Northern game).