Just
wanted to send out a quick update about the Hamilton game the other day, sorry
for this being a little late and I apologize in advance for the brevity of my
email, lot's going on right now! First
off, playing a home game during spring break at home, mid-week, is a recipe for
a flat performance. We were lucky to
have a few parents in the stands and a couple of recruits but the game day
atmosphere was hardly any different from a typical practice in the
stadium. Fortunately it sounds like
Hamilton's break has changed for the foreseeable future and we're hoping to
move the game to a neutral site next year somewhere in the mid-Atlantic area.
We
had a great day facing off, winning 10 of 13 on the day as Brian Foster
continues to heat up as we get into the season.
Brian has always done a nice job on the initial move and is now starting
to win the ball to himself a bit instead of relying completely on our wing
play.
We
also had another good performance from our defensive unit and from Nate in the
goal. Zach Driscoll is having an All
American type year at close defense and is starting to wreak havoc on opposing
offenses by pressing out and taking his attackman out
of the game.
The
other story of the game was our inability to finish the ball on offense. We outshot Hamilton 52-26 by my count and I'm
probably only taking telling guys we can get a better one on a few
occasions. We can certainly continue to
improve the kind of looks we're getting but bottom line is we need to
finish. Credit the Hamilton goalie for
being big, being in good position and for making the stops he should make but
our guys need to place the ball better than they are right now.
It
has been nice to come out on the winning end of a few one goal games after our
stretch of close losses a year ago but it's also been a good wake-up call for
our guys to get back to work this week.
We had a great practice yesterday as we start to prepare for the Polar
Bears and hope to do the same this afternoon.
Bowdoin will bring their usual stable of 6-1/6-2, 200 pound middies to
town tomorrow and judging from their performance against Springfield the other
day, are going to bring some confidence with them as well. Middlebury vs. Bowdoin tomorrow at 1pm;
should be a great game. Wish us luck!