4/22/2014 OXBRIDGE ACADEMY WINS AGAINST WELLINGTON 8-7 Even though neither of these teams had met before both Coach Calby for Wellington and Coach Ross for Oxbridge had spent a lot of time studying their opponents. In almost all of their previous games someone was taking notes and learning about the other team. Welcome to the high school competitive sports, folks. If you are going to win you better be prepared. As the whistle blew and the contest was on the ball changed possessions many times, back and forth we went. A lot of nervousness of in the air and that translated into sloppy play: missed ground balls, missed passes, and dropped balls. The entire body of players were all prepared to SCORE before they had secured the ball, or run before they had possession. Wellington’s goal cannon, # 21 Junior Patrick Oporto, started the scoring, from the periphery sidearm shot, while using the defender as a screen.  Somewhere around 10 minutes into the 1^st quarter Oxbridge defense was given a slashing penalty. During this EMO #21 Mr. Oporto received a pass and repeated the same shot, almost exactly, to make it 2-0 Wellington. A minute later # 16 Kevin Burch, Senior, received a nice pass from the X (behind the goal) and put the rock past Oxbridge freshman Goalie, #1 Ethan Randell. Less than a minute left in the quarter Oxbridge #19, Bobby Killian, made a nice cut followed by a vigorous shot that finally broke the ice for Oxbridge. This seemed to (finally) wake up the troops and Oxbridge kept the pressure almost scoring again before the end of the quarter. Score at the end the 1^st quarter Oxbridge 1 – Wellington 3. Second quarter was mired by the lack of scoring, but there was a reason for it: As both teams tried even harder to score bot goalies stepped up their game and that was the catalyst that both team defenses’ had been waiting to ante up their game as well. So both teams played tight defense and the goalies kept picking up the shots the score stayed stubbornly low considering the effort. Some of those shots were point blank and received a lot of “Ooohs and Aaaahhs” from the audience, but score stayed the same. Finally # 6 Zach Ranta was able to connect with a lefty stick-side shot to bring OXB one closer. A couple of minutes later #6 Zach Ranta from a feed from X was able to capitalize again to even the score with 5:31 left to play. But three minutes later #21 Patrick Oporto three-peated his sidearm shot to gain the lead for Wellington. Less than a minute later #20 Robert Bayless executed a left side dodge from the top and scored for Oxbridge. Halftime score Oxbridge 4 – Wellington 4. Third quarter the tight defense and great goaltending continued from both teams but eventually Oxbridge broke through with two goals.  #20 Robert Bayless took a feed from # 7 Riley Smith with 6:57 left and then #23 Liam Lisec made an individual effort, getting to the left side crease with 4:22 left and the score after three was: Oxbridge 6 – Wellington 4 I do not know what was being said on the sidelines but I am sure major motivation was poured into both benches in order to secure a win here. In the fourth quarter Wellington started to dominate the face-offs. This created more work for an already busy Oxbridge defense lead by Colin Hayek, #17, being the leader of this young defense.  He did everything he humanly could to motivate his players. He even took face-offs and fought to get back lost possessions. Terrell Seabrooks, # 12  also made some key interceptions.  And both of the goalies, #1 Ethan Randell for Oxbridge and #3, Logan Masta for Wellington played out of their minds. But by controlling possessions Wellington made a run in the fourth to take back the lead with three straight goals.  Those goals were as follows:  #2 Blum on the left side crease, stick side, with 8:43 left, followed by # 17 Costello, on the right side from the top shot 7:47 (tied game at 6-6!) and then they took the lead when # 6 Moye made an inside cut with 4:33 left in the game. Carried by this new momentum the plays went back and forth and finally the score was even, again, Oxbridge 7 – Wellington 7. Liam Lisec then took matters into his own hands as he scored twice in a little over a minute to put Oxbridge back up 8-7.  His last goal, with 2:38 left to play, put Oxbridge ahead for good and Oxbridge started playing more defensively, trying to protect their lead. Oxbridge almost gave the lead up by committing a slashing penalty with 22:5 seconds to go (Read: An eternity in lacrosse terms). Thanks to the good defensive work and Ethan Randell’s excellent goaltending the time ran out and Oxbridge came out victorious. Final Score Oxbridge 8 – Wellington 7. It was nice to see the approximately 400 people in attendance. You sure were entertained by both of these teams hard, but clean contest. I urge all of you, whether lacrosse fans or not, to get out and watch a game!!! The next contest for Oxbridge is on Friday, April 25^th, at seven o’clock pm at Oxbridge Stadium against Boca High School.