***Sorry for the Delay in Posting***
League play continued last night with a rejuvenated Clark Physical Therapy team looking to advance past Wellspring Parable and a dominating Lightning Wear squad looking to remain undefeated against the struggling Mi Casa Rustic Furniture team.
Game 1 - Wellspring Parable 5, Clark Physical Therapy 12
When they lost on Monday, the Young Guns were missing Zielonko; last night they were missing Nielsen. Benny Arends missed both games. This means they were missing two strong scorers in both games this week, which limited their offensive play. Left to shoulder the midfield load by himself, Zielonko performed admirably and set up numerous plays to keep Wellspring Parable in the game.After losing numerous players for various reasons, Clark Physical Therapy acquired two players via allocation. Coming from Iowa State, Berg previously played in the inaugural CILA box league so he was familiar with many players on the field. Ladd brought a strong history of prep school championships from Connecticut. Both seemed to compliment the existing talent and complete the team's offensive puzzle. Their presence was definitely strong and proved to be the biggest factor in Clark's victory.
When these teams meet again in the playoffs, both should have fairly full rosters. It will be interesting to see how the fully stocked Young Guns meet up with the newly augmented Clark team. In fact, I predict that that game will be the best game of the season - period. Either team definitely has the ability to win the league championship.
Game 2 - Lightning Wear 5, Mi Casa Rustic Furniture 3
The Mi Casa boys were missing a handful of players last night including Miska and Johnston. I was still out with my back injury, but hope to be back next week. Both Aukes and Blay were on the field with Cook rounding out the defense. Kaufmann was strong on attack again with Ladd filling in for the missing Johnston. Van Dyke looks more impressive at the midfield every week. Thompson plays well under his age. Everything was clicking for Mi Casa last night.Lightning looked a little off for most of the game, despite the win. The absence of goalie Hunter Couch (Duluth lax camp) may have been the culprit, or maybe the team is just getting too comfortable with winning. As always, Shelton was a force to be reckoned with and Ben Couch was a strong shooter.
Mi Casa still can't close out a victory, but the closeness of this game is promising. Next week will be of little consequence as we are stuck with the fourth seed, but you can bet that we will fight for a win to close out the regular season and build momentum heading into the playoffs. Our goal is to upset the mighty Bolts in the semifinals.
Lightning Wear will attempt to reassert its dominance against Wellspring Parable next week. The Bolts will have their work cut out for them as the Young Guns will be hungry for a win to secure their second place position. If a full and energized Wellspring team shows up, Lightning will risk going down early and often.
