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Oxbridge Moves On After First Round Win Over Suncoast

Written by fln on . Posted in .
Special to FLN As we witnessed, yet, another “cold front” worked  its way through last night and the rainy day settled into a calm and cool night ~ perfect for lacrosse District Semi-Finals taking place across the Sunshine State last night. Thank you for both Coach Bobby Hantske and Coach Stan Ross for the opportunity to meet and speak before the game. As the both teams waited at the practice field  for the ending of the earlier game Cardinal Newman vs. Kings Academy. Both coaches were anxious to get to the field almost with a full roster: Suncoast missing one of their Senior Defenseman , #24 Patrick Wiley, due to a hand injury and Oxbridge missing one of their Sophomore Middies , #20 Robert Bayless, because of a stomach virus. The game tonight was “the polar opposite” to these two teams’ earlier meeting in 3/26/14, where Oxbridge won 12-2. At that game Oxbridge used their speed and quick ball movement to their advantage to strike early and consistently. Tonight, it seemed like forever for this game to start progressing. After several sloppy positions and turnovers we had to wait until the end of the first quarter to (FINALLY!) see the ball find itself to the net. As it happened, Suncoast started the scoring from the right top, when a solo effort from #16 Jackson Warman, as he took a well-positioned shot that sailed past the Oxbridge Goalie, #1 Ethan Randell, to the upper left corner. Soon thereafter a Suncoast player tried to bull rush himself through a tough Oxbridge defense and ended up hurt on the field. No flags were thrown, however,  he was taken out with an EMT as a precaution, we were told. After this incident was finally cleared up only about a minute was left in the first quarter, which ended Suncoast leading 1 to 0. I am sure both coaches used their magic on their troops during the intermission since both teams needed to settle down and start playing more productive lacrosse. After the first intermission Oxbridge came out of the gate much fresher and the passes started to find their targets and balls were not dropped. In manner of few minutes Oxbridge tallied four goals and took a lead ~ a lead that it never relinquished again during the game. At half time the score was 7 – 1 Oxbridge. By the end of the fourth quarter Oxbridge started playing its reserve players and Suncoast was able to score two more times. This contest ended with Oxbridge win 11 – 3. As I mentioned this game had a different feeling to it in comparison the earlier contest of these teams: Most of the scoring was done by the Oxbridge attackmen , # 7 Riley Smith and #23 Liam Lisec both 5 goals each. On face-off #10 Austin Roca won most all of his and was a dominant force to maintain ball possession. Next Oxbridge contest will be against Kings Academy, who won a nail-biter against Cardinal Newman earlier today 11-10 by scoring 4.6 seconds to go to break the 10-10 tie. This will take place at Cardinal Newman High School on Thursday, April 17th, 20014, at 7 pm.

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