JO Blog (Day 4, Summary): Cats Finish 4-4 in Gold Bracket, Finish 13th

First off, we did feel the earthquake that hit Southern California. We were traveling between pools and were in the parking lot of Yogurtland. Everyone is safe and there was no damage that we saw along the way.

The Jungle Cats finished their 2008 National Junior Olympic experience today in grand fashion, winning both games they played and finishing 13th in the Gold Bracket (37th overall).

Win vs. Santa Barbara, 9-6
The Cats erupted in the first game of the day against an overmatched SBWPC club. John Savio's 3 goals paced the offense and Trent Going added a pretty counter-attack goal in the 3rd quarter that seemed to push the Cats over the edge. Savio's 3 goals were good enough to earn him POTG.

Full Stats: Sizemore (2A), Maloney (A), Going (G), Page (G), O'Neill (G), Savio (3G), Heafner (2G), Stipanovich (G), Derdeyn (A), Schnoring (2A), Hohenberger (11 saves on 17 shots)


Win vs. Great Lakes, 3-2
In a defensive struggle throughout, the Cats managed to win a tight game against fellow Midwest Zone team Great Lakes (MI). The team had several scoring chances that they were unable to capitalize on, but a typically stellar defensive effort from The Mikes (O'Neill & Sizemore) completely shut down the Great Lake-ians, who only had 1 goal until late in the 4th quarter. One last defensive stand with under 30 seconds left sealed the deal for the Cats. The team drew 3 5M penalty shots and convertered 2 of them (by Kyle Schnoring). John Heafner contributed the other goal. Schnoring's hard day at the office (2 shots, both goals, both penalty shots) earned him POTG.

Full Stats: Heafner (G), Schnoring (2G), Hohenberger (12 saves on 14 shots, 1 A)


Overall, it was a terrific 4 days of competition. The team bonded throughout the week and have definitely improved...and seen the way that top-flight water polo teams play in California. While I was surprised by our inability to score at times, I was pleasantly surprised that our defense was able to press for 99% of the time out here and not get burned. This is a real testament to all of our 2M guards (O'Neill, Sizemore, Going, Derdeyn) as well as the other players for making sure that we had the proper defensive match-ups we wanted. Overall, The Mikes performance earned them co-runners up of the tournament. Matt Hohenberger, who finished with 76 saves and made 3 saves on 5 total penalty shots, was named player of the game for his dominant play in the final 3 games (all wins).

Thanks so much for following the blog. Hopefully you've really enjoyed keeping up with the boys' progress and thanks for your support of Jungle Cat WP. See you all soon!


-jp
(1901)