As part of the ongoing attempt by FLN to provide coverage of more schools this season I made the trip down 95 and 595, in rush hour, to take in the University School hosting Coral Shores.  Not paying attention to the geography of Dade County and south I quickly got over my traffic concerns when I met the Shores coaching staff and was informed that they were located on Islamorada, making my commute seem like a walk on the beach.  Sometimes we kind of forget the sacrifices some of our kids make to actually play this sport, and the thought of routine 2-hour bus ride away games brings home how passionate players, coaches and fans (and even referees) have to be to follow their dreams.  Schools like Coral Shores really need to be commended for the efforts they make as they look to grow their programs and compete in such a rapidly growing sport. After arriving at the University School facility one is struck about what a nice venue it is for lacrosse.  Although not originally built for the sport it certainly reminds me of the type of place that some colleges are building as lacrosse-only venues.  Coach Jan Northrop shared with me his appreciation of the facilities he has to work with, including access to great practice facilities and the support of his school’s administration, as well as his appreciation of receiving consideration from us as a program on the rise.  So all-in-all it was a good thing we made the trip to get to see what is going on here. As for the game itself, University pretty much dominated much of the game, as it didn’t seem Coral Shores was able to get its’ legs going during the first half.  The game was much more competitive in the second half and I was impressed that Coral Shores played hard the whole way.  Coral’s goaltender played a terrific game as he came up with 20 saves, many of them spectacular.  University goalies Danny Harris and Ben Churba combined for 8 saves and almost all of them were close in chances so they came up big when Shores was able to put pressure on the Sun’s defense.  As you would expect, shots and possession were lopsided in favor of University.  They were the more polished team offensively and I was impressed by the 2-man game that their two attackmen Daniel Eisdorfer and Max Hermann worked.  They have good chemistry when playing off each other and since neither is a senior that will continue to improve as time goes on.  Eisdorfer was clearly the dominant player on the field for either team and racked up a lot of the points while controlling tempo.  Coral Shores was hurt early in the game in their transition as they had trouble with clearing off saves in the first half. After the first period University led 5-0.  Hermann opened the scoring at 9:31, taking a Brice Arvon feed from up top on the left wing, beating the goalie low to the far side.  Eisdorfer scored unassisted at 6:33, placing a 5-yard bounce shot between the legs after curling out from behind the left side of the cage.  Then Hermann scored his second at 4:09 on the right wing after being fed from behind the net by Sam Oshinsky.  Just 18 seconds later Eisdorfer again scored unassisted, making a nice left wing face dodge and placing the right-hand shot on the short side.  With 2:29 left, Jared Liss took Dante Trapani’s feed from the left wing and fired a step-down bullet from about 10 yards out to make it 5-0 after one. University continued to stretch out the lead in the second.  46 seconds into the period Oshinsky scored in a similar fashion to Liss, taking Eisdorfer’s left wing feed and scoring from up top for 6-0.  Then at 6:20 Eisdorfer took advantage of the restart on EMO and walked in to a left wing scoring position and fired home to make it 7-0.  25 seconds later Blaine Preston snuck out from behind the goal and took Eisdorfer’s quick restart pass and finished one-on-one.  And with 3:28 left in the half Eisdorfer scored unassisted, taking advantage of a right alley face dodge, bouncing it in to send the teams to halftime with University up 9-0. Coral Shores finally cashed in on an EMO to start the third, as Eddie Dunn took Brian Cash’s behind the cage feed up top and fired in a step-down, right-handed shot to the low corner to cut the lead.  But only 37 seconds later Hermann and Eisdorfer worked their two-man game and Hermann took the back-door feed down the middle from left goal line extended and potted the shot to return the lead to 9.   Eisdorfer then scored unassisted at 7:13 off a spin move from left GLE, bouncing one past the goalie.  Shores responded with Cash taking a left-crease skip pass from Dunn, cutting the lead to 11-2 with 6:34 left.  Just 21 seconds later Hermann and Eisdorfer repeated their back-door effort to make it 12-2 heading into the fourth. The two teams traded goals to open the fourth.  At 10:27 Eisdorfer took Preston’s feed from behind the net and fired home from the right wing and Shores responded at 7:24 on Will Stone’s unassisted tally as he cut to the middle from the left side, placing a nice bounce shot in from about 7 yards out.  University responded with the last 3 goals of the game to finish it at 16-3.  Noah Blum got on the score sheet, making a nice face dodge on the left wing before scoring right-handed.  Then LSM Matt Gittelman converted Preston’s right GLE pass at 6:47 and at 6:07 Eisdorfer finished up his night unassisted on a curl from behind the net. My podcast partner Wells Dusenbury and I talked about the University program as one of the under-the-radar programs that is headed in the right direction and it looks like that assessment is right.  It’s still a little early to see them as being able to make a long playoff run as this really is the first wave coming up and the program isn’t really that old yet.  They still are a little short of depth and size and will need to show they can knock off some bigger names too.  And being in the same district as St. Thomas Aquinas means they need to find a way out of District first.  But it would be really good for lacrosse down here if a couple of years down the line we could be pointing towards a University-STA showdown as being an annual can’t miss game.  Good luck to Coach Northrop as he builds the program. And good luck to the Coral Shores coaching staff too as they continue to build their program with the difficulties they face geographically; thanks for all the efforts you put in every day!   Individual Statistics   University Daniel Eisdorfer  7G/4A Max Hermann  4G Blaine Preston  1G/2A Sam Oshinsky  1G/1A Jared Liss, Noah Blum and Matt Gittelman with 1G each Brice Arvon and Dante Trapani 1A each   Coral Shores Eddie Dunn  1G/1A Brian Cash  1G/1A Will Stone  1G   Thanks to the coaching staffs of both for their time before and after the game.  The coaches are good friends making for the type of after-game talk that more coaches need to engage in. University returns to action on Friday night, hosting Pine Crest in an interesting test of an established program under a first-year coach versus the up-and-comer, while Coral Shores hosts Miami-Killian on Thursday.  If you are in either area take in a game!