Hargrave 1 – VES 2
With a goal in the final two minutes of play the VES Bishops (13-6) came away with the win over the Hargrave Tigers (11-2-2) on a very cold and rainy Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers put up a herculean effort against a tough VES squad, and matched up with the Bishops on every aspect of the game. Unfortunately, all that seperated these two evenly matched teams was the late goal giving the Bishops the 2-1 advantage on the scoreline.
The match brought together two of the top teams in the VIC Conference to meet in the first round of the conference playoffs. VES came into the game as the number three seeded team in the Northern Division while Hargrave entered as the number two seeded team from the Southern Division. From the very opening whistle both teams foreshadowed what would become a hard-fought, intensity filled battle that would go down to the wire, and the match proved to do exactly that.
Both teams fought their way to a scoreless first half; continuously fighting for possession of the ball, creating scoring opportunities, and time and time again putting forth incredible defensive efforts to keep the opponent scoreless. As the first half whistle ended the half, and second half began that same mentality of play carried over as both teams once again fought for ever inch with the ball.
Five minutes into the half the Tigers would strike first with a Cody Cameron goal, assisted by Josh Splinter. The two team captains would hook up for the goal after Splinter drove the ball deep down in towards the right corner of the opponent’s goal end, and sent a perfectly flighted ball to the back post. The ball carried over the VES goalkeeper where it was then met by Cameron who headed the ball home for the 1-0 lead.
Although, the Tigers lead would be short-lived as VES drew even with a goal less than two minutes later off a well taken corner kick. VES’s Gus McLean headed home the nearpost cross with a redirected shot to the back post, and tied the game at 1-1.
Both teams continued to battle to gain the advantage for the remaining 30 minutes, but neither team would let up or loose focus, and held strong defensively turning away every opportunity. With the game seemingly heading for overtime the Bishops shocked the Tigers with the late goal that trickled into the back of the net. With the late goal the Tigers could not rebound, and fell just short of a Semi-final birth.
The Tigers played one of their best, if not their best, games of the season, and made their opponent earn every inch with the ball. Their coach is very proud of them ALL for their incredible efforts not only in this game, but throughout the season.
We’ll see you in the Spring!
Final Season Statistics:
Record: 11-2-2
Goals Scored: 39
Goals Against: 10 (never allowed more than 2 goals in a game)
MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt
MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”>Shots Taken: 255 (Avg. 17 per game)
Shots Allowed: 115 (Avg. under 8 per game)
Combined Goalkeeper Saves: 77
Forced Opponent Goalkeeper Saves: 122
Individual Player Statistics:
Leading Goal Scorer(s): Nathan LeNoir (8), Philippe Armand (8)
Top Assist Leader(s): Nathan LeNoir (8), Josh Splinter (8)
Most Points: Nathan LeNoir (24)
Nathan LeNoir 8G, 8A, 24pts; Philippe Armand 8G, 1A, 17pts; Patrick Galindo 4G, 7A, 15pts; Cody Cameron 6G, 2A, 14pts; Josh Splinter 3G, 8A, 14pts; Austin Newman 3G, 4A, 10pts; Tumi Demuren 4G, 1A, 9pts; Scott Dinius 1G, 4A, 6pts; Chris Martelli 4A, 4pts; Alnor Rodrigues 1A, 1pt; Adam Crook 1A, 1pt
Goalkeepers:
Geof Frazier: 8 goals against in all 15 games of action; 64 saves; held opponent scoreless in 8 games; recorded 3 shutouts while combining for 4 shutouts.
Nathan Bloom: 2 goals against in 7 games of action; 13 saves; held opponent scoreless in 5 games; combined to record 4 shutouts.
