Photos courtesy of Lisa Erdmann Entering this season The Benjamin School Buccaneers were the subject of much speculation. Having progressed from a District power to State Championship contender over the past three years, the Bucs fate this year hinges upon a number of factors. After losing their entire starting defensive squad to graduation, three of whom moved on to play at the next level (Two Time All American Jerry O’Connor/Yale, John Dorsett/Gettysburg, Anthony Cicio/Manhattan), it was unclear what expectations were on the defensive side of the field. Match that with one of the most potent offensive starting six in the area, including Andrew Packer/Maryland; Cam Thompson/Rutgers; Chris Erdmann/Kenyon; Colin O’Hare/THE Ohio State; Will Nicklaus/UNC and you have a pretty clear mandate: score more than you allow! Benjamin’s first two games proved the point. Winning at home against Pope John Paul and then on the road against St. Edward’s were “W’s” but didn’t provide insight into how Benjamin will perform against the established elite, or a hungry up-and-comer. The one fact that did become apparent; Coach Rye and his staff are not going to be shy about playing the young guns. At any given point during a game, the Bucs’ on the field are mostly sophomores and freshmen. Tuesday night’s game at district rival, Palm Beach Gardens showed more of the same. Sophomore middies Griffin Bowie and Christian Cropp tallied two quick goals and got the Benjamin offense rolling from the opening whistle. Soon after the Bucs earned an EMO after a clear holding penalty when three Gator defenders tried to slow senior attackman Chris Erdmann as he dodged to goal. Freshman Will Nicklaus punished them immediately with an overhand rip. A solid save by Benjamin’s Kyle Vincent (Sr.) followed by a nice GB from junior West Rudolph led to another EMO for Benjamin. And as previously, the Bucs took advantage of the call with a big outside high rip from Colin O’Hare (Jr.) Up to this point both the Benjamin defense and goalie looked solid, however, Gator sharp shooter Trevor Keena (Jr.) launched a STINGER of an outside shot on a feed from Hunter Aranda (Jr.). After back and forth play Benjamin’s Vincent came up with a HUGE save on an open runner leading to a Buccaneer time out with 4:39 left in the first quarter. When play resumed Gardens got the ball back and came up with a sweet over the top goal by Dalton Anderson (Jr.) making it 4-2 Benjamin. More aggressive play on both ends led to Gardens unleashing a shot that missed and due to good hustle by goalie Vincent outrunning the Gator attackman Benjamin regained possession, setting up a beautiful goal by Packer (Jr.) on the run. The end of the first quarter saw it 5-2 Bucs, with the game turning into a very entertaining back and forth affair. Benjamin’s experience and speed were looking to break out in the second quarter, but the Gators worked to hang on. Play resumed with a far too easy snap in goal for Gator attackman Stu Kocha (Jr.) after a great run through the Benjamin defense by Trevor Keena making it 5-3 Bucs. Benjamin kept the pressure on the Gardens defense with a slick dodging goal by O’Hare putting the Buc’s margin at three goals to the better. Benjamin’s FOGO, Tanner Krul was having his best night of the young season, and kept the momentum going with solid face offs and snagging GB’s. After a nice save, Gator’s goalie Sean Yoder scrambled to the right sideline to avoid a strong ride by sophomore attackman Blake Erdmann only to earn an EMO for his team due to a heavy crosscheck by Erdmann. Fortunately for Erdmann, Gardens mishandled the opportunity when Keena threw away the ball on an errant pass up field. As noted, both teams showed what youthful legs can do as the play continued at a high pace from one end to the other. Benjamin’s junior middie West Rudolph showing early season strength and speed, secured a GB on the clear resulting in a strong question mark goal by Andrew Packer dodging from X. On the ensuing face off Krul was called for playing with his free hand giving possession to Gardens. Trevor Keena was able to get off a big shot but it went off pipe. The Gator’s retained the ball and called time out with 6:10 to go in the second. Score line: TBS 7-3. When play resumed Gardens worked hard to drive the ball through Benjamin’s end of the field only to be met by very strong defense from Bobby O’Leary (Sr.) and sophomore Chris O’Connor. The play resulted in a moving pick call against Gardens giving Benjamin yet another EMO. Unlike previous opportunities, the Bucs were not able to convert when Yoder made a great save on a huge rip by Chris Erdmann. The clock was ticking down as the first half drew to an end, and both teams were fighting hard to make a go of it before the whistle blew. Good hustle again from West Rudolph who drew a penalty making it two men up for the Bucs. And with their offense, going two men down to the Bucs is the kiss of death; or at least an opportunity for Packer to make an easy tic tac toe goal on a feed from O’Hare. Another strong face off win for Benjamin on a GB by freshman LSM Ethan Denenberg led to a goal by sophomore Ryan Kelly on the run making it 9-3 in favor of the visitors. Kyle Vincent continued strong play in the goal for the Bucs, making several key saves to end the half including a fantastic one on one point blank shot by Gator strongman Keena. The half ended with Benjamin in control but Gardens still very active. During the halftime break Coach Rye shifted strategy and inserted sophomore goalie Austin Michels. The second half saw Benjamin pick up where they left off with Krul winning face offs and Rudolph grabbing key GBs. Freshman Will Nicklaus got into the scoring mode again after a very patient build up by the Buc’s with his soon to be patented outside rip. Another face off GB for Rudolph led to a goal by attackman Cam Thompson (Jr.), only to be countered by a monster sidearm rip for a goal by Keena, leaving the score line at 11-4. Gardens kept the momentum swing with another strong goal at point blank range for Stu Kocha. Not to be outdone by the Garden’s barrage, Thompson threw up a sick underhand low to high goal that had the TBS faithful in the stands going nuts. (All you youngsters reading, please note you should always shoot overhand to keep your coach happy . . . . unless you can rip it like Cam!). Gardens finally was able to capitalize on an EMO with senior Shane Burdette putting up a point, which was quickly follow up with another goal by Hunter Aranda from a Trevor Keena feed. All of a sudden, the Bucs looked like their game long lead was in jeopardy at 12-7. After a failure to advance call the ball went to TBS and a big outside shot from Rudolph rewarding him with a goal for all his hard work. At 13-7, Gardens was holding on and scoring when they could to keep themselves in the game. The Gators kept pressing and soft D gave Gardens room to score with middie Zack Dees (Sr.) notching a goal making it 13-8. The Benjamin crowd was getting nervous having seen several big comebacks over the years. And judging by how animated Coach Rye and his staff were on their sideline, they sensed that things might be getting away from them despite the five goal lead. As we know, momentum is everything. Despite the pressure Gardens was applying, Benjamin’s offense kept pressing. A huge save by Yoder off a big shot from Cam Thompson on a feed from Chris Erdmann seemed to slow the Bucs but only for a moment as on the ensuing possession Erdmann scored. Krul had yet another face off win only to have the Bucs give the ball away on a bad pass which immediately gave Hunter Aranda the time and space for a low to high laser beam. 14-9 Bucs. As the game clock ticked off both sides knew their chances for victory were running out. Could Gardens finally close the gap to have a shot at winning, or would Benjamin pull out another tough “we can score more than you” win? Play on the field went from high paced to near frantic. Chris Erdmann had a strong caused turnover only to lose possession due to a pushing call. In a move to stem the tide, Coach Rye brought Vincent back in goal for Bucs with only a few minutes left, which is a tough call given that Vincent had been sitting since halftime. And as you can imagine, Gardens took quick advantage with a nice on the run goal by Dalton Anderson. Score: 14-10 Benjamin won another face off but Colin O’Hare missed a wide open one on one with the goalie followed up by Erdmann not handling a tough feed on the crease. Shane Burdette scored with a bouncer on the run right through the Bucs D to bring Gardens to within three, at 14-11 With 4:23 to go West Rudolph came up with a huge take away and feed to Cam Thompson for a sweet close in goal. The Bucs won the ensuing face off on a procedure call only for the refs to miss a clear goal that popped off the pipe and the top of the net; O’Hare could only feel robbed. 15-11 and 3:35 left in the game. After a cross check call on O’Hare, Gardens had an opening with an EMO, however, their missed shot resulted in good hustle by Vincent to run down the ball for possession with 2:13 remaining. Despite the effort, Benjamin failed to keep the ball in the box and Garden took possession and called time out with 1:30 left. At the restart, Gardens could not capitalize but an errant clear cost Benjamin another goal, leaving it 15-12 as time ran out. Despite the loss, Gardens showed that they have the firepower to contend, and with 12 underclassmen on their roster they will only improve with time. The Bucs are in a similar situation with “Youth” being the operative word. Both teams are exciting and gave those who attended a great evening.