Rearview: Division II Semifinals

(Photo by Lance Wendt)

by E.J. Freeman | MCLA.us

RICHMOND- The Division II semifinals were hard fought games that  left us with a familiar matchup for the final.

#1 St. Thomas over #5 College of Idaho 16-12 – The Tommies started hot leading the Yotes 4-1 after the first quarter.  The Tommies found success by dodging and moving the ball quickly before attacking again.  Joseph Torborg and Cam Gelling presented big problems for the Yotes with their size.  By drawing the initial slide and moving the ball and attacking before the defense could reset, the Tommies were able to attack without being swarmed by the Yotes.  The Yotes were looking to attack and then get the ball behind and allow their shooters to shoot while Aiden Losinski was turning to find the ball.  This is how the Yotes scored their first goal as Grayson Flatten played distributor from behind the goal.  The Tommies started denying the forward outlets from Yotes dodgers which limited their ability to draw a slide and then feed from behind the goal.  The Yotes got their second goal by having Flatten dodge from the wing all the way behind the goal and then he fed from there to create a similar look to their first goal.

In order to combat the physical St. Thomas dodgers, the Yotes defense began to extend further out in an attempt to not let those dodgers get a head of steam.  This created more gaps in the middle as the recoveries became longer.  The Tommies also spent some possessions dodging the perimeter and taking advantage of adjacent slides rather than trying to get into the teeth of the defense inside. College of Idaho goalie Brogan Rice made 13 saves on the day, but the Tommies had him moving from side to side.  This created less clean saves and as a result, the Tommies scored three goals off of rebounds.

The Tommies led 9-3 at halftime, but the Yotes did not let the game get away from them.  The Yotes kept playing fast and pushing transition even leaving their long stick midfielder on for a essentially full possession in the third quarter.  Grayson Flatten, in addition to distributing, had success with some low angle shots and drawing slides with his quickness.  As the game wore on, the Yotes got the Tommies’ defenders in space more and had the advantage and as such drew some fouls.  The Yotes took advantage of a number of extra man opportunities to cut into the Tommies’ lead. 

Cam Gelling led the way  for St. Thomas with six points on five goals and one assist and in the process passed Joe Costello for the St. Thomas all-time goals record.  Layne Kology was patrolling the crease and pipes for the Tommies and scored three goals on the day.  The Tommies overcame a faceoff deficit with their physical defense and hounding the Yotes as they tried to convert faceoff wins into possession.   

#3 Grand Valley State over #2 Cal State San Marcos 9-7 – If  Cal State San Marcos head coach Tim Puls implored his  team to start faster after two slow starts this week, the message was received.  After Grand Valley State scored the opening goal of the game, San Marcos scored the next four goals to lead 4-1.  Kael Osborne and Colin Dobbins were taking advantage of short stick match ups throughout the first half. 

Late in the first half, after the Cougars scored to go up 6-2, the Lakers called a timeout to regroup. During the timeout the officials checked a San Marcos stick and found an illegal pocket.  The Lakers scored during the penalty to bring us to our halftime score of 6-3.  The extra man goal brought the Laker sideline back to life after the Cougars had seemingly squeezed the life out of them.

The Lakers wasted no time getting going in the third quarter.  The Cougars got a stop on an early possession, but failed to clear the ball and on the ensuing possession Bryce Gordon scored his first goal of the game.  The Lakers won the next faceoff and scored on a mid-eighties era outside bounce shot to the upper half of the net.  The Cougars committed a foul on the next faceoff and on the extra man opportunity long stick midfielder Caden Adkins, who was playing the point, lured his defender out creating a skip line from the left wing to the right wing where Caleb Lowell hammered a shot into the cage to tie the game.  Colin Dobbins scored his second goal of the game late in the third quarter to put the Cougars back in front. 

Cal State San Marcos won several races to back up shots on their defensive end throughout the game.  Landon Klug was responsible for several of them himself winning numerous extra possessions for the Cougars.  Unfortunately for the Cougars they struggled to clear the ball consistently and those hustle plays did not turn into offensive possessions often enough.  Between the failed clears and tough day at the faceoff dot the Cougars were fighting an uphill battle in the possession game.  The Lakers tied the game in the fourth quarter on an easy goal from Bryce Gordon after the Cougars turned the ball over during a clear attempt.

Grand Valley State did a good job defensively of taking away a lot of the assisted goals that the Cougars look for.  The Cougars came into the game assisting on 60% of their goals and in this game registered only one assist.  The Lakers forced the Cougars’ dodgers to score themselves and the plan worked out for the Lakers.

With 5:39 remaining in the fourth quarter and the game tied, the Cougars had an open man on the crease but threw a high pass that rolled up toward the midfield line.  Grand Valley State defenseman Davis York was the first man to the ball and he picked it up and pushed it down the field.  The Cougars did not slide and York went all the way to the goal and scored his first career goal to give the Lakers their first lead since 1-0 in the first quarter.

Each team had possessions late and the Lakers added an additional goal as the Cougars were trying to press out and get the ball back.  The Lakers will advance to play St. Thomas in the Division II final. 

The Lakers and Tommies will meet for the sixth time in the last two seasons and the third time this season to see who will take home the big trophy.