Tim Woolley, who had 21 goals and 16 assists on the day, was named to the all-tournament team. This was the second third-place finish in a row for Riverside, which has won this tournament twice and came in second in 2002. This year's finish was reminiscent of last year's, when Woodberry Forest, which had defeated Riverside in an earlier seeding game, declined to play in the consolation game, which decides the third-place finisher, and therefore forfeited. This year Western Guilford, which also had defeated Riverside in the day's first seeding game, declined to play.

Scoring
Name	Goals	Assists	Points
T. Woolley	21	16	37
B. Kercher	26	8	34
A. Black	20	5	25
J. Pietrantoni	5	6	11
J. Beck	7	2	9
A. Ross	5	4	9
K. Rooney	6	1	7
C. Cash	3	0	3
B. Gibala	1	0	1
C. Woolley	0	1	1
B. Smith	0	1	1

Except for the Pirates' first seeding game, which they characteristically slept through and were thoroughly outplayed by a wide-awake Western Guilford team, the day went well. They rebounded with five straight wins in the morning seeding rounds, winning most comfortably. The only close game was against Colonial Forge-Navy, the eventual tournament champion, which Riverside won 8-5.

The Pirates, coached ably by Madison (RHS 2002) and Bryan Thompson (RHS 2004), ended up being seeded fourth in the afternoon tournament with a 5-1 record. The only undefeated team after the six seeding games was Nansemond-Suffolk (Suffolk, Va.), an old foe of the Pirates, who have played them many times over the years at the Battle at the Beach and also on a spring break trip to Virginia Beach. Other area teams were East Chapel Hill (5-1) seeded second, Durham Academy (4-2) seeded fifth, Western Guilford (4-2) seeded sixth and Jordan (3-3) seeded eighth.

Riverside's first tournament game was against Chesterfield, a club team from Chesterfield County, Va. They defeated them handily 11-1. Then they had to go against Durham Academy, which had entered the tournament with a 4-2 record and had defeated Cape Henry in its first tournament-round game. Riverside prevailed in that one 10-9 (some details below) to reach the semifinals.

In the semifinals they faced top-seeded Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, which had defeated East Chapel Hill 9-6 and Western Guilford 12-5 in seeding games, in the semifinals. Riverside lost that one 11-6 and were to meet Western Guilford, which lost its semifinal game to Colonial Forge-Navy 16-3, in the consolation game.

Lasting impressions for Riverside fans:

-- The potent duo of Tim Woolley and Alvin Black at attack. Together they accounted for 62 of Riverside's 94 points.

-- Bob Kercher's rocket shot from up top. No goalie in the tournament could stop it. Kercher added 34 points of his own on the day.

-- The strong play of all RHS middies, especially Kercher, Joey Pietrantoni, Andy Ross and Kyle Rooney, was evident.

-- The strong play of the RHS defense despite missing some key players who had football playoff conflicts. The defense came around tremendously after the first game of the day. Chris Woolley, Kieron James, David Atwater and Stephen Crockett playe well, as did fill-in freshman Zach Brown who was asked to come on the trip at the last minute after it became clear that key defenders would miss the tournament due to football conflicts.

-- Brad Smith's solid play in goal, with a save percentage of .565 (70 saves, 54 goals against).

Here is a brief synopsis of each game:

Seeding Game No. 1: RHS 6, Western Guilford 13
Riverside met Western Guilford at 8:30 a.m. for its first game. Riverside scored first but Western scored five goals in a row twice to put this one away, with Austin Claytor and Steve Krasicky doing most of the damage. The Pirates did not play well, as is their habit for the first game of the morning at the Battle at the Beach. Box Score: Kercher 3g, 1a; Ross 1g, Pietrantoni 1g, Gibala 1g, Rooney 1a, Black 1a; Smith 16 saves.

Seeding Game No. 2: RHS 11, Cape Henry 5
Riverside met another old foe in Cape Henry, which they have met several times at the Beach Battle and won an epic game at their home field in 1999. Riverside jumped to a 7-0 lead and never looked back. Box Score: Kercher 4g, 2a; T. Woolley 4g; Rooney 1g; Black 1g; Ross 1g; Pietrantoni 2a; Smith 5 saves.

Seeding Game No. 3: RHS 17, Gar-Field 2
Again Riverside jumped to a 7-0 lead and dominated. Box Score: T. Woolley 5g, 2a; Beck 3g, 2a; Kercher 3g; Cash 3g; Black 2g, 2a; Rooney 1g; C. Woolley 1a; Smith 3 saves.

Seeding Game No. 4: RHS 8, Colonial Forge-Navy 5
Riverside led 3-0 and 8-2 with 13 minutes left in the game before Colonial Forge-Navy scored two in the waning moments to make it 8-4. The score was reported to the scorer's tent as 8-5, however. Riverside dominated this up-and-down team, which would become the eventual winner of the tournament. Box Score: Black 4g, 1a; Kercher 2g, 1a; T. Woolley 1g, 4a; Ross 1g; Smith 12 saves.

Seeding Game No. 5: RHS 11, Lafayette Academy 4
Riverside led this one 10-1 with 16 minutes remaining. Lafayette scored three in the final four minutes. Box Score> Kercher 5g; Black 3g; Rooney 2g; T. Woolley 1g, 2a; Pietrantoni 1a; Smith 1a, 11 saves.

Seeding Game No. 6: RHS 14, Norfolk Collegiate 4
Another old foe from beach battles and the 1999 spring break trip. Riverside led 8-1 and 11-2, eventually winning 14-4. Box Score: Kercher 3g, 2a; T. Woolley 2g, 2a; Beck 3g; Black 3g; Pietrantoni 1g, 2a; Ross 1g; Rooney 1g; Cash 1a; Smith 2 saves.

First-Round Tournament Game: RHS 11, Chesterfield 1
Riverside led 7-0 before Chesterfield managed its only goal. This was a very short game due to the fact that Chesterfield had headed to the parking lot thinking they did not have to play the first game. By the time they arrived there was about 12 minutes remaining in the 25-minute game, otherwise this score would have been much more lopsided. Box Score: Black 3g; T. Woolley 2g, 4a; Kercher 2g, 2a; Pietrantoni 2g; Beck 1g; Rooney 1g; Smith 5 saves.

Second-Round Tournament Game: RHS 10, Durham Acadmey 9
The best game of the day for Pirate fans, a thriller. Phil Sloate put DA up 1-0 early, but an Alvin Black goal 2 minutes later made it 1-1. DA then ran off three goals to pull to a 4-1 lead. Tim Woolley and Black scored unassisted to pull to within one 4-3, but two goals by DA made it 6-3 with about 10 minutes left. Three unanswered by Riverside (Kercher unassisted, Woolley from Black, Woolley unassisted) tied the game at 6-6, but DA scored to make it 7-6 with less than five minutes remaining. At that point Riverside reeled off four straight goals (Black from Woolley, Kercher from Pietrantoni, Pietrantoni from Ross, Black from Woolley) to make it 10-7 Riverside. DA scored two in the final 2 minutes to make the final 10-9. Box Score: Black 4g, 1a; T. Woolley 3g, 2a; Kercher 2g; Pietrantoni 1g, 1a; Ross 1a; Smith 8 saves.

Semifinal Tournament Game: RHS 6, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy 11
NSA ran out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back. Box Score: T. Woolley 3g; Kercher 2g; Ross 1g, 2a; Smith 8 saves.

Tim Woolley started the scoring fest on a goal assisted by Conor Buckley at 14:43. After five minutes of play the Cary-Raleigh team has crossed midfield only once as the Durham-CH longpoles made life miserable for them. At 11:07 Woolley assisted on a Joey Pietrantoni goal to make it 2-0.

All-Star Box Score Durham-CH: Scoring: 5-4-6-3=18. Goals: (18) Pietrantoni 3, Ross 3, Woolley 2, Howard 2, Black 2, Mendes 1, Ragazzo 1, Buckley 1, Kihlstrom 1, Tauchen 1, Weld 1. Assists: (10) Weld 3, Woolley 2, Buckley 2, Ross 1, Howard 1, Shaban 1. Saves: Walter 3, Smith 1. Shots: 45. Faceoffs: 14 of 22. Cary-Raleigh: Scoring: 0-1-1-0=2. Goals: (2) Dennis Boyce (Cardinal Gibbons) 1, Zach Bradshaw (Green Hope) 1. Assists: 0. Saves: Chase Holliday (Green Hope) 14, Matt Burnham (Cary High) 8. Shots: 8. Faceoffs: 8 of 22.

Five minutes passed with the Durham-CH team taking shots and the Cary-Raleigh goalie, Chase Holliday of Green Hope, making saves. Holliday racked up eight of his 14 saves in the first quarter, holding the Durham-CH guys to only two goals for 12 running minutes. But that logjam was broken at 5:48 when Tony Mendes scored unassisted to make it 3-0.

It looked as if the Cary-Raleigh team would escape with a 3-0 deficit as the clock went under a minute to play in the first quarter, but two quick goals by Durham-CH (Andy Ross from Dwight Weld with 46 seconds left and Chris Ragazzo unassisted with 4 seconds left) put the Cary-Raleigh guys down 5-0 with three quarters left to play. Durham-CH took 16 shots in that period to none for Cary-Raleigh. Durham-CH won three of the five faceoffs in the first period.

The Durham-CH team dominated possession again in the second period but did not score in the first four minutes. At 13:05 Dennis Boyce of Cardinal Gibbons put Cary-Raleigh on the board with an unassisted goal. It was three minutes more before Durham-CH scored again, but they made up for lost time by scoring four before the half. Andy Ross scored unassisted at 9:46, Joe Howard scored on a Ross assist at 6:40, Woolley scored unassisted at 4:53 and Buckley scored unassisted at 1:51 to make it 9-1 at the break.

Durham-CH took 11 shots in the second period to Cary-Raleigh's 4. The teams each won three faceoffs in the second quarter. Goalie Nick Walter had 3 saves for Durham-CH in the second period. Holliday had 6 saves for Cary-Raleigh in the second.

Durham-CH scored three unanswered early in the third period, Alvin Black unassisted at 16:26, Pietrantoni on a Woolley assist at 15:19 and Pietrantoni on a Howard assist at 14:10 to make it 12-1. At 5:55 Zach Bradshaw of Green Hope made it 12-2 with an unassisted goal for Cary-Raleigh.

Durham-CH took 10 shots in the third period to Cary-Raleigh's 4. Durham-CH won 6 of 7 faceoffs in that period. Brad Smith had one save for Durham-CH in the third period. Matt Burnham of Cary High had 2 saves for Cary-Raleigh in the period.

In the fourth quarter Durham-CH managed three goals to Cary-Raleigh's none. Bob Tauchen scored unassisted at 11:10, Alvin Black scored on a Ryan Shaban assist at 9:52 and Howard scored on a Weld assist with 1:05 left to make it an 18-2 final score.

Durham-CH took 9 shots in the final quarter to Cary-Raleigh's none. Burnham had 6 saves for Cary-Raleigh in the quarter, for a total of 8 for the game. Each team won 2 faceoffs in the period, with Durham-CH ending the game with 14 faceoffs and Cary-Raleigh with 8.