The first eight minutes of the game was all Ponte Vedra.  They won the opening face off, worked it around and got the first shot of the game.  Chandler Harrison made the save but Lake Mary turned it back over as the PV ride forced a failure to advance. Ponte Vedra continued with a fast but patient approach to the offense.  The top middies were high and the attackmen would take the ball deep into the corners.  They were really working to spread out that Ram defense. The Sharks worked cutters through the middle and kept moving the ball, each player looking for the “one more” pass and just over two minutes into the game Eric Applegate hit Rob Peeters with a pass and he finished to put the Sharks ahead by one. Ponte Vedra continued to keep the pressure on.  Harrison made some great saves but either PV would force the turnover or a small Lake Mary mistake would give it back.  After five minutes had been played Ponte Vedra had taken 5 shots and Lake Mary had yet to play offense. PV was dominating on the ground balls, keeping them in business. With 6:19 remaining in the half, Logan Toucher dodged left just a perfectly timed cut through the middle confused the slide and he scored low to the far post to make it 2-0. Lake Mary did create a good transition chance off the face off but Colin Peaks was up to the task and stuffed it on the five hole attempt.  PV got the ball back and continued to keep up the pressure but Harrison stood tall in the cage.  The Rams were able to stave off the EMO chance when Harrison made a great save on a high shot and got the ball back to his team.  This time they cleared and with 8:00 gone in the first quarter they were able to set up their settled offense for the first time. After 1:20 of possession time Kurt Sisco dodged down the right alley and with a shot off of far post as the Rams also showed some solid off ball movement. With :38 left in the quarter a defender overplayed Reid Smith and he made them pay with a neat dodge tucking underneath and scored the goal. The 2nd quarter started off much better for Lake Mary as Ben Carbone grabbed the face off and went to the pipes to score for Lake Mary.  Despite the dominant first quarter by PV, the Rams were a long way from being out of it as they were only down 3-2. Ponte Vedra’s long ball control possessions combined with constant cutters and off ball movement payed off.  The Rams defense looked up to the task and was not allowing the PV offense any decent looks at the goal when a single moment of confusion was jumped on by Logan Toucher and he step inside and fired some high heat only a few yards from the goal to make it 4-2. Lake Mary opened up the old school playbook after Colin Peaks made his next save and with Harrison accounting for one attackman they pressured with a 10 man ride.  It worked perfectly as Zac Gussman was able to intercept a desperation pass and put it away for Lake Mary’s 3rd goal for with 7:35 left in the first half.  But just over a minute later Toucher would make an excellent individual effort dodging straight down the string line for his Hat Trick just with just 17:25 gone in the first half to stretch the Sharks’ lead back to two goals. Lake Mary, however, came back with a goal by Charlie Raggault as he made a nifty dink and dunk shot on the crease after Alex Forehand found him in the middle to close it back to 5-4. Lake Mary was shutting off Miles Silva and they did do a great job keeping Ponte Vedra’s top offensive weapon idle.  But committing a player to that task takes one slide option away from the defense and Ponte Vedra showed that they have some other dangerous players.  Matt Keeler got in on the action and made a nice dodge from the high wing to score with a low shot making it 6-4 with 4:39 left in the half. An EMO Shot by Sisco was saved by Peaks who cleared the ball.  The PV player who caught the pass was dumped by the kind of clean solid hit that at one time was a big part of our sport, before the wussification era began.  But to my shock there was no call (an excellent non-call in my opinion, not so much in the opinion of the PV fans around me)  and the ball went right back to Lake Mary.  They were able to get the ball to Alex Forehand who made a great shot as he was spinning to the ground to make it 6-5 with 3:10 left.  The hit was not up in the head/face/neck area and the Lake Mary player did not finish the hit coming up, just drop his shoulder and made good clean contact. The second quarter was much more even as the face off wins and shots favored Lake Mary. In the second half we were introduced to Ponte Vedra’s Robert Martin as he came to play goalie for PV.  This young sophomore is going to be quite a talent.  He showed excellent ball stopping skills but he is also very dynamic with the ball.  This kid can fly down the field and can really break the ride.  With another two years to develop even better field awareness to go along with his speed and athleticism he could become a very high level player. The first time he touched the ball he cleared it himself and the ball ended up in the stick of Rob Peeters who scored for PV to make it 7-5.  Keeler then found Logan Toucher inside for his fourth of the night to give PV an 8-5 lead just 2:48 into the second half. After several minutes of excellent defense by both teams, including a defended EMO by Lake Mary, Eric Applegate scored an unassisted goal after he just froze a defender and split dodged around him to bring the lead to 9-5 Ponte Vedra with 6:14 left in the 3rd. While the next five minutes were scoreless they were far from uneventul.  We were treated to some exciting play.  Lake Mary’s LSM, Ben Carbone, made some great clears agaisnt a smothering PV ride.  Both goalies made tremendous saves both teams kept plenty of pressure on, but nobody cracked. Finally, Kurt Sisco made a nice play pressuring the PV middie all the way out to the midfield line and causing a turnover.  He picked it up himself, sprinted straight to the cage, and scored the goal to make  9-6.  But just before the 3rd quarter ended Keeler made a nice shot unassisted to make it 10-6. Early in the 4th Rob Peeters was able to put the game nearly out of reach as he was able to get top side on his defender to scores to make it 11-6.  Ben Carbone came back and made what might have been the play of the game and he made an end to end run to take a huge shot that Martin blocked, but Carbone picked up his own rebound without breaking stride and got the second shot past him for his second goal of the game with about 10:00 to play. Lake Mary followed that up with a score by Kyle Sand to make it 11-8 on assist by Forehand but that is as close as they would get. Rob Peeters scored again with 2:49 left in the game to bring it back to 12-8 and that is how the game would finish. This was a fun game to watch and it was far from a “must win” situation for either team.  If, and that is a very big if, these two teams advance to the final 8 we should be treated to a great match up as these two teams meet with a final four spot on the line.  But Lake Mary will have their hands full to get out of District 8 as Seminole is looking to take that spot this season.  As usual, Ponte Vedra will get everybody’s best game through the play offs and this is the best chance Maclay will have to get past the Sharks. Ponte Vedra will take on Bolles tomorrow night in a classic “trap game.”  PV is coming off the OT win over Charlotte Catholic on Friday, the big win over Lake Mary on Saturday, and they have to be thinking about Jupiter coming up on Friday.  If Bolles gets off to a fast start they could put themselves into position to pull the upset.  Lake Mary takes a couple of days off before the begin a tough stretch that includes Jared Bernhardt and the Lake Brantley Patriots, Boca Raton, and St. Thomas.