Eisenhower

Last night we drove up the I 82 Corridor for the second time in four days. Ike has a very good team, they are well coached and have some really good players. They came into the match 0-2 after losing in a 0-0 shootout to Hanford, and 2-0 to Kamiakin. The game was very important because from here on out all the games count for league, any team falling in a hole will find it very difficult to dig out of.

The game started out in Ike's favor. The Sun's were unable to execute the game plan and were very lucky to have Branden Hale in goal. Hale made six saves in the first half including a crucial double save that kept Ike off the board. We were fortunate to get to the half at 0-0 as we weren't playing very techincal and it was only our work ethic and physical play that kept us in the game. The second half saw our team playing a bit more organized and we started stringing some good passes together to get some decent chances at goal. Once again Hale came up big making four additional saves to tally a total of 10 for the night. With about 20 minutes left in the game Jared Brisbin decided to take the game over. First he made two runs up the middle leaving defenders in his wake, later he set up Freshmen Chandler Mertens who rifled a low shot of the keepers left post, he also did the same for Freshmen Jake Zoulek but his shot was a foot wide of the mark, and in the end with nine minutes left in the game he took Bill Landefeld's long throw down and put it at the feet of Zoulek who promptly dispatched the keeper for the game winning goal.

It was a very exciting ROAD victory that proved we can win important games at any venue. Some things to point out was our defense played very well, some mistakes were made but they were made going full speed and that is what kept Ike from capitalising. Sophomores Conner Cravens and Josh Mendoza played great and will continue to improve as we play these types of games. Once again Michael Brewer was in the right places and shut down two of Ike's more dangerous players. Congratulations to Branden Hale on his second shutout of the season. Special praises are in order to Jake Zoulek, not only did the Freshmen score his first career goal but he netted the game winner and not too many first time goal scorers can claim that.