Arizona Results

We had some great games this weekend in Arizona. Before giving you the results let's get a little background.

1. Less than 1 month back from our month off - so we were not in the best shape and all games were played in a 30 meter pool and 7 minute quarters.
2. We had two sub. (We picked up a third sub: Paul Watson - he came down and worked out with us about 2 weeks ago).
3. This team had 1 starter from last years team.

The team really played well over all - they played their hearts out did not give up (sometimes the body could not move but the mind was trying to swim). Here are quick recaps of the games this weekend.

1st Game in round play: RSOF this was Steve's (S&R) guy team - they were pretty loaded with top players. We began the game in the sun and the 1st quarter they got a lead that was hard to catch. When Rob was making passes he could not see if he was passing to the white or black. In the 2nd and 3rd quarter we closed the gap playing great defense. In the 4th quarter right as the team was lining up for the sprint someone said "Come we can win - let's start shooting hard and putting the ball away" And booooommmmmm the team played offense, took 2 bad shot attempts and they counter and scored and within 1 min into the 4th quarter we were out of the game. Good news: we scored 11 goals!!! Bad news they scored 17 goals.

2nd Game in round play: Played Thor's former team - it was close the 1st half then we broke away on counter attacks winning by a over 10 goals.

3rd Game and final game in round play: U of A "B" team both teams with the same record 1 win 1 lost. This is a university team (you know the type, young, in shape, fast). They scored the 1st 2 goals off of counter attacks - They did not get up because they anticipated they were just fast. We slowly closed the gap and finally tied them late in the 3rd quarter. We only needed a tie to advance 2nd in our bracket instead of 3rd. It was close but we tied which was a win for us for two reason: We did not give them goals because we just thought offense, score and the 2nd reason: this win put us in the top 6. Good News: In top 6 Bad news: Had to play the last game and everyone who drove would not get home till after 1 or 2 am... if we lost that game everyone who drove would get home 6 pm.

Thor had our Bar-B-Q - great steaks - corn - roasted onions - beer - wine... Zach and Rainie brought special sausages and sandwiches... or yeah Jake had his 1st Beer and only fall down once.

1st game final round: Played KAOS - good players lots of experience and play a smart game. Great game for us - lost by 1 goal.

2nd and final game in final round: Played University of Arizona "A" team - you know those young, in shape, fast players who were better than their "B" team - which we tied). They were very fast and everytime we made a bad pass, took a bad shot or even took a good shot they countered us - not every other time but everytime they swam us and were up on the counter. Rob played a great game and blocked most of their shot and kept us in the game or they over passed on the counter which allowed our slower bodies to catch up and messed their counters up. U of A had the lead in the 1st half by 2-3 goals - in the 3rd quarter we made a nice run and took the lead by 3 goals then came the wall!!!! We hit the wall, we began to force play and they came back to tie. In the final rounds the golden goal rule applied - so off we went to sudden death. (Oh by the way only kidding about Jake drinking his 1st beer - Jake also scored in every game) They won the sprint - nothing - we lost the ball from a bad pass on the wind - nothing - they set up nothing - we lost the ball on the wing - nothing - they scored.

The team played well: Every played stepped up their game and took on roles they do not usually play with the masters. Their game knowledge and leadership has gone to the next level. We had great games - played great - and most important had a great time.