Sierra Nevada Sweeps Oregon Trip
PORTLAND, Ore. - The Eagles move to 6-1 on the season with a 7-6 victory this afternoon over the Pilots from the University of Portland.
This was the first game in a doubleheader road trip for the Eagles.
Senior attackman Kyle Rockwell (San Jose, Calif.) paced the Sierra Nevada offense with a hat trick on the day. Also getting on the board for the Eagles were Jacob Dubyak (Carmichael, Calif.), Nic Zvirzin (San Diego, Calif.) and defensman Sergio Orduna adding a tally.
Faceoffs played a major factor in today's victory. Specialists Todd Grimm (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) and Kevin Pham (San Rafael, Calif.) combined to win 88 percecnt of the draws.
"Portland gave us all that we could handle today," explained Eagle coach, Matt Blamey."After blowing our halftime lead, we were fortunate to escape with a win this afternoon. Hats off to the Pilots for their aggressive play."
The Eagles (6-1) will face Southern Oregon (7-1) on Sunday afternoon at SOU's Raider Stadium. Face-off is scheduled for 12:00PM.
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ASHLAND, Ore. - As the rain came down in Southern Oregon on Sunday afternoon, Sierra Nevada poured in the goals. At the final whistle the Eagles stood victorious handing the Raiders their second loss of the season by a score of 11-4.
Attackman Nic Zvirzin led the Eagles in scoring with four goals and an assist. Big contributors included midfieders Dylan Fangmeier (3g), Danny Dubyak (2g) and Jake McIntyre (1g, 1a). Attackman Jake Caliguire rounded out the offense adding a goal and an assist on the day.
The Eagle offense started out quickly, scoring on five of the first seven shots in the opening quarter. Defensively, SNC continued their stout play, only allowing two goals in the first half. In particular, defenders Matt Hennis and Jack Witt were a force all over the field, grabbing six and 13 ground balls respectively.
"In team sports you hear the word family thrown around a lot," said Eagle coach Matt Blamey, "...sometimes too much. Last night we had a really long meeting and a lot of things were discussed amongst the team. I think we knocked down a few walls and really began to come together. Not only are the guys starting to act like a family, today we played like one. We've still got a way to go, but this was a very good weekend for the program."
Road warriors so far, today's win brings the Eagle's record to 7-1. The first home game of the season for SNC is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, March 23rd, as the Toreros from the 19th-ranked University of San Diego travel to Tahoe.