Three Games In Texas Bring Wonderful Experiences

 It was a great weekend and some wonderful experiences for our beloved Laxcats as we traveled to Austin, TX for 3 games.

The weekend got rearranged due to severe weather in that area and we ended up playing our first 2 games, Texas A & M and Texas in Austin and finished up in Georgetown, TX against Southwestern University.

Thanks to the generosity of parents and Alumni and special thanks to Alumni Dave and Kim Milliken who had us over for dinner at their beautiful home Sunday night, the players had to reach into their pockets minimally during the weekend. The parents that responded were The Potter's and The Cambra's. Laxcat Alumni Scott Leslie, Bill Small (always there when needed), Chris Glasser and Mike Sorvillo were extremely important contributors. Chris and Maddy Glasser were able to come to Sunday's game to see some old friends and add their support. Chris is currently stationed in Ft. Hood, TX and is scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan this summer. Alumni Mike Sorvillo, who lives in Chicago, made a major contribution to the Program.

Also thanks go out to family members, Mike Nardi, Andrea Price and daughter, Aus Plummer, Vickie Caton, Louise and Mike Chitwood, and of course, my daughter Kimberlee and grandchildren Alyssa and Kyle who all braved the conditions to support The Laxcats throughout the weekend.

For those of you that didn't see the results on Laxcats.com or MCLA.us, here's a short rundown. The Laxcat defense cannot be overlooked as they had a terrific weekend in all 3 games. That includes some stellar goaltending by juniors Cooper Robbins and Ben Kagen. Another major aspect of our success was the superb work of our 2 face-off specialists, junior Mike “Tots” Totero and freshman John Soloman. Their combined efforts, which included Monday's 10 of 10 for Tots, was 44 of 55 faceoffs won or 80% for the weekend. We beat Texas A & M on Saturday, 12-7, relatively easily with freshmen, Brooks Nardi and Jordon Goldstein adding 3 goals apiece, senior Alex “Big Country” Beauchamp with two, while freshmen Alex Potter, Graham Seamans, and sophomores Mike “Cammo” Cammorata and Matt Hickerson each contributing a goal. Frankie Connell assisted on two goals.

On Sunday, we had a heartbreaking loss to #17 Texas 8-7 in double overtime after coming back from a 3 goal deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game, in some of the strangest weather and lighting conditions. The defense held the Longhorns to an early goal in the final stanza which increased their lead to 7-4. Not to be out done, Graham Seamans scored unassisted 11 seconds later narrowing the deficit to 2 goals. Both teams fighting the weather and receiving excellent goaltending, fought up and down the turf until Jordan Goldstein scored on an assist from Brooks Nardi with 2:33 left on the clock. With the Laxcat sideline providing a power boost, Captain Big Country took it his hands and tied the game 17 seconds later with 2:16 remaining forcing the overtime.

In Lacrosse, we play 4 minute overtime periods until one team scores. The first team to score wins. Texas and Arizona battled back and forth during the first overtime with neither team able to get to “Sudden Victory”. In the second OT period we had our chances but in the end, Texas got the goal that would be the game winner.

On Monday, our boyz rebounded nicely to defeat Southwestern University 16-2. In that game, everyone played with 10 players scoring goals on 7 assists. Graham Seamans led the way with 3 goals and 2 assists (3/2) followed by "Cammo's" 2/2, Big Country's 2/1, Potter and Mike Hook with 2/0, Frankie 1/1, Ryan Daly 1/1, and Jordan, CJ Price, and Justin Gabriel all 1/0.

On to San Diego State in Tucson, Sunday, Feb. 21st.

Cheers,
Mickey-Miles