Cheese Steak

We knew coming into the game that the NMH team was very strong, but it seems that the final factor was lunch. The KUA dining hall served Philly Cheese Steak grinders for lunch, and several of our players enjoyed them. At any rate, we played the entire game at about half our normal level of intensity. NMH controlled the start of the game, keeping the ball in our half for the first ten minutes of the game and scoring one goal. We started playing with more spirit at that point, and John Erwin created two good scoring opportunities, one of which went just wide and the other was grabbed by the NMH keeper. Mid-way through the first half, Cam Plume and an NMH player banged shins in a bizarre collision – Cam was in pain but could return briefly in the second half, and unfortunately the NMH player was more seriously hurt. KUA kept up the pressure, with Jon Li launching a shot just wide of the net and John Erwin taking another great shot from the right side that was gathered up by the keeper. Nick Wilder, Alisdair McPhail, Will Haynes, and Brian Kim were strong on defense, and keeper Max van Dijk made several good saves, but NMH put one more in to go up 2 – 0 at the half. The Wildcats came out ready for a strong second half but gave up a fluky goal after less than two minutes. NMH continued to pressure the KUA net, but Max was strong, the defense held tight, and Jon, John, and Tom Huang each worked hard to attack the NMH goal. Bridger Close played particularly well distributing the ball from the midfield, but NMH scored once more on an impressive blast and the game ended at 4 – 0. Overall, the Wildcats lacked their usual energy today, but the NMH team was impressive and carried the play. Next up, Lakes Region rival Tilton on Friday at 4:45.