Tough, gritty win for Fog City. 8-7 over Bucks Select (White) (All Star team from Central Pennsylvania). FC scores the first goal and the last goal to pull out a victory.
Game is out at a public park - Meadowwood Park. Grass field, not level, ruts, not well mowed. Looked like West Sunset - but in 100 degree heat and humid. Toughest weather yet and it showed at the beginning.
Billy Sullivan starts in goal. Riley Burke, Jack McGovern and Cole Steigerwald at long poll. Dave Fleming, Joe Lang and Brendan Hahn start at attack. CullenVincelette at face off, LSM Charlie Ford and Matt Emery.
White gets the first face off and works ball around cage. Good stick skills - more talented team than this morning. White gets loose in front of net but Billy Sullivan is a brick wall and stops the point blank shot - and White is called for a penalty and FC goes man up right away.
Man up offense gets off one shot and ball goes right back to White. But Matt Emery forces a turnover at midfield. Ball again goes back to White and this time Riley Burke on D stops a shot with his stomach. Riley goes down and refs halt play until he is able to walk off himself. He will come back later in the game. White maintains possession.
But white is called for unsportsmanlike conduct and FC takes over with a man up opportunity. (Some of their boys had filthy mouths). Matt Emery takes the ball and finds Spencer Evans wide open at the top of the box. Evans drills his shot over the goalie's shoulder and FC goes up 1-0.
FC gets the face off and works open for a couple of shots. But they are not yet falling and we are playing somewhat lethargic. Is it the heat? Joe Lang shoots wide, then Chad Bell shoots wide. White takes back possession.
Again, Billy Sullivan makes some great save and stops another tough shot. Jack McGovern clears. Chad Bell gets loose again but his shot sails high and ball goes right back to White.
Billy Sullivan makes another amazing save and Jack McGovern clears to midfield. But offense can't get going and White is able to clear and get open for a shot and score to tie the game. 1-1.
White goes on a scoring spree here and they score 2 quick goals to take the lead to 3-1.
FC gets the next face off and Spencer Evans gets loose again in front but their goalie makes a great save and on the clear, FC is called for a penalty. Now we play man down.
Billy Sullivan is making some amazing stops in goal. He makes one on a rocket shot by White and clears to Cullen Vincelette. Matt Emery gets loose for a shot but their goalie is playing as good as ours and Emery can't get it past him. White is able to clear quickly and score their third in a row. 4-1 White.
Brendan McDermott wins a tough face off but our offense just doesn't look in sync and we turn it over once more.
Back on D, Jack McGovern forces a loose ball on a great stick check and with 2 guys draped all over him, clears it to Brendan McDermott at midfield. Ryan Kase gets loose at the top of the box and bounces a shot but it goes over the cross bar. White is called for a penalty right before half and FC holds the ball so they can start with possession in the 2nd half.
Down at halftime 4-1
2nd Half
Man is it hot. We are like herds of cattle looking to crowd under what little shade is available. But great team moms taking care of the boys are keeping them cool. Dana Emery, Janie Burke, Patrick Burke and Harris Holzberg all taking care of the boys to keep them hydrated and cool.
Cyrus Scott starts the 2nd half in goal.
Fog City starts this half with possession. Boys work it around the cage and Joe Lang on goalie's left finds Dave Fleming on right wing cutting to the goal. Lang hits Fleming with a pass that Flem catches in the air and shoots before his feet hit the ground. Beautiful goal and FC has some life! 4-2 White.
Spencer Evans gets a tough ground ball on the face off and drives right down the middle of the box drawing defenders to him. Evans passes back to Cullen Vinceletteopen on the right top of box and Vincelette's bounce shot low right finds the net. 4-3 White. Momentum back to us. White is also called for a penalty.
White gets the possession on the face off, but Ryan Pidgeon forces a loose ball and Matt Emery clears it to Chad Bell. Bell passes right back to Emery who is driving towards goal and on his birthday, Emery buries the shot and ties the game. 4-4.
Lots of hitting and physical play in this game and both sides are mixing it up. But White regains momentum and scores two quick goals to recaputure the lead 6-4.
Again on the face off White controls but Cyrus Scott makes a nice save on a shot. He finds Cole Steigerwald on the wing who throws a long pass down the field that Spencer Evans catches beautifully in traffic. Quick passing by Evans to Marcus Holzberg to Joe Lang in front of the goal and FC is back within 1. 6-5 White.
Nice to see that on all five goals so far, we have 5 assists. Good team work to stay in this game.
White gains possession on the face off, but LSM Charlie Ford knocks down the pass, scoops up the loose ball and clears to Brendan Hahn. Boys work ball around and almost throw it away, but Chad Bell makes a nice save to keep possession for FC. White is called for a penalty and we go man up. But FC can't score and at the time I thought this might have been the possession of the game because we couldn't get off a shot. But the boys rose to the challenge.
Cyrus Scott makes another nice save and Riley Burke grabs the ball out of midair to clear. But FC turns it over on transition and White gets a quick score. 7-5 White.
White gets possession of the next face off but D is stout and forces a turnover. Dave Fleming breaks away from the pack and finds Brendan Hahn in front of the goal. Hahn makes the goalie move his stick and then buries the shot to bring it back to a one goal lead for White 7-6.
FC shows their drive in the last 4 minutes of this slugfest. They fight hard for every ground ball and just appear to want the game more than White. Next possession, boys find Joe Lang in back of the goal one on one with a defender. Joe "Silky" Lang dodges his defender, curls around from behind the cage and buries the shot over the goalies shoulder to tie the game. 7-7
Now just 2:40 left in the game. Moore Harris gets the ground ball on the face off and clears through three defenders who are all over him. He gets the ball to Joe Lang on the left wing. Again, Silky Lang dodges his long poll defender, breaks for the net and drops the shot in again over the goalie's shoulder to make the score 8-7. Our parents erupt.
Next possession is crucial and White is called for an infraction so Cullen Vincelette takes possession and FC is determined to hold the ball for the final two minutes to pull out the victory. The combination of Chad Bell, Matt Emery, Dave Fleming, Joe Lang, Cullen Vincelette and Brendan McDermott hold the ball for the final 2 minutes as White is chasing them all over the field.
Fog City wins 8-7. Really, really good victory.
Scoring: Goals: Matt Emery 1, Joe Lang 3, Spencer Evans 1, Dave Fleming 1, Cullen Vincelette 1 and Brendan Hahn 1. Assists: Matt Emery 1, Spencer Evans 1, Joe Lang 1, Chad Bell 1, Marcus Holzberg 1.
With this win we are most likely in the playoffs. If we win tonight, for sure we are in the playoffs.
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