Wow, the NMH Varsity Boys team was good, really good. Everyone of their athletes could throw, caught everything that was anywhere near them, and they were all crazy fast. We went down 5-1 early in this one as each of our players took turns trying to guard their 6'-6" receiver who was catching everything. We put together a few good strings, proving to ourselves that we have the skills, but again our lack of cuts and miscommunications costs us the game. NMH never took their foot off the gas and the game ended in time to catch the last 30 minutes or so of the JV game. Special shout outs to Ezra Von Mertens and Graeme Watson, both of whom ran super hard the whole game, and to Hayden Anderson who was our only female player on the varsity team for this game against the all-boys team from NMH.

NMH came out with a 1-3-3 zone/wall defense, which was a first for our team, shutting down our ability to get any kind of flow going and went up 3-0. Dublin responded by focusing efforts on speeding up the swing passes and moving the disc before the cup could get on the mark. It worked and we broke through their wall twice. They switched to a person D to try to hold us back, but our team would not be denied and we stormed ahead to take the first half. The stiff cross wind did not deter Connor Roberts from taking multiple shots at the end zone; He found his hammer and once that thing was out, there was no putting it back in the holster. Eve Hicks was a dominant presence on defense, Nora Snyder ran incredibly hard the whole gam - providing endless cuts, Elias Sieswerda caught countless passes all over the field and 5 of the team's goals, and Rhys Anderson's steady hands and nose for the end zone delivered us 2 of our 9 goals. And then there was Helen Ren's point of the season - Helen took over the game in one point and was literally every other as she worked the disc up the field, catching and throwing pass after pass until she finally threw for the game winning score. It was an amazing site. There was a tremendous effort by all the players and it was a big win for the young squad.

Spring finally arrived and with it another win in our opening game of the tournament. Perhaps a sign of things to come? We were hopeful. The team used the first game of the day to work out the kinks in the new 2-2-3 zone, which we planned to run on Eagle Hill and MacDuffie to shut down their deep game. It proved effective in stopping deep passes, but a new leak sprang as we kept allowing short throws into the middle. Perhaps a sign of things to come? It was a great game by all but most notable, other than CATS' unconventional backyard barbecue backhands, was Taylor LeClair. Taylor had the game of his season, catching goal after goal in the win. He chased down everything and we saw some of his biggest skies yet.

Stepping onto the field to take on Eagle Hill after the dominant win against CATS, the team was fired up. Our first 4 points of the game were super intense but ultimately not converting to tie it at 2-2, but rather letting Eagle Hill take lead at 3-1 proved to be the start of a lull for the team. Eagle Hill pulled away with their athleticism and solid all around play, and with the short game format, we never recovered. Connor Roberts scored a big goal in the game, making the catch just beyond the outstretched hand of Eagle Hill's best player. The team had a mini-rally toward the end of the game, hearing "Let's Go Dublin" coming from the MacDuffie team, scoring the last 2 points. Rhys Anderson caught the final point of the game after 2 Eagle Hill players tipped it on D and Rhys still came up with the catch. The sidelines erupted. We had momentum going into the next game.

For our final game of the day and with the chance to finish 2nd in the tournament, we implemented the 2-2-3 zone to shut down MacDuffie's offensive deep game, and it worked. To their credit though, they pivoted to a short game, and shredded our zone hitting players just behind the cup, gaining 10-15 yards at a time. We earned some chances on D, but were never able to convert them into points. Our offensive line never got it going; We needed more cuts and more options for the throwers and they just were not there. Three games in a day is a lot and this was the first "tournament" format for most of our athletes. Despite not meeting our expectations, we are hoping the experience will help as we continue to build for the RVAL tournament later this season.