Day 1- 2-0. First tournament playing together team came together quickly and playoff well together. Very solid team defense in front of both goalies, Charlie Palandati and Blake Cole. Offensively, getting strong mid field play by Billy Nolan, Stephen Hirschmann & Brett Pohlmeyer. Attackman Dylan Mansur & Bennett Johnson had terrific first day of Tournament.
Day 2- They started off there day with a semifinal game that was no challenge to there ability and won it easily 20-0. They had a strong offense that seemed unstoppable. While there defense was just men over boys. This made an easy way to there championship game.
U15 played the Rhinos from the west coast. Going into the game our team had a 4-0 record and had out scored our oppenants 78-5.
We knew the Rhinos were going to test us. They were big and athletic. Our team won the opening face off and had a good offensive possession but unfortunately it did not lead to a goal. The Rhinos scored 2 quick goals and took an early 2-0 lead. Stephen Hirschmann got Academy Mortgage on the board with a strong dodge from up top and scored on a bounce shot.
Both teams battled for th remainder of the first half. It was a physical game with Accademy Mortage's defense leading the charge. The first half ended with the Rhinos up 4-3, but we knew we were right there in the game and the momentum was shifting in our favor.
The Rhinos opened the 2nd half with an early extra man goal, but academy mortgage answered with 3 goals, 2 by Brandon Senft and 1 by Jack Andrews.
The Rhinos and Academy Mortgage each exchanged a couple more goals and the Rhinos took an 8-7 lead with about 6 minutes left in the game.
The defense anchored by Hunter Smith, Craig Chick, and Alex Bandarenko, plus solid goalie play by Blake Cole shut down the Rhinos and forced numerous turnovers. One turn over led to one of the prettiest goals of the tournament,
Chase Kipke picked up a ground ball neat the midfield line, he quickly passed the ball to Brandon Sendt who was sprinting down the field toward the goal. Senft could have easily taken the ball another 30 yards to the goal but he found Dylan Mansur on the back side of the goal. Senft made a quick pass to Mansur who immediately found mid fielder Andrew Thomas cutting to the cage. Mansur made a perfect feed to Thomas who finished the play with a goal to tie the game at 8.
After another dnsive stand, Billy Nolan drew a penalty that put Academy Mortgage a man up. Brandon Senft found the back of the net one more time to give Academy Mortgage the lead for good.
Academy Mortgage got an insurance goal by Mansur and several nice saves by Cole with less then 2 minutes left in the game.
Academy Mortgage wins the championship with a 10-8 victory over The Rhinos.
