Lions Defeat Daisy 7-2

The Lions team used a strong defensive effort to shut down Daisy and run their record to a perfect 4-0.  Offensively, John Savio & Jack Meara had timely goals, but the story was the defense.

Matt Hohenberger had countless steals from the cage on overthrown counter-attack passes.  In the field, the team alternated between a crash (in the shallow end) and pressing (in the deep end).  Both defenses were effective at befuddling the Daisy boys, who often took shots under pressure or passed directly to a crashing Cat.

Hohenberger was named Player of the Game.

Kittens 9 vs Old Warson 4

The Jungle Cat Kittens faced off against previously undefeated Old Warson tonight. In our toughest test to date, the Kittens coped with some early woes on both ends of the pool but regrouped to dominate during the second half of the game. This was the group's first experience against a team who liked to crash on defense, leading to some ill-advised passes to hole early on, but as a team we evolved and dealt with the unfamiliar defense fairly well. Michael Bowers started to get into his groove at two meters, scoring 4 goals, and Sam Erlinger played well on both ends, contributing 2 goals. Derrion Castro, Bradley Gleason, and Thomas Morgan also added tallies to the Kittens' total.

Things that went well:
Defense - we did a great job press blocking and forcing bad passes, staying in the passing lanes and looking to help.
Hole offense - Our 2M players are getting more comfortable shooting out of hole, but they are still doing a great job of looking for open drivers.
Protecting the ball - we're going a much better job of push dribbling to open water

Areas in need of improvement:
Maintaining an umbrella - despite touching on this topic every day for the past two weeks, we spent very little time balanced properly and the middle was overcroweded for most of the game
Counterattacking - Although roughly half of our goals came from counterattacks, we rarely looked weak and passed to the open man cross-goal

Cubs Weeks 2 & 3

Sorry for the delay. As always, I am going from memory on the score as stats aren't kept.

Tiger Cubs
Last week, the Tiger Cubs had a great showing against the SLAP Women. The defensive effort was fantastic holding SLAP to only 2 goals. Joe Kabance and Ben Kimbrough led the way at 2M guard. The aptly named Max Wahl had a great game in goal and won player of the game honors.

This week, the Tiger Cubs had to face a very physical Kirkwood team. I don't know why, but some seniors-to-be were playing for Kirkwood in what is meant to be a JV league. Anyway, the TC's got off to a rough start by throwing passes to teammates who weren't looking, which resulted in a lot of counter-attack goals for Kirkwood, 8 in all in the first half. In the second half, the TC's improved their passing and their defense, allowing only 3 second half goals and scoring 8 themselves (6 in the 4th quarter) which brought the final score to 11-9 Kirkwood. For the second week in a row, Ben Kimbrough and Joe Kabance led the second half defensive charge and both are improving greatly. The player of the game (there were many candidates worthy) went to Robert Garlock for playing hard both ways, often being in the right position at the right time.

Lion Cubs
Last week, the Lions Cubs battled SLAP to a 13-9 win (I think). SLAP was physical and counter-attacked hard and it took some adjusting for the LC's to leave for defense early to prevent counters. Colby Faddis again led the offensive charge (a SLAP parent was overheard saying "who is that kid?") and the defensive stopping was left up to Mitch Kramer and Nate Burgraff. Nate earned POTG game honors by making multiple stops on SLAP's 2M's.

This week, the LC's got off to a rough start against Parkway who boasted a graduated senior from Parkway West, Kevin Gallas. Kevin was bigger and more physical than our guards, and countered early and make strong moves close to the goal. Mitch and Nate adjusted though and started keeping their hips up and pushing Kevin outside 5M, where he became ineffective. Nate took home POTG honors again for figuring out how to stop Kevin's backhand. Michael Hagerty, Colby Faddis and Mitch Meyer led the offensive charge as the LC's won 14-10 (or so).

6/26 KITTENS 14 vs. ELKS CLUB 1

The Jungle Cat Kittens continued their unbeaten season with a 14-1 win over Elks Club. Offensively they were led by Michael Bowers with 3 goals and Michael Savio with 4 goals. Defensively the Kittens forced a lot of turnovers by staying in the passing lanes, press blocking and not fouling on the perimeter. Derrion Castro also demonstrated some stellar goaltending, making some great saves during the second quarter. After scoring several goals on counterattacks we shifted our attention to scoring off of drives for the rest of the game.

Things we did well:
Guarding the passing lanes
Press blocking
Counterattacking
Protecting the ball

Areas that need improvement:
Communication
Maintaining an umbrella on offense
Matching up after goals have been scored

Note: Next week, games will be held on Tuesday instead of Thursday. We will play Old Warson at 6:00 pm. We will be practicing on Monday and Wednesday normal times at Chaminade. Due to the game on Tuesday there will be no game or practice on Thursday.

What a day!! Cats Dominate at Lyons

The day started at 5:15am and ended at almost 11:30pm in the St. James the Greater parking lot. In between, the Jungle Cat JO Team showed they are a force in the Midwest zone, going 3-0 against strong Chicago competition.

In the first game of the day, after a 4+ hour car ride, the Cats struggled to convert several early chances. However, the talent of the Cats was too much for the team from NIPC. John Heafner led the scoring assault with 4 goals, while Matt Stipanovich played Santa Claus, handing out 5 gifts (assists) to his teammates. In goal, Matt Hohenberger showed a little rust from his volleyball-related absence, but was steady enough to make 8 saves in the Cats' 15-5 opening win. Heafner was named the Player of the Game.


Up next for JCWP was Windy City, the club team of Chicago's dominant high school Fenwick. Boasting one of the top players in the area who is on the Jr. National team, Windy City came out strong and aggressively. Jack Meara's early counter-attack goal, though, helped settle the Cats down and it was 2-2 going into the 2nd quarter. However, shooting in the shallow end -- a real disadvantage as the 2M defenders were literally allowed to stand straight up on the bottom -- the Cats started to lose it. Defensively, they were being overmatched, the offense was stagnant and the counter-attack was gone. We were literally hanging on by a thread. The scoreboard read 5-2 at halftime in favor of the bad guys.

However, St. Louis pride kicked in and the Cats were a totally different team in the 2nd half. Playing a near flawless press & playing extremely tough in the water, the Cats outscored the befuddled Windy City team 7-1 in the final half of play, pulling away for a 9-6 win. EVERYONE on the team played great. Highlights were Meara's ferociousness guarding hole, Michael O'Neill's unfailing determination, and Will Derdeyn's bounce-skip upper-corner shot. Hohenberger also made some terrific saves on some very good shots. Meara was runner-up POTG, with the overall honors going to Derdeyn.


In the final game of the day, the Jungle Cats again proved too be FAR too much for their opponent, West Suburban. Although they started slowly, the game quickly got out of control as the Cats exploded for 12 goals by halftime, and ended up with an 18-4 victory to finish 3-0. Stipanovich led with 8 points (3G, 5A) while Heafner led in goals with 5.


All in all, it was a long day but a very successful one. Everyone was confident in their abilities going in, but they now have proof that they can dominate when they want to. John Heafner was named Player of the Day for averaging a hat trick for the day.

Thanks to Coach Cutelli for organizing the trip, and to the Maloneys for transportation, drinks, & stat keeping.


Final Stats (G/A by game (ie: game 1 :: game 2 :: game 3 :: total))
Sizemore - 3/1 :: 0/0 :: 2/1 :: 5/2
Maloney - 1/1 :: 0/0 :: 2/1 :: 3/2
Meara - 1/1 :: 2/0 :: 1/1 :: 4/2
Going - 0/0 :: 0/0 :: 0/1 :: 0/1
O'Neill - 1/1 :: 1/2 :: 2/0 :: 4/3
Savio - 3/1 :: 0/0 :: 1/3 :: 4/4
Heafner - 4/0 :: 3/3 :: 5/0 :: 12/3
Derdeyn - 2/1 :: 2/0 :: 2/2 :: 6/3
Stipanovich - 0/5 :: 1/1 :: 3/5 :: 4/11

Hohenberger - 24 saves, 6 assists, 15 GA

A Level, Week 2

Week 2 began with a disappointing showing from the Leopards. Steve Sigman and Danny Faust controlled their respective ends of the pool, leading the squad to outscore SLAP 12-5. Unfortunately, the game was made possible only by the Leopards borrowing a goalie from the opponent, as a mere six of the fourteen players on the JCWP roster attended.

The Lions welcomed back goalie Matt Hohenberger, who sparkled against the Mad Dogs. Patrick Maloney and John Savio keyed the offense, but several late defensive lapses made the final score of 15-5 somewhat respectable.

The undermanned Leopards were then scheduled to square off against the Lions, resulting in their second forfeit of the evening. Some roster shuffling netted the Leopards several Lions, including Hohenberger, as well as Coach Tom Tandler and former Jungle Cat Wes Going. Both teams spent the majority of the game employing a crash defense, and the revised Leopards came out on top 11-10.

Finally, the Tigers matched up with Daisy and brutish 2-meter Hayden Yancey from Ladue. Nick Debandt and Rob Golterman took turns tolerating Yancey's hijinks, and Kyle Schnoring and Parker Finlinson provided enough offense for a solid 8-4 win.

After two weeks of play, and neglecting forfeits, Jungle Cat Water Polo proudly features the top three teams in the A level of the 2008 Summer League!

Thursday June 12th Kittens vs. MAD DOG

Sorry for the tardiness. The Kittens played well in their first outing of the season. The final score was 8-4. For having not gone over team offense or much of team defense I was impressed with the overall flow of the game. The team did a great job of press blocking which prevented the other team from making easy passes. I would really like to see everyone work on staying in the passing lanes in the next game.

Lion Cubs beat SLAP Women

The Lion Cubs had a strong first showing against SLAP Women. As with the Tiger Cubs game, I didn't write down the score, but I think it was 13-0. The Lion Cubs don't have a true goalie so Eddie Harris, Luke Allen, Anthony Petralia and Patrick Gleason combined for the shut-out. The Lions Cubs had great perimeter defense against the SLAP Women which resulted in a lot of steals and counter-attack goals. The largest area of improvement would be communication, especially on defense. Player of the game was Colby Faddis who played excellent at both ends of the pool.

-Coach Tom

Tiger Cubs lose to SLAP

The Tiger Cubs got off to a rough start as SLAP counter-attacked their way to an easy win. I didn't write the score down, but I believe it was 14-7. Our focus in the coming weeks will be to anticipate going to defense (and offense) and protecting the ball ont he perimeter. The highlights of the game were some great saves by Max Wahl and good 2M defense by Ben Kimbrough. Player of the game was Elliot Ladd who showed good offensive aggressiveness and was our leading scorer.

-Coach Tom