Coming off two losses to two dominant teams in Damascus and Sherwood, the Cats faced Richard Montgomerey in the last game of the regular season. A defiant 11-5 win over a top Richard Montgonerey team, who would go onto win their region.
“Beating a good RM team gave us momentum and confidence going into the playoffs,” sophomore Luke Notaro said.
Ending the regular season with a 6-6 record, the Cats were optimistic heading into the playoffs. Losing three games to rivals Churchill, BCC, QO by only one goal, 6 to 7 in each, proved to the Cats that they could compete with anyone.
On Wednesday, May 7, the Cats were slated to rematch Quince Orchard. The Cats came out on fire, opening to a 6-1 lead. This spark in the first quarter, however, was not enough to take out the Cougars. QO stormed back and toppled the Cats. Scoring 14 goals in the back 3 quarters of the game, was just too much for the Cats hot offense to overcome. A defense that had been strong all year, had a tougher time handling a talented QO attack. A heartbreaking 16-15 loss in the first round playoffs.
“We struggled with ground balls which made it tough for us to switch fields,” junior Corey Dooren said. “We played our hearts out until the final buzzer, but it’s definitely tough losing another one goal game.”
Despite a shoot-out loss in the first round, the Cats battled the entire season and left it all out on the field. An ending 6-7 record fails to show the fight the Cats displayed where only one or two of their losses came in blow-out fashion. Close losses that all could have gone in favor of the Cats could have produced a much flashier record.
One piece of this team that maybe isn’t highlighted in the box-score, or the game break-down videos, is the team chemistry. A self-produced ‘Goon Squad’ made up of junior Brooks Rathmell and seniors Dan Yaniv, Jake Greenfield pride themselves on keeping team morale high.
“Even if we weren’t getting much PT (playing time) we made sure to always make sure our guys were positive and had a good time,” junior Brooks Rathmell said.
It was common to see the ‘Goon Squad’ performing celebrations on the side-line after a WJ goal or distracting the opposing team with hand signals or yelling.
“The team extends beyond the stats, without our bench guys where we would be,” junior Ian Perry said. “I am going to miss my boys, shoutout Jake Greenfield.”
