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| 2008 SCHEDULE: The 2008 Riverside lacrosse varsity and JV schedule is here. |
Feifs drafted by MLL's Boston Cannons
RHS All-American and Terrapin captain chosen in third round
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Posted Dec. 6, 2007, 12:15 p.m.
Chris Feifs (VMI photo) |
Former Riverside star midfielder Chris Feifs has been chosen by the Boston Cannons in Major League Lacrosse's supplemental draft held yesterday. Feifs was picked in the third round of the seven-round draft. Feifs is currently an assistant coach at VMI. Here's a link to the MLL's news release about the draft.
Riverside Coach Jim Kirkley confirmed today that Feifs is the first North Carolina player ever drafted into a pro lacrosse league. He coached Feifs as a freshman after he moved from Brogden.
"I am very happy for Chris," Kirkley said. "I think with his size, athleticism and the style of game he plays, he is ideal for the pro outdoor game. And he is such a quality person. It's a tribute to his work ethic that he never gave up after the first couple of tough years in college when he wasn't getting much playing time."
The freshman class that contained Feifs also had another big midfielder, Kevin Raspet, and Kirkley gives them both credit for turning recruiters' eyes toward North Carolina public schools.
"He and Kevin Raspet were instrumental in opening up recruiting in the public schools in North Carolina," said Kirkley. "And now Chris is expanding the possibilities to another level. Could be quite an alumni game next June if he can make it back."
Feifs was named an assistant coach at the Virginia Military Institute in July. Head Coach Jeff Shirk had this to say about his new coach: "I am extremely excited to have Chris join the VMI lacrosse family," said Shirk. "I had the opportunity to coach him at both the Naval Academy Prep School (NAPS) and the University of Maryland, and he is a great addition to our program."
The entire draft is shown below:
Feifs scored 15 goals and had 4 assists in his senior year at Maryland. He was elected a co-captain for 2007 season. Here's what Feif's Maryland lacrosse bio page shows (does not include his senior year):
On Feifs: A big, strong and tough athlete who is the first-ever Terp recruit from North Carolina ... will play on either the first or second midfield units ... a hard worker with a great attitude who has emerged as a team leader ... has all the physical tools necessary to be a good player ... will need to have a big year for the team to succeed, according to Dave Cottle.
As a junior (2006): Saw extensive time in 14-2 win over Dartmouth (3/21).
As a sophomore (2005): One groundball in 13-6 season-opening win over No. 5 Georgetown (2/26) ... one shot in 16-10 win over UMBC (3/19) ... scored twice, the first goals of his college career, in 21-6 drubbing of Penn (5/7) at Lincoln Financial Field.
As a freshman (2004): Played in four games ... made UM debut in North Carolina homecoming in 17-12 win at No. 16 Duke (3/6) ... first-career assist off 1-of-4 face-off wins in 19-4 rout of Butler (3/23) ... also saw playing time in Bucknell (3/17) and Penn (5/8) games.
Before Maryland: All-American at Riverside High School in Durham, N.C. ... served as a team captain under coach Jim Kirkley ... honored as a first team all-state selection as a senior ... named the team's offensive MVP as a junior and senior ... as a junior, also a first team all-state pick as well ... played in the Dixie Top 150 and Top 205 camps all-star teams ... was a second team all-state pick as a sophomore ... also wrestled in high school.
Personal: Son of Betsy and Helmuts Feifs ... brother of Jonathan and Tim ... lists former Terp defensive midfielder Jeff Shirk (1997-2000) as the athlete he most admires because "he was an animal on the field and humble off the field" ... majoring in criminology.
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Pirates compete in annual Beach Battle
Two-time winners to play in annual Virginia Beach tournament
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Posted Nov. 4, 2007, 2:15 p.m.
The Riverside Pirates return to the annual Battle at the Beach on Saturday, Nov. 10, 10 years since Riverside first won the tournament in the fall of 1997.
Riverside will not field two teams as they have in recent years, so should not run into the fatigue problems that have plagued the Pirates at the annual beach battle. Listed as participating this year are:
At attack, Andrew Stansell, Dylan Britt, Ben Bortner, Eric Bircher, Carson Sterling and Garrett Abbott.
At midfield: Clayton Abbott, Mike Schwartz, David Swift, Allex Starnes, Robert Walton, Micheal Anspach, Lane Close, Joe Weitz and Brad Hinkle.
On defense: Zack Brown (D), Clark Harrison (D) Jack Marshall (LSM), Brian Juranas (D),
Will Boone (D), Jack Radcliffe (D/LSM), Matt Marsee (D) Lance McGhee (LSM), Bryan Rooney (G), Erik Summers (G) and Kyle Tom (D).
The information below is courtesy of the Williamsburg Warriors Lacrosse Club Web site.
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| 2007 Battle at the Beach Brackets |
| Bracket 1 |
Cape Henlopen |
Riverside |
Catholic |
Gar-Field |
| Bracket 2 |
Chapel Hill |
Triad LC |
Toxic Lax |
Norfolk Collegiate |
| Bracket 3 |
Williamsburg |
Piedmont LC |
Wakefield |
Jordan |
| Bracket 4 |
Bones Lax |
CAYLC |
Nansemond-Suffolk Academy |
Southside Lax |
| 2007 Battle at the Beach Schedule |
| Time |
Field 1 |
Field 2 |
Field 3 |
Field 4 |
| 9 a.m. |
Cape Henlopen vs. RHS |
Catholic vs. Gar-Field |
Chapel Hill vs. Triad LC |
Toxic Lax vs. Norfolk Collegiate |
| 9:50 a.m. |
Williamsburg vs. Piedmont LC |
Wakefield vs. Jordan |
Bones Lax vs. CAYLC |
NSA vs. Southside Lax |
| 10:40 a.m. |
Cape Henlopen vs. Catholic |
RHS vs. Gar-Field |
Chapel Hill vs. Toxic Lax |
Triad LC vs. Norfolk Collegiate |
| 11:30 a.m. |
Williamsburg vs. Wakefield |
Piedmont LC vs. Jordan |
Bones Lax vs. NSA |
CAYLC vs. Southside Lax |
| 12:20 p.m. |
Cape Henlopen vs. Gar-Field |
RHS vs. Catholic |
Chapel Hill vs. Norfolk Collegiate |
Triad LC vs. Toxic Lax |
| 1:10 p.m. |
Williamsburg vs. Jordan |
Piedmont LC vs. Wakefield |
Bones Lax vs. Southside Lax |
CAYLC vs. NSA |
| 2 p.m. |
Cape Henlopen vs. Chapel Hill |
RHS vs. Triad LC |
Catholic vs. Toxic Lax |
Gar-Field vs. Norfolk Collegiate |
| 2:50 p.m. |
Williamsburg vs. Bones Lax |
Piedmont LC vs. CAYLC |
Wakefield vs. NSA |
Jordan vs. Southside Lax |
| 3:40 p.m. Semis |
Bracket 1 Winner vs. Bracket 3 Winner |
Bracket 2 Winner vs. Bracket 4 Winner |
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| 4:30 p.m. |
Semifinal Winners |
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| Tournament Rules |
• 8 a side format (2 attack, 3 midfield, 2 defense, 1 goal) -- fields are 80 X 40
• All games are running time (40 minutes) w/ 2 20 minute halves (halftime will only be 1 minute so that teams can switch ends). Time to be kept by officials on each field.
• All substitutions are on the fly. There is no horn.
• All time-serving penalties will be running time, time to be kept by the official on the field.
• 10 seconds to clear ball out of defensive half of field. Once cleared there is no re-entry (basketball rules). Fields will be lined with midlines ONLY -- no restraining lines.
• Each half will start with a face-off. Attack and Defense must be goal line or behind goal. After each goal, the goalie or team who has been scored upon will pick ball out of cage and play. 10 second count starts once ball is picked up. There is no stoppage in play!
• Bracket winners will be determined by the round-robin results and standings.
• In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined by a "Braveheart."
• "Braveheart" rules: 1 player per team plus each team’s goalie. Goalie cannot cross midfield. Start with face-off, and play until goal is scored. First goal is the winner.
• No cursing will be tolerated. 1st offense is a 30-second penalty. 2nd offense results in removal of game.
• RESPECT THE GAME, PLAY HARD, AND HAVE FUN!
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Feifs named assistant coach of VMI Keydets
Two-time RHS AA and Terp co-captain begins Kirkley 'coaching tree'
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Posted July 2, 2007, 12:47 p.m.
Chris Feifs, shown above at this year's annual RHS alumni lacrosse game, will be coaching at VMI during the coming year. (Photo by Mark Abbott)
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Chris Feifs, a 2002 Riverside graduate, two-time high school All-American, and a 2007 Maryland lacrosse co-captain, will begin his life in the post-college real world as assistant lacrosse coach a Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va.
The announcement was made by VMI Head Coach Jeff Shirk, who coached Fiefs at the Naval Academy Prep School and at Maryland. "I am extremely excited to have Chris join the VMI lacrosse family," said Shirk. "I had the opportunity to coach him at both the Naval Academy Prep School (NAPS) and the University of Maryland, and he is a great addition to our program."
Feifs becomes the first of Riverside Coach Jim Kirkley's players to coach at the college level, making him the first branch of the Kirkley coaching tree. Coach Shirk feels it's the start of promising career. "As a player he was tough, hard working, and led by example," Shirk said in the VMI announcement. "As a person, he is well spoken, motivated, and passionate. Chris embodies all of the character traits I believe are needed to be successful, and I am excited for him to pass those traits on as a coach at VMI."
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White downs Purple 13-11 in alumni game
White team takes 5-1 lead and holds on to win annual alumni tussle
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Posted June 18, 2007, 12:45 p.m.
White team: Sitting, left to right, Chris Cherry, Madison Thompson, Bryan Thompson, Alex Starnes. Kneeling, left to right, Scott Gordon, Sean Hizey, Sam Cordones, Tim Woolley, Bryan Rooney. Standing, left to right, Brian Jobe, Robert Douglass, Doug Cook, Andy Ross, Chris Feifs, Ned Phillips, Mark Hamilton. (Click on photo to see larger image.)
Purple team: Seated, left to right, Evan Leekley, Zach Brewer, Nic Tyndall, Joey Pietrantoni, Bob Kercher, Owen Ham, Adam Roberts. Kneeling, left to right, Will Boone, Monty Montsinger, Colin Cash, Chris Whitfield, Duran Green. Standing, left to right, Brian Juranas, Anthony Howard, Murray Forbes, Eric Poston, Matt Plumer, Clark Harrison, Cory Coffman, Laurence Tilley. (Click on photo to see larger image.)
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The White team in the 2007 annual Riverside alumni game jumped out to a 5-0 lead, which they late ran to a 7-1 lead, before a furious Purple rally tied the game at 7-7. But White outscored Purple 6-4 in the final quarter and a half to win the game 13-11.
The high point player of the game was Cory Coffman ('03), who racked up 3 goals and five assists playing for both teams (not at the same time, however; he played the first half with the white team and the second with the purple team). Doug Cook ('07) had 4 goals for the White team, Brian Jobe ('04) and Andy Ross ('05) each had 3 goals for White, Owen Ham ('03) had 3 goals for Purple, Bob Kercher ('07) had 1 goal and 2 assists for Purple, Scott Gordon ('98) had 1 goal and 1 assist for White, Eric Poston ('99) had 1 goal and 1 assist for Purple, Evan Leekley ('99) had 1 goal and 1 assist for Purple, Anthony Howard ('03) had 1 goal for Purple, Madison Thompson ('02) had 1 goal for White, Sam Cordones ('08) had 1 goal for White, Chris Feifs ('02), Nick Wallhauser ('02), Tim Woolley ('07) and Ned Phillips ('02) had 1 assist each for White, and Laurence Tilley ('01) and Joey Pietrantoni ('06) each had 1 assist for Purple.
In the cage, Zach Brewer ('03) had 17 saves for Purple and Bryan Rooney ('08) had 11 saves for White. Purple won the faceoff battle, winning 16 of 25. For Purple, Bob Kercher was 5 of 7 in faceoffs, Joey Pietrantoni was 7 of 12, Owen Ham was 2 of 2 and Nic Tyndall ('99) and Matt Plumer ('95) were both 0 for 1. For White, Chris Feifs was 3 of 5, Andy Ross was 1 of 1, Brian Jobe was 2 of 7, Scott Gordon was 3 of 11 and Sam Cordones was 0 of 1.
White opened up hot with five unanswered goals. Cook scored on a Coffman assist at 17:37, Jobe scored unassisted on a left-hander at 16:20, Cook scored on a Feifs assist a 15:27, Madison Thompson scored on a Coffman assist at 12:27, and Jobe scored on a Coffman assist at 1:52. With only 42 seconds remaining on the 18-minute running clock for the first period Leekley scored unassisted to take the goose egg off the scoreboard for the struggling Purple team to make it 5-1 at the first break.
Purple struck first in the second period when Ham scored unassisted at 15:12 to make it 5-2. But White came back with two of its own as Gordon scored unassisted at 5:38 and Cordones scored unassisted at 3:15. That made it 7-2 and the 5-goal mercy rule went into effect, meaning that Purple got the ball with no faceoff (not much an advantage since they were dominating at the 'x' anyway). But two saves in 13 seconds by Rooney, one on a rocket by Ham at 1:42 and and another on a Coffman shot at 1:29, kept it at 7-2 as the time ran out in the first half.
Purple again got the ball with no faceoff as the second period began but when Rooney made a kick save on a Leekley shot on that possession White got the ball back. This time it was Brewer's time for goalie heroics as he made two saves in rapid succession to give Purple the ball back. They capitalized on that when Poston scored on a fluky play as a Coffman pass bounced off him an past the White goalkeeper, making it 7-3.
With Pietrantoni on a hot streak in the faceoffs Purple got possession and quickly added another as Kercher found Anthony Howard in front of the goal in what looked like a replay of Anthony's game-winning goal in overtime against Chapel Hill in 2002 in the state championship. Purple lost the face but a Brewer save on a Jobe shot at 12:52 gave it back to Purple and 20 seconds later Coffman scored on a Kercher assist to make it 7-5.
At 10:47 Ham scored on a nifty give-and-go, passing outside from the point to Coffman on the right and breaking for the goal as Coffman passed back to him for the score. That made it 7-6. At 7:13 Rooney made a great one-on-one save on a Tilley shot as Tilley dodged three men to get to the goal for the shot. On the other end, Brewer made saves on Cook and Madison Thompson at the 3:30 mark to get the possession back for Purple and they made it pay off as Coffman scored on a Poston assist at 3:06 to tie the game.
White, however, was up to the challenge, scoring two unanswered goals before the third period ended. At 2:13 Cook just wasn't to be denied as he scored unassisted to make it 8-7, and at 1:04 Ross scored on a longpole assist from Nick Wallhauser to make it 9-7 at the end of three.
Purple made it 9-8 at 17:14 of the final period as Coffman scored on a Tilley assist. But Ross scored unassisted for White at 15:39 to make it 10-8. Three minutes later Ross scored on a Woolley assist to up the lead to 11-8. Purple made it a two-goal game again at 11:03 as Ham scored on a Leekley assist, but White scored again at 9:23 when Jobe took an assist from Phillips' longpole and sent a blazere past Brewer to make it 12-9.
Kercher made it 12-10 at 5:19 with a blazer of his own, but that was answered as Cook scored on a Gordon assist to make it 13-10. Purple closed out the scoring at 3:15 as Coffman scored on a Pietrantoni assist to make the final score 13-11.
For the record, here are the 2007 alumni team members:
White team: Chris Cherry ('04), Madison Thompson, Bryan Thompson ('04), Alex Starnes ('08), Scott Gordon, Sean Hizey ('98), Sam Cordones, Tim Woolley, Bryan Rooney, Brian Jobe, Robert Douglass ('00), Doug Cook, Andy Ross, Chris Feifs, Ned Phillips, Mark Hamilton ('02).
Purple team: Evan Leekley, Zach Brewer, Nic Tyndall, Joey Pietrantoni, Bob Kercher, Owen Ham, Adam Roberts ('00), Will Boone ('08), Monty Montsinger ('01), Colin Cash ('07), Chris Whitfield ('95), Duran Green ('03), Brian Juranas ('08), Anthony Howard, Murray Forbes ('05), Eric Poston, Matt Plumer, Clark Harrison ('08), Cory Coffman, Laurence Tilley.
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Pirates fall to Providence 12-11
Panthers come from behind in NCHSLA second-round game
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Posted May 14, 2007, 12:45 p.m.
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The Riverside Pirates had the second-seeded Providence Panthers where they wanted them on Friday, May 11, 2007, in the second round of the 2007 NCHSLA 4A tournament, but they let them get away.
After falling behind 4-1 to the favorites from Charlotte, the Pirates got their act together and surged to an 8-5 lead by late in the third period. But the Panthers cut that to 8-7 by the end of the third period and continued their momentum with three unanswered goals in the first three minutes of the final period to take a 10-8 lead. The Pirates tied the game a 10-10 with 8 minutes left, but Providence added two more to make it 12-10 with 4 minutes remaining. Riverside managed to add one more at the 2:30 mark and had a chance to tie the game with less than a minute left but couldn't get a shot as time was running out.
Riverside senior attackman Tim Woolley goes airborne for a score against the Providence Panthers in the second round of the 2007 NCHSLA 4A lacrosse tournament. The game, which Riverside lost 12-11, was held at Providence's stadium in Charlotte. (Photo by Mark Abbott)
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Riverside seniors Bob Kercher, Tim Woolley, Doug Cook, Philip Tieszen and Colin Cash, all playing their final game as Pirates, combined for all 11 of Riverside's goals against the Panthers. Kercher, Woolley and Cook each had 3 goals each, and Tieszen and Cash each had 1 goal each. Kercher added 2 assists and Cook had 1 assist. Senior goaltender Steven McGhee who has had three double-digit-saves games in the last four games for the Pirates, had 18 in his final game. Senior defensemen Matt Weaver, John Diguiseppi and Bobby Trimble combined for 8 ground balls and 5 LBCs in their final game.
The game began like the past few games for the Pirates as they won the faceoff and held the ball for an extended period but never could get a shot off. Providence gained possession and almost immediately scored as Tucker Hull put one in unassisted to make it 1-0. Riverside's Kercher tied it at 1-1 with a zinger coming across the middle at 7:59, but Providence won the ensuing faceoff and immediately scored after the Pirate defense came too far out on Tompkins and he got loose to find Hull, making it 2-1 at 7:42.
Clearing woes surfaced again for the Pirates as they botched three clearing attempts over the next two minutes. Three saves by McGee, and LBC and a key ground ball by Kercher and an LBC and groundball pickup by Diguiseppi during that period kept Providence from adding to their lead. AT 2:47, after Providence goaltender Tyler Hull saved a Kercher shot, Providence came downfield and Tompkins found the net to make it 3-1. The Panthers had an EMO opportunity beginning at the 1:07 mark, which they technically didn't convert but, for all intents an purposed did as their goal came at the 11.3-second mark, 4 seconds after the Riverside penalty was released and before the Pirates were situated in an all-even situation. That made it 4-1 at the end of one period and things looked bleak for the Pirates.
The Pirates got on the board quickly in the second period in an unconventional fashion. McGhee managed to scrape up a groundball in front of the crease and hurled the ball about 60 yards where it was grabbed by the Providence goalie. But Riverside's Cook was there to check him and make him drop the ball, which Cook promptly picked up and passed to Cash, who put it into the empty net at 11:01, making it 4-2.
Kercher won the ensuing faceoff and 30 seconds later Cook scored on a Tieszen assist to make it 4-3. The Pirates had several chances over the next two minutes to add to their total as Jackson Marshall had an LBC and groundball to give the Pirates possession at 10:17. Providence's goalie, Tyler Hull, managed big saves on shots by Woolley and Cash to help Providence keep their lead. But, after a Marshall LBC at 8:41 gave the Pirates possession again, Kercher, dodged and faked his defender several times before calmly putting the ball in the net and tying the game at 4-4 at the 7:29 mark of the second period.
The momentum continued for the Pirates as Cook scored on a Clayton Abbott assist to make it 5-4 Riverside, and at 2:20 as Tieszen scored unassisted after a key groundball by Clark Harrison gave the Pirates possession. That made it 6-4. Tieszen paid the price for the goal as he was hit hard by his Providence defender after the goal and stayed on the ground for some time. The Providence player was given a 2-minute penalty but the Pirates could not manage to score in the man-up. Making matters worse was that the Panthers scored shorthanded with 59.7 seconds remaining in the half as Evan Klein scored on a Tucker Hull assist, making the score 6-5 in Riverside's favor at the half.
At 10:15 of the third period Woolley backed in against his defender, took him one way and then another and finally got clear for an unassisted goal to make it 7-5. At that point it looked like the Providence team was panicking, shooting over and over again from outside and getting away from the inside game that had served them so well early in the game. Riverside's McGhee was scooping up Panther long shots right and left over the next 8 minutes, registering 7 of his 18 saves from the 10:15 to the 2:26 mark of the period.
That paid off for Riverside as Kercher scored unassisted at 2:07 to give Riverside a three-goal cushion, 8-5, late in the period. But the Panthers weren't ready to roll over. They scored two goals in the final two minutes to make it 8-7, surely a demoralizing occurrence for the Pirates, who seemingly were going to enter the final period with a three-goal lead. Tompkins scored unassisted at 1:32 and Hull scored on a Klein assist at 1:20, giving the Panthers much-needed momentum.
They continued to roll in the final period as the Panthers scored three unanswered goals in the first couple of minutes to take a 10-8 lead. Tompkins scored unassisted at 11:08, Konnor Scroggins got a fortunate rebound of a McGhee save at 10:29 and put it back in the net, and Hull scored unassisted at 9:44 to make it a two-goal lead again for the Panthers.
Providence's Greg Basch dominated on faceoffs in the game, but Kercher won the next two that set up Riverside goals. At 9:35, after taking the faceoff, Kercher went straight to the cage and made it 10-9. Then, after winning another faceoff, Kercher assisted Woolley to make it 10-10 at 8:06. Woolley helped his own cause right before the Kercher assist, getting two LBCs against the Panther defense to keep the possession at Riverside's end of the field. A Tieszen ground ball also kept it at the Pirate end, allowing the Kercher-Woolley tally at 8:06.
The Panthers didn't get down, though, after losing the lead. Instead, they went to work. Scroggins scored unassisted at 5:50 and John Chipouras scored unassisted to make it 12-10 with 4:21 remaining. McGhee made three saves over the next 2 minutes to keep the margin at two, and a Tieszen groundball gave Riverside possession at 3:03. At 2:30 Woolley cut the lead to 12-11, going airborne against his defender and shooting down into the net for the score.
The Panthers won the ensuing faceoff and held onto the ball until McGhee got his second groundball of the night to give it back to Riverside at the 1:07 mark and a chance to tie. The Pirates lost the ball at 53.2 but got it back after a McGhee save at 47.2. Riverside Coach Jim Kirkley called a timeout at 32.4. The Pirates worked on setting up a play for 20 seconds, but with 17 seconds left the Providence defense shook the ball loose and took possession. The Panthers managed to kill the next 17 seconds and advance to the semifinals to play third-seeded Apex.
The Pirates ended their year with an 11-8 record, not counting the Louisville Collegiate game, which counts for stats but not for the final record.
Despite the hard-fought and lead-changing nature of the game, both teams got hearty rounds of applause from both sets of fans as they came off the field. According to reports (I had left by then to go post the results on the forum, I guess), the Providence fans and parents also had cool drinks available for the Pirate players after the game.
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Pirates defense stops Grimsley 6-4
McGhee's 16 saves and longpoles keep Whirlies at bay
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Posted May 9, 2007, 12:30 p.m.
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Riverside broke open a close game in the third period of their opening round NCHSLA tournament game against Grimsley, scoring three goals to pull to a 5-1 lead that proved to be enough cushion for a 6-4 win. That win puts them in the quarterfinals against a hot Providence team, which is second seeded in the tournament. That game will be played at Providence in Charlotte.
Riverside's Doug Cook (17) scores one of his three goals against Grimsley on May 8, 2007, in the first round of the NCHSLA 4A tournament. (Photo by John Schwartz)
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While the Pirate offense was scoring enough goals to stay ahead, they can thank the defense -- especially goalie Steven McGhee -- for keeping the Whirlies off the board. McGhee had 16 saves on the night, but he may have saved the win during a 5-minute span in the second period when he racked up 8 saves, several of them while Riverside was in a man-down situation twice during that period.
The Pirates were up 1-0 at the start of that period. Each team added a goal during the stretch, with RHS managing a score during the even-man situation between the two penalties, making it 2-1 at the half.
Earlier, the Pirates had gone up 1-0 on a Doug Cook goal on a Tim Woolley assist at 1:29 of the first period. Riverside had dominated possession during the quarter but had been unable to score most of the way. The Whirlies had two extra-man opportunities during the first period but the Pirate defense turned them away on both. It looked like Riverside was going to go up 2-0 as time was running out in the first period but Grimsley goalie Kevin Filomeno stuffed a shot by Riverside's Colin Cash with 34 seconds left to keep the score at 1-0 after one period.
The second period was eerily similar to the first, with Riverside dominating possession but not finding the goal. The Whirlies were also winning most of the faceoffs (Jordan Van Gorder was 10 of 14 on the night) but couldn't get past the RHS defense, which was concentrating on freshman phenom Kevin Depopas, and for good reason. Depopas had five against the Pirates in their game earlier in the season but was held scoreless this time around.
Though dominating possession, the Pirates' inability to score came back to haunt them when, at 5:50 Max Van Dorn scored unassisted to tie it up 1-1. That goal seemed to energize Grimsley as they put on a furious assault over the next five minutes and doing some dominating of possession time of their own. They forced McGhee to make saves at 5:25, 4:20, 4:13, 4:05, 3:52 and 3:09. Interspersed in that bunch of saves by McGhee was a Riverside goal by Cash on a Cook assist, making the score 2-1. More McGhee saves, at 1:41 and :23.6, kept it that way as the half arrived.
The halftime break seemed to energize the Pirates as they scored three unanswered goals during the third period. Cook scored at 9:05 on a Bob Kercher assist, Cook scored on a Cash assist at 4:15 and Sam Cordones scored on a Woolley assist at 3:24, making it 5-1 at the end of three. I could have been more had Grimsley's Filomeno not made two great saves on Kercher shots, one at 10:46 and another at 1:20. It seemed for a while that Kercher had gotten one past him as the horn sounded. With the clock ticking down Kercher let fly a shot from about 40 yards. It skimmed the ground and then bounced over Filomeno's shoulder. The Riverside crowd erupted in delight, but their elation was dashed as officials, after a minute or so of discussion, decided the goal had come after the horn.
Kercher made it 6-1 a few minutes later as he rounded the goal from behind, and, seemingly intent on beating his defender to make up for the no-goal call, scored at 10:18. Grimsley answered at 6:01 as Van Dorn scored again unassisted, and at 3:49 on a fast break as Marty Privette scored on a Van Dorn assist to make it 6-3. Grimsley scored again at 1:22 as a shot by Travis Murphey dribbled into the goal behind McGhee, making it 6-4.
The Pirates managed to kill the remaining clock, though they twice moved the ball out of the box and had to give it up briefly.
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Pirates explode for 16-10 win over Jordan
Woolley overtakes Leekley's points record on senior night
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Posted May 3, 2007, 11:30 p.m.
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Riverside, coming off a sub-par and frustrating performance two days earlier against Western Guilford, looked in the early going as if they were going to duplicate that effort against Jordan on May 3, 2007. But late in the second quarter a switch seemed to turn on and the Pirates scored six unanswered goals in a 3-minute span to take a 6-goal lead and cruise to a satisfying win.
It was also an historic night as Tim Woolley became Riverside's all-time points leader, breaking a record set by
During the Jordan game on May 3, 2007, Tim Woolley, right, broke the career RHS points leader record that Evan Leekley, left, set during his career as a Riverside attackman from 1996-99. Woolley needed 6 points to tie Leekley's record coming into the Jordan game and he ended the night with 7 points (5g, 2a).
The 2007 seniors were honored before the Jordan game on May 3, 2007. They are (kneeling, left to right) stat keepers Rebecca Clay, Maren Hardin, Sophie Ebel and Amy Waters; standing (left to right) are Philip Tieszen, John Diguiseppi, Matt Weaver, Doug Cook, Colin Cash, Steven McGhee, Tim Woolley, Bobby Trimble, Bob Kercher and David Hinkle. Click here for a larger version of the photo.
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Assistant Coach Evan Leekley, who played attack for the Pirates from 1996-99. Woolley needed 6 points to tie Leekley's record of 243 career points, and he managed 7 (2g, 5a). Woolley now has 143 goals and 101 assists on his career. He would need 26 goals to break Chris Feifs' career goal record of 168 and 24 assists to pass Leekley's 124 in the assist category.
Riverside's Doug Cook led in goals with 5. He also had 2 assists. Colin Cash had 4 goals for the Pirates, Woolley had 2g and 5a; Bob Kercher had 2g and 2a; Sam Cordones had 2g and 1a; Philip Tieszen had 1g and 3a; and Clayton Abbott had 1 assist. For Jordan, Brian Reynolds had 4g; Matt Little had 3g and 1a; Bill Nifong had 1g and 2a; David Albert and Matt Love each had 1g and 1a; Sam Bolt had 2a; and Dan Nifong and Neil Thomas each had 1a.
The Pirates' Bob Kercher won the opening faceoff and Riverside kept possession for more than two minutes, but they were passing around the perimeter and were not taking shots. When Jordan got the ball at 9:42 they didn't hesitate to take shots, forcing Riverside goalie Steven McGhee to make three saves in a minute's time to keep them off the board.
At 7:39, though, Jordan's Reynolds shot a low roller from outside on an assist from Bill Nifong that found the back of the net and gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Though Kercher was winning the faceoffs, the Pirates were sloppy with the ball, passing it out of bounds three times over the next three minutes and giving up precious possessions. They paid for it at 3:18 when Jordan's Albert scored on a Sam Bolt assist to make it 2-0.
At 1:25 the Pirates made it 2-1 with an extra-man goal by Cook on an assist from Woolley, closing out the scoring in the first period.
Riverside's clearing problems reared their ugly head in the second period, resulting in several lost possessions and extra chances for the Falcons. At 10:22 Reynolds took advantage scoring on a Bolt assist to put Jordan up 3-1. But Riverside responded at 9:27 when Kercher scored on a Tieszen assist to cut the lead to 3-2. Less than a minute later the Pirates tied the score as Cook found Cash in front of the net and he scored to make it 3-3.
There followed several minutes of sloppy play again as clearing became an unclimbable mountain for the Pirates. Still, they managed to keep Jordan from scoring during a 1-minute man-up opportunity, and quickly turned the tables and took the lead for the first time at 6:06 as Cook scored on a Cordones assist to make it 4-3. That lead didn't last long as Jordan's Little scored on a Thomas assist in the man-up, one of 10 penalty opportunities they had during the game.
On the ensuing faceoff the ball went out of bounds and it was ruled it had gone out off of a Riverside player. Riverside Coach Jim Kirkley vehemently disagreed with the call and was called for a penalty at the 4:06 mark. [UPDATE: Subsequently learned that penalty was called on a Riverside player, not Coach Kirkley.] It's not clear if this set the Pirates afire or not, but something did. At 3:12 Cordones scored on a Kercher assist shorthanded, making it 5-4 Riverside. Over the next 2:40 seconds the Pirates scored five more goals, giving them a 10-4 lead at the half.
The Pirates won six straight faceoffs during the run (Kercher won 2 and Mike Schwartz won 4) and scored only seconds later each time. The sixth goal was by Kercher on a Tieszen assist at 2:05, the seventh was Cash from Tieszen at 1:30, the Cordones scored on a Woolley assist at 1:09, followed by a running right-hander unassisted by Kercher at 47.8, and finally an unassisted Tieszen goal at 36.1.
The Falcons scored quicky as the second half began, Little scoring on a Bill Nifong assist at 11:38, making it 10-5. But at 9:54 Woolley scored on a Cook assist after Cook grabbed a groundball at midfield and fed Woolley in front of the net, making it 11-5. Woolley made it 12-5 at 9:09 with an unassisted goal. At 7:38 Reynolds scored on an assist from Dan Nifong in the man-up to make it 12-6.
At 2:41 Woolley again found Cook and he scored to make it 13-6, Riverside. The Falcons added one with 54 seconds left in the third period to make the score 13-7 after three periods.
At 7:14 of the final period Cash took a feed from Kercher to make it 14-7. The Pirates had an opportunity in the man-up after a slash and a non-releasable conduct foul were called on Jordan at 3:53, but they couldn't capitalize. But at 2:25 Cook scored on a Woolley assist for Riverside's 15th goal. Jordan responded at 2:02 as Love scored on a Little assist, making it 15-9.
Cash scored on a Woolley assist at 1:52 to make it 16-9, and Reynolds scored on a Love assist for Jordan with 7.3 seconds remaining, making the final score 16-10.
Steven McGhee had 9 saves in goal for the Pirates. Riverside won 18 of 29 faceoffs, had 34 groundballs to Jordan's 33, and shost 41 times to Jordan's 36. Kercher led the Pirates in groundballs with 9 and also led in LBCs with 4.
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Cory Coffman honored by Loyola
Former RHS standout honored for academic and athletic performance
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Riverside All-American Cory Coffman honored by Loyola at senior banquet.
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Posted May 2, 2007, 4:00 p.m.
Former Riverside lacrosse standout Cory Coffman has been honored by Loyola College in Maryland for his athletic and academic prowess.
Coffman, a 2003 graduate of Riverside, was announced as the recipient of the Loyola Athletic Department's Medals of Merit Award for combined academic and athletic excellence.
While at Riverside, Coffman was on two state title teams (2001 and 2002) and was named MVP of state title game in 2002, which Riverside won in overtime against Chapel Hill.
Coffman's photograph is featured on the Loyola College Web page announcing the winners of the senior athletic awards.
In addition to studying and playing lacrosse, Coffman also has a blog, "Life and Times," on which he has been chronicling his senior year as a Div. I lacrosse player.
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Riverside falls to W. Guilford 3-6
Scoreless middle quarters and clearing problems doom Pirates
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Posted May 2, 2007, 12:30 p.m.
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The Riverside Pirates knew they were in for a tussle when they traveled to Western Guilford on May 1, 2007. After all, the Hornets were undefeated and had played Riverside closely in the past two years. But after grabbing an early lead in the first period, the Pirates failed to score in the next two periods and had major problems clearing the ball from their end of the field, the end result being a 6-3 Western victory.
It was clear this game meant a lot to the Hornets. They had three refs working the game and local TV had sent cameras to document their undefeated local team's matchup with one of North Carolina lacrosse's traditional powers. For the first 12 minutes of the game it looked as if Western would
Sam Cordones (32) on a clear in the first quarter against Western Guilford on May 1, 2007.
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come away again disappointed from a game against Riverside as the Pirates led 2-1 after the first period.
At the 8:00 mark Philip Tieszen scored on a Colin Cash assist to put Riverside up 1-0. But at 4:52, after a failure to clear by the Pirates, the first of many, Western's Nick Remmey scored unassisted to tie it at 1-1. Western had a 30-second man-up situation at 3:48 but couldn't capitalize. Then at 1:51 Doug Cook scored on a Tim Woolley assist to make it 2-1 Riverside. Cook almost made it 3-1 from midfield as he hurled the ball at the goal with 2 seconds remaining, forcing Western goalie Scott Bowles to make a save on the 50-yard bouncer.
The teams traded possessions for the first 8 minutes of the second period as sloppy play led to many balls being passed out of bounds by both teams. But at 4:01 it seemed the Pirates HAD gone up 3-1 as Tim Woolley put the ball in the net coming from behind. Referees ruled, however, that he went into the crease unaided and that he was not pushed by a Western defender, and the goal was dissallowed.
Less than a minute later Remmey scored in a Western fast break on an assist from Taylor Mendoza, who had picked up a ground ball at midfield. It looked like the half would end in a 2-2 tie, but with time running out Patrick Cavanaugh scored on a high, hard, left-hander with 22 seconds left, giving the Hornets a 3-2 lead at the midway point.
The Pirates were a man down at the 9:48 mark of the third period, but with the aid of three saves by Pirate goalie Steven McGhee, they managed to kill the one-minute penalty. At 8:20 Bowles made a save (one of 10 on the night) on a Tieszen shot and the Hornets used that possession to score their fourth goal, an Austin Ranieri goal on a Mendoza assist, making it 4-2.
It was shortly after that goal that Riverside's clearing problems appeared. From the 2:36 mark of the third period to the 10:40 mark of the fourth, the Pirates had four busted clears but they managed to keep Western from capitalizing on their mistakes. And at 10:34 of the fourth period the Pirates scored on a fast break as Woolley passed to Cash who fed Cook for Riverside's third goal. But the clearing woes continued as the Pirates three more times failed to clear, the last one leading to Western's fifth goal, a Remmey shot on a Mendoza assist. It could have been worse if McGhee had not made seven of his 16 saves during the period from 2:36 mark of the third quarter to 7:40 of the fourth period.
The Hornets added one more score, a Cavanaugh unassisted goal at 6:42 to conclude the scoring for the game, with the final being 6-3.
Bob Kercher led the Pirates with 12 groundballs and Zack Brown led in LBCs for the Pirates with three. The Pirates were outshot 29-17 and had a slight edge in groundballs, 33-28. The Pirates won 9 of 13 faceoffs.
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Riverside downs Northern 15-1
Surprise return of Doug Cook pleases Riverside fans
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Posted April 30, 2007, 11:55 p.m.
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Some may have noticed No. 17 suited up before the Pirates' game against Northern on April 26, but even those few didn't expect to see the lanky attackman take the field. And he didn't at first.
But with 8:36 on the clock in the first period, Doug Cook made his 2007 debut as a Riverside Pirate. And an auspicious debut it was as he scored 6 goals and added an assist
Doug Cook made his post-injury debut in the Northern game, scoring 6 goals and adding an assist on April 26, 2007. (Photo by Mark Abbott)
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in his debut game after being out all season with a broken leg.
The score was 1-0 Riverside when Cook entered the game, as Sam Cordones had scored at 9:12 on a left-handed bouncer. Northern was given a three-minute penalty for a bad stick after that goal, but the Pirates were unable to score during that lengthy man-up. But at 3:31 the flood gates opened as the Pirates scored the first of 12 more unanswered goals. Dylan Britt was first at 3:31 on a rebound goal, then Colin Cash scored on a Clayton Abbott assist, followed by an unassisted Tim Woolley goal, then another unassisted Woolley goal, followed by two Cook-from-Woolley goals to cap the first period with Riverside up 7-0.
Riverside added three more in the second period as Cook scored all three, first on a Philip Tieszen assist to make it 8-0, then on two Woolley assists to make it 10-0 at the half.
The Pirates managed three more unanswered at the beginning of the third period: Cook unassisted, Cash unassisted, and Cash on a Cook assist, making it 13-0. At 2:07 of the period Northern got its lone score, an unassisted goal by Tyler Davis. Woolley added an unassisted goal to make it 14-1 at the end of the third period. Abbott scored on a rebound off the post in the fourth period to make the final 15-1.
Riverside goalie Steven McGhee had 8 saves while Bryan Rooney had 2 working the final period. Leading in groundballs was Bob Kercher with 6, and leading in LBCs was Matt Weaver with 8. Riverside won 10 of 17 faceoffs.
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Riverside falls to ECH 6-7 in OT
Pirates tie the game at 6-6 in 4th but are edged in overtime
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Posted April 30, 2007, 11:50 p.m.
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A depleted East Chapel Hill team came into Riverside territory on April 24 and managed to come away with a 7-6 overtime victory over the Pirates. It was the second straight game the Pirates had lost by the same score, having lost 7-6 to Chapel Hill two nights earlier.
As they did against Chapel Hill 48 hours earlier, the Pirates got on the board first as Bob Kercher scored unassisted at 4:53 coming from behind the goal. The Wildcats tied the score at2:06 when No. 25 scored unassisted (don't have roster handy; will replace with names later) to make it 1-1. Less than a minute later No. 11 scored on a ?? assist at 1:44 go give East the lead at 2-1. They stretched that to 3-1 at the 52-second mark as Tony Mendes faked a pass that froze the defense and shot the ball high in the net.
Matt Weaver (50) looks on as Steven McGhee makes one of his 15 saves against East Chapel Hill on April 24, 2007.
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Also similar to the Chapel Hill game two nights earlier, both teams had trouble scoring in the second period. But Riverside's Sam Cordones kept it from being a goose egg when he scored on a rebound of a Tim Woolley shot at 4:26 to make it 3-2 East at the half.
The Pirates tied the game at 3-3 at the 10:29 mark when Philip Tieszen fought for a ground ball in front of the crease and put it in the net unassisted. The Wildcats answered with two of their own, No. 6 scoring at 8:52 and Mendes scoring on a hard shot from out front at 7:04 to make it 5-3.
At 6:25 the entire Riverside offense drifted to one side of the field, giving Tieszen an open lane to beat his defender, which he did, scoring unassisted to pull Riverside to within one, 5-4. The Pirates tied the score at 5-5 as Cash scored on a Woolley assist, a play set up by a fine save and outlet pass by goalie Steven McGhee.
With the score knotted 5-5 and 12 minutes to play, the teams traded possessions for the first three minutes of the fourth period. But at 8:53, after an errant Riverside pass went out of bounds, Mendes scored on an assist from No. 12 to give East a 6-5 lead. Again Riverside tied the game, with Cash scoring his fourth goal, this one on a Woolley assist, at 4:04.
McGhee had 15 saves on the night, but he had four of those in the final three minutes to keep East from getting a winning goal in regulation. But with only 18 seconds gone in the 4-minute overtime, Mendes took the ball past two Pirate defenders and scored unassisted for the winner.
Tieszen led Riverside with 8 groundballs while Kercher led with 7 LBCs. East won the faceoff battle 10-5 and outshot the Pirates 38-29.
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Riverside falls to Chapel Hill 6-7
Pirates had 6-5 lead late in 4th period but couldn't hang on
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Posted April 30, 2007, 11:45 p.m.
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The Riverside Pirates had the lead with five minutes remaining in the game against Chapel Hill on April 20 but saw the rival Tigers score two goals in the final four minutes of the game to take a 7-6 win back to Chapel Hill. Riverside's Colin Cash had 4 goals in the game and goalie Steven McGhee registered 18 saves.
The Pirates got on the board first as Cash scored the first of his four goals at 1:18 of the first period on a feed from Dylan Britt. Chapel Hill tied it up when No. 22 (sorry, don't have a roster handy; will fill in names later) scored unassisted at 9:39 to tie the game at 1-1. The Tigers scored twice more in the waning moments of the period to take a 3-1 lead, with No. 6 scoring on a No. 22 feed at 1:59 and No. 30 scoring unassisted at 1:19. Not to be outdone on the
Colin Cash (3) scores against Chapel Hill on April 20, 2007. Cash had four goals against the Tigers. (Photo by John Schwartz)
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late-clock heroics, Riverside's Cash scored on a Clayton Abbott assist with 28 seconds remaining in the period to make it 3-2, Chapel Hill, at the end of the first period.
Neither team could manage a score in the second period, but Cash cashed in twice in the third period, scoring at 9:00 on a Tim Woolley assist and ad 6:45 on a Britt assist to put Riverside up 4-3. But that lead didn't last long as Chapel Hill took the faceoff in for a score, with No. 4 scoring unassisted to tie the game at 4-3 at 6:33 of the third period. They duplicated that feat only 9 seconds later as No. 30 scored unassisted to give the Tigers the lead back, 5-4.
The Pirates added two more goals in quick succession, Sam Cordones scoring at 2:50 of the third period on an unassisted goal, and Woolley scoring at 2:11 unassisted to give Riverside the lead at 6-5. They maintained that lead for the rest of the third period and for nearly eight minutes of the final period, but at 4:12 No. 22 scored on an assist from No. 28 to tie the game at 6-6. And, with 1:55 remaining, No. 6 scored on an assist from No. 37 to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead, which they managed to hold on to for the win.
Riverside's McGhee has 18 saves in the game, with eight of those coming in the second period to keep the Tigers scoreless during that 12 minutes. Chapel Hill goalies Matt Patterson and Ryan Montgomery combined for 7 saves for the Tigers.
Bob Kercher led the Pirates with 7 groundballs and Matt Weaver led with 3 LBCs. The Pirates were outshot 39-25 but had the groundball edge with 34 vs. 27.
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Riverside downs Jordan 11-8
Cash's five goals lead Pirates in win over rival Falcons
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Posted April 17, 2007, 10:00 p.m.
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The Pirates led most of the way in their 11-8 win over archrival Jordan on Tuesday, April 17, but they had to withstand several Falcon rallies to come away with the three-goal win. Riverside, fresh from their spring trip to Florida, were led by attackman Colin Cash, who had a career-high five goals in the game.
The Pirates scored first at 9:54 when Clayton Abbott scored unassisted on a hard right-hander from 10 yards. Jordan answered when Brian Reynolds took advantage of Jordan's homefield advantage as he shot from the sun that is in the visiting team's goalie's eyes during the first period, scoring unassisted at 9:26.
Colin Cash (3) gets free in front of the goal against Jordan on April 17, 2007. Cash ended the night with five goals.
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The Pirates responded when Cash scored the first of his five goals on an assist by Philip Tieszen, who got the groundball on a Mike Schwartz faceoff win and raced toward to goal to feed Cash. At 7:09 Matt Love shot from the setting sun to tie the goal at 2-2.
At 5:19 a Jordan player was called for a conduct foul, one of 18 penalties called during the game (9 on each team), giving Riverside a man-up. They couldn't capitalize, but a minute later, at 4:13, Tieszen scored on a Dylan Britt assist to put the Pirates up again at 3-2. With 8 seconds remaining in the first period Cash again found the net on a Tieszen assist to make it 4-2 at the first break.
Tim Woolley scored unassisted on a turnaround shot at 9:02 of the second period to make it 5-2, but Jordan scored two unanswered to make it 5-4. Love scored on a David Albert assist at 6:45 to make it 5-3, then Reynolds scored unassisted less than a minute later to make it 5-4 at the 5:56 mark.
Riverside's Bob Kercher scored at 5:29, weaving and dodging his way past the Jordan defense to score unassisted, making it 6-4. But Love responded for Jordan, scoring unassisted at 5:03 to pull back to within 1 goal at 6-5. The Pirates found themselves in a man-up late in the period and Woolley fed Kercher to make it 7-5, giving the Pirates some breathing room at the 2:02 mark.
With 46 seconds remaining in the half the Pirates, in a man-up after the Falcons' second conduct foul of the night, Tieszen scored on a Kercher assist to make it 8-5 at the half.
At 10:50 of the third period the Pirates were playing a man down when Jordan's Reynolds scored his fourth goal of the night to make it 8-6. Needing a goal, the Pirates' Kercher fed Cash at 7:49 to make it 9-6. Riverside goalie Steven McGhee made two saves, one on Jordan's Neil Thomas at 9:07 and one on Matt Little at 7:49 to keep the margin at three for the Pirates.
Both teams had two extra-man opportunities over the next five minutes but neither team could manage to take advantagte. But at the 56-second mark Reynolds scored on another Love assist to cut the margin to 9-7 as the third period ended.
The Falcons cut the margin to one goal at the 9:57 mark of the final period when Little scored unassisted to make it 9-8. But that was their last score of the night as the Pirates added two of their own to make the final 11-8. The Pirates' 10th goal was a crowd pleaser as defenseman Zack Brown grabbed a ground ball in his own end, raced upfield through Jordan players trying to dislodge the ball and found Cash in front of the net for Cash's fourth goal of the night, making it 10-8.
The final few minutes were exciting for the Riverside fans, sequestered on the visitor side of the field at the inistence of a sheriff's deputy. McGhee made a one-on-one save on a Reynolds shot at 4:04. The Falcons got possession but were stripped by the Riverside defense near midfield. As the two teams fought for the loose ball it rolled out of the scrum with no one noticing. Alertly, McGhee sprinted from the goal to grab the ball and clear it himself, passing to a teammate as he crossed midfield.
At 1:45, after grabbing a ground ball, Cash found himself alone in front of the goal and faked high then shot low for his fifth goal of the game, making the final 11-8.
For the Pirates, Cash led the scoring with 5 goals, Kercher had 2 goals and 2 assists, Tieszen also had two goals and two assists, Woolley had a goal and an assist, and Britt and Brown had an assist each. For Jordan, Reynolds had 5 goals, Love had two goals and two assists, Little had 1 goal and Albert had 1 assist.
The Pirates led in the groundball category 44-31 and outshot the Falcons 26-25. Each goalie had 8 saves. Kercher led in groundballs with 10, followed by Brown with 5, Tieszen, Cash and Mike Schwartz with 4 each, Woolley and John Diguiseppi with 3 each, Britt, Abbott, Sam Cordones and David Hinkle with 2 each, and Bobby Trimble, Jackson Marshall and David Swift with 1 each.
Brown led in LBCs with 4, Kercher had 3, Woolley and Diguiseppi had 2 each, and Matt Weaver, Trimble, Abbott and Marshall had 1 each.
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Feifs scores three against Johns Hopkins
Former RHS star scores first career hat trick in loss to Blue Jays
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Posted April 15, 2007, 10:50 a.m.
Chris Feifs as featured on the Maryland lacrosse page after the Hopkins game
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Chris Feifs, a co-captain for the 2007 Maryland Terrapins, scored a hat trick in the 7th-ranked Terps' 8-7 overtime loss to the 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins Blue Jays on Saturday April 14, 2007.
Feifs, who played on two state championship teams at Riverside and who graduated in 2002 as a high-school All-American, attended the Naval Academy Prep School for a year before transferring to Maryland in the fall of 2003, earned the feature-photo spot on the Maryland lacrosse page's coverage of the game.
Riverside Coach Jim Kirkley alerted the RHS faithful to Chris' three-goal game on the Riverside forum. "Just have to give props to RHS alum Chris Feifs for scoring a career high three goals in the second half against Hopkins, albeit in a losing overtime effort. Great to have an NC kid do so well on the big stage!!" Kirkley said.
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Riverside over Louisville Collegiate 15-1
Pirates end their Florida trip clicking on all cylinders
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Posted April 30, 2007, 11:45 p.m.
The Riverside Pirates easily won their second game at Disney World on April 12, defeating Louisville Collegiate 15-1. Nine different players scored for the Pirates, with Tim Woolley's 4 goals leading the way.
Also scoring were Bob Kercher, Philip Tieszen and Colin Cash with two goals each, and Sam Cordones, Russell Warren, Mike Schwartz, Robert Walton and Eric Bircher with a goal apiece. Kercher also added three assists, Woolley 2 assists and David Hinkle and Warren on assist each.
Riverside's Steven McGhee had 3 saves and Bryan Rooney had 2 saves. Schwartz won 11 of 13 faceoffs.
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Riverside defeats Wesley Chapel 11-3
Pirates open their Florida trip with win over Warriors
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Posted April 30, 2007, 11:30 p.m.
The Pirates won their first of two games in Orlando on April 11, defeating the Wesley Chapel Warriors lacrosse team 11-3.
Bob Kercher led the scoring for Riverside with 4 goals and an assist, Tim Woolley had 2g and 2a, Colin Cash added 2g and Clayton Abbott and Philip Tieszen each added a goal. Mike Schwartz also had an assist. One goal was kicked in by a Wesley Chapel player and was not awarded to an individual Riverside player.
Riverside goalie Steven McGhee had 11 saves in the game and Bryan Rooney had 1 save.
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Riverside downs Western Alamance 12-0
Woolley and Kercher combine for 9 of the Pirates' 12 goals in shutout
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Posted April 30, 2007, 11:00 p.m.
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The Pirates played their last game before heading to Florida for two spring break games, but their concentration seemed to be on the work at hand and not on sun and fun in Orlando as they dominated the Western Alamance Warriors 12-0.
Tim Woolley had 5 goals and 2 assists and Bob Kercher added 4 goals and 3 assists to lead the Pirates. Also scoring were Dylan Britt, Mike Schwartz and Alex Spathis with 1 goal each. Philip Tieszen added 2 assists, and Abbott and Britt each had 1 assist.
The Pirates scored four goals in the first ten minutes of the first period (Kercher unassisted at 7:46, Schwartz from Abbott at 6:54, Kercher unassisted at 6:02 and Kercher from Woolley at 4:54), putting Riverside up 4-0 at the first break. The Pirates added three more unanswered in the second period as Kercher scored at 3:03 on a Tieszen assist, Woolley scored unassisted at 1:24 and Woolley from Kercher with 49 seconds remaining in the half, putting the Pirates up 7-0.
In the second half the Pirates added five more unanswered to put the game away 12-0. Scoring were Woolley from Kercher at 6:47 of the third perioid, Britt from Tieszen at 6:35, Woolley unassisted at 3:11 and Spathis from Britt at 1:45. The Pirates added another goal in the final period as Woolley scored unassisted at 8:20. Riverside goalie Steven McGhee had 8 saves in the game. Zack Brown led in the groundball category with 9 and Kercher led in LBCs with 4.
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Cardinal Gibbons wins 8-2 over Pirates
Riverside manages only 2 goals against visiting Crusaders
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Posted April 4, 2007, 1:00 p.m.
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The pattern was familiar against the visiting Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders on April 2. The Pirates held their opponent in check early, keeping them close but not managing to score themselves, only to see the visitors bolt out of the gate for a convincing 8-2 win.
Both teams parried back and forth until at the 6:17 mark the Crusaders got on the board first on an unassisted goal by Lance Landvater. That was the only goal managed by either team in the first period.
The first four minutes of the second period were more of the same, but at 8:20 the Crusaders' Colin Rom scored on a Landvater assist to make it 2-0. A minute later Landvater made it 3-0 on an assist from fellow attackman Seph Secoura. At 5:08 No. 26 (don't have a name) scored on a Rom assist to make it 4-0 against the reeling Pirates.
At 4:35 Clayton Abbott scored on a Sam Cordones assist to make it 4-1, and at 2:39 Bob Kercher scored on a Tim Woolley assist to make it 4-2 and it looked like the Pirates had found their groove. But with time running down in the half and the Crusaders with the ball, Coach Mike Curatolo called a timeout with 51 seconds remaining. Nine seconds after play resumed Landvater scored from up top on a Secoura assist for a goal that had to demoralize the Pirates, who had been playing superb defense for several minutes previous to that goal.
Neither team scored in the third period, and the Pirates also went scoreless in the final 12 minutes. The Crusaders, however, scored three in the final quarter (Landvater unassisted, Ryan Cavanaugh on a rebound goal after a Steven McGhee save, and Chris Nelson unassisted) to make the final score 8-2.
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Pirates defeat Northern Knights 14-4
Win was welcome after two 9-goal losses in two previous games
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Posted Apr. 4, 2007, 12:45 p.m.
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Coming off of two disappointing losses to Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill, and with the Riverside forum buzzing with talk that perhaps the Northern Knights might pull off its first win over the Pirates, the boys in black turned to some different personnel to rack up 14 points to the Knights' 4 on March 30.
Attackman Dylan Britt ended the evening with 8 points (5 goals and 3 assists), joining only three other players for an 8-point game (Chris Feifs three times, Tim Woolley twice and Greg Tate once). The record is 12 by Evan Leekley. Cory Coffman had an 11-point game, Tate had a 10-point game and Woolley had two 9-point games while Scott Gordon and Bradley Shore each had one 9-point game. Colin Cash also had a career best by scoring 4 goals.
The scoreboard was not working during the game at Northern so no times will be given for scores. The Pirates scored first when Alex Spathis scored on a Woolley assist. But Northern's Brett Banford scored on a Zack McKee assist to tie it at 1-1, sending the expectant Northern backers into a frenzy.
Cash made it 2-1 on a Woolley assist to make it 2-1 at the end of one period, the closest any Riverside-Northern game has ever been at that point in the game. In the second period Britt, scoring the first of five goals on the night, made it 3-1 on a Sam Cordones assist. Bob Kercher then added an unassisted goal to make it 4-1.
After McKee scored unassisted for Northern to make it 4-2, Cash scored on a Cordones assist to make it 5-2 and Britt scored his second goal from Kercher to make it 6-2 at the half.
Britt made it 7-2 on an unassisted goal, followed by a goal by Northern's Tyler Davis, who had gotten behind the Pirate defense and received a 60-yard pass from one of his longpoles to score easily, making it 7-3, and again the Knight fans went wild.
The Pirates then scored 6 unanswered to make it 13-3. Scoring in that stretch were Britt from Woolley after a Kercher LBC and GB and a weaving coast-to-coast run, Britt unassisted, Clayton Abbott from Britt, Cash from Britt, Cash again from Britt and Cordones unassisted. Northern's Luke Allen added one unassisted and Cordones scored for Riverside on a Kercher assist to make the final 14-4.
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Chapel Hill unloads on Riverside 16-7
Tigers outscore Pirates 12-3 in middle two periods to put the game away
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Posted Apr. 4, 2007, 12:10 p.m.
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For the first eight minutes of their game on March 29, 2007, the Riverside Pirates and the Chapel Hill Tigers looked evenly matched. It took the powerful offense of Chapel Hill five minutes to register their first score, and with only four minutes left in the quarter they were up only 2-0.
But in the next 24 minutes they scored 14 goals to only 4 for the Pirates and, despite three late goals by Riverside, cruised to a 16-7 win. The scoring woes that showed for the Pirates against East Chapel Hill on March 23 continued against the Tigers.
Stephen Burns began the scoring for Chapel Hill on a John Haus assist at 7:37. That was followed by a Logan Corey unassisted goal at 4:10 for a 2-0 lead. At 4:02 Burns scored on the ensuing faceoff to make it 3-0, and at 1:27 Burns again scored unassisted to make it 4-0. With 37 seconds left in the period Riverside's Dylan Britt scored on a Bob Kercher assist to make it 4-1 at the end of the first period.
Chapel Hill added two more over the next three minutes as Brett Yusiewicz scored on a William Scroggs assist at 9:59 and Haus scored on a Burns assist at 9:37, again only seconds after winning a faceoff. At 9:09 the Tigers repeated that as Corey scored straight from the faceoff to make it 7-1. On the night the Pirates dominated faceoffs, with Kercher and Mike Schwartz winning 16 of 23, but quickly lost three of those to LBCs by the aggressive Tiger defense.
Kercher scored unassisted for the Pirates at 8:46 to make it 7-2, but that was as close as the Pirates would get the rest of the way. The Tigers scored three more before the half (Michael Abrams from Haus at 6:13, Scroggs from Corey at 5:09 and Kevin Hornick from Corey with only 1.8 seconds left in the half to make it 10-2 at the break.
Riverside scored off the faceoff in the second half as Kercher assisted Woolley to make it 10-3, but that's when the Tigers put it into overdrive to score six unanswered to push the lead to 16-3. Scoring in that stretch were Burns from Chris Michell, Corey unassisted, Haus from Yusiewicz, Scoggs from Corey, Hornick from Burns and Hornick from Corey. That ended the Chapel Hill scoring, but it was way more than they would need.
After the Tigers' 14th goal Riverside Coach Jim Kirkley pulled his starting defense and inserted Brian Juranas, Clark Harrison and Will Boone. He also switched goalies after the 9th Chapel Hill goal, inserting Steven McGhee. Another wrinkle was Kercher playing some attack earlier in the game.
At 2:36 of the third period Riverside's Philip Tieszen scored unassisted to make it 16-4. The Pirates managed three goals in the final period, one from Woolley unassisted, one from Kercher unassisted and the final one from Clayton Abbott unassisted, to make the final score 16-7.
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Wildcats run over Pirates 12-3
After a close first half East breaks in open in third period
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Posted Mar. 24, 2007, 2:30 p.m.
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The first two periods in the Riverside-East Chapel Hill matchup on March 23 saw both teams playing tight and tentative, with both defenses having the edge. The first half ended with East up 3-2 and the prospect of another close half coming up. But the East team had other ideas.
The Wildcats scored six goals to Riverside's goose egg in the period to run out to a 9-2 lead. They padded that margin in the final period by outscoring the Pirates 3-1 to make the final 12-3. Tony Mendes and Rien Zabor each had three goals to pace the Wildcats in the win. East goalie McKenzie Turvey had 9 saves against only 3 goals against for East.
Riverside's Philip Tieszen (2) works against East defender Evan Kawula (10) in a game on March 23, 2007 at East. |
For the Pirates, Philip Tieszen, Clayton Abbott and Dylan Britt each had one goal. Tim Woolley and Tieszen each had an assist. In goal, Bryan Rooney had 6 saves against 9 goals against in the first three periods and Steven McGhee had 1 save against three goals against in the final period.
Neither team could manage a score for the first 10 minutes of the game. On the Riverside end, with Tieszen on Tonges, Diguiseppi on Mendes and Kercher on Meyer for most of that time, the Wildcats were stymied. But the same went for the other end of the field with Dan Eron on Kercher and Sepp Stephens on Woolley.
The stalemate was broken at 5:08 when Meyer hit Zabor for East's first goal. At 1:03, with East a man down due to a slash penalty, Tieszen tied the score at 1-1. (The book had this unassisted but I wrote down a Woolley assist.) The first period ended tied at 1-1.
East was up a man for the first 29.8 seconds of the second period after a pushing penalty was called on Riverside with .2 seconds left in the first period, but they couldn't take advantage. But at 10:42 East broke the tie when Tonges waltzed in untouched for an unassisted goal. At 9:35 East made it 3-1 when Meyer scored on an Elkins assist.
At 5:50 East had a sure goal but Riverside's Zach Brown deflected the pass at the crease to keep it at 3-1. At 1:57 Abbott took a feed from Woolley to make it 3-2 as the half ended.
East's Mendes had several shots in the first half that went wide of the goal, but it seemed only a matter of time before he zeroed in and hit the net. At 10:23 he scored unassisted to make it 4-2. At 7:10 he assisted Zabor to make it 5-2, and at 7:02, David Pavlik, who had dominated faceoffs up to that point in the game, took the face and went straight in for a score to make it 6-2.
East closed with another three goals in the period. Elkins scored coming from behind at 4:11, Mendes scored unassisted at 3:27 and Zabor scored unassisted at 1:48 to make it 9-2 at the end of three periods.
East added three in the final period (Karsten Bench unassisted at 11:47, Mendes unassisted at 9:12 and Mendes again unassisted at 4:39. The Pirates had a single goal in the final period as Dylan Britt scored on a Tieszen assist with 25 seconds remaining to make the final score 12-3.
Riverside's Mike Schwartz ended the night winning most of his faceoffs. He ended the night 9 of 12 overall.
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Pirates over DA for first time ever, 9-2
Riverside jumps out to 2-0 lead and stretched it from there
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Posted Mar. 22, 2007, 1:30 p.m.
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The Riverside Pirates set two milestones on Tuesday, March 20, as they defeated the Durham Academy Cavaliers 9-2 at Riverside. First, they broke their string of 19 straight losses to DA without a win, and, second, senior attackman Tim Woolley, who had 2 goals and 2 assists, moved to 200 career points as a Pirate.
Woolley entered the game with 196 points. That tied him with Cory Coffman, who is a starting midfielder at Loyola. Chris Feifs, currently a captain on the Maryland lacrosse team has 208 career points at Riverside, Bradley Shore has 235 and current Riverside assistant coach Evan Leekley leads with 243. Woolley had 85 points last season, so Leekley's mark is in jeopardy.
[Webmaster's note: Tim emailed to inform me that I had listed him with two more points than he should have on the stats page, so he hasn't passed Cory yet. I haven't got time to figure out right now where I messed up on the scoring, but I'll take his word for it and fix it later. He says he's keeping his own tally.]
Riverside's Tim Woolley (1), shown working behind the goal against Durham Academy, reached the 200-career-points mark in the DA game. |
Riverside began the scoring in the game at 8:08 as Kercher came from behind the net to score unassisted. At 7:16 Clayton Abbott did the same to make it 2-0. The Pirates hit a couple of pipes in the final five minutes of the period and weren't executing crisply, prompting Coach Jim Kirkley to call a timeout at 1:15. They lost possession, however, and DA called a timeout at 34 seconds but couldn't set up a play before the horn.
Both teams played a bit sloppily for the first couple of minutes of the second period, trading possessions before Durham Academy got on the board when Grant Fowler scored the first of his two goals to pull DA to within one, at 2-1. That seemed to spur the Pirates, however, who had to have on their minds that Riverside had never beaten DA in the program's history. At 9:03 Dylan Britt took a feed from Woolley (point 197) to make it 3-1, and at 7:07 Kercher scored unassisted to make it 4-1.
DA goalie Wyche Carr kept it from being 6-2 as he stopped two Woolley shots within 10 seconds around the 4-minute mark. Riverside goalie Bryan Rooney also stopped what seemed a sure DA goal at 3:17 when he came five yards out of the crease to check a DA player winding up for a shot. DA had an extra-man chance at 43 seconds but Riverside gained possession and the half ended with Riverside in possession of the ball and up 4-1, meaning the Pirates would have possession without a faceoff at the beginning of the third period, with 17 seconds remaining in their penalty.
Problem was, they were called for a delay in getting on the field and lost the ball. Fortunately, DA couldn't convert and Riverside dodged that bullet. At 10:10 Riverside's Philip Tieszen seemed to injure his right leg on a play and was limping on the field. Concern spread among the Pirate faithful in the stands because Tieszen had been running the DA defense ragged with his full-tilt style. Luckily, he seemed to shake it off. At 8:30 DA's Carr saved a one-on-one shot from Riverside's Colin Cash, but at 8:16 Abbott scored on a Kercher assist to extend the lead to 5-1.
DA's Raj Sundar, meanwhile, had been doing a good job of bottling Woolley up behind the goal, but at 6:26 Woolley got free and put a little blooper finesse shot over Carr's head (point 198) to make it 6-1. Only 15 seconds later, after a Mike Schwartz faceoff win, Woolley hit Cash (point 199) to make it 7-1, and it looked like the Pirates were on their way to their first win over the Cavaliers.
DA had another EMO try at 4:51 but couldn't score as Rooney registered two of his six saves during the man-down. At 2:32 of the third period Sam Cordones scored unassisted to make it 8-1. The Pirates had an extra-man opportunity at 2:04 but didn't manage a scored. DA, on the other hand, scored on a break after a Carr save as Fowler scored his second goal of the night with 42 seconds left to make it 8-2.
DA was called for an illegal stick at the beginning of the final period and Woolley scored unassisted at 11:29 (point 200) during the three-minute extra-man opportunity to make it 9-2, which turned out to be the final score.
Rooney ended the game with 6 saves. Carr and Zach Cohen combined for 14 saves for DA (9 for Carr, 5 for Cohen). Scoring for Riverside was Woolley 2g, 2a; Kercher 2g, 2a; Abbott 2g; Britt, Cash and Cordones 1g each.
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Pirates down AACS Eagles 8-6
Riverside pulls away from the visiting Marylanders late to take win
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Posted Mar. 18, 2007, 1:50 a.m.
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Even the heated coaching rivalry of best friends Jim Kirkley and Dick Bitzer couldn't warm the bitterly cold afternoon on Saturday, March 17, as the Riverside Pirates defeated the Annapolis Area Christian School Eagles 8-6 in their annual early-season match-up.
Both teams had frozen in the stands at the UNC-Duke game in Chapel Hill earlier in the day and probably expected the gusting winds and frigid temperatures to moderate a bit. They didn't, as shivering parents and fans could attest as they sat in the stands at the Riverside soccer field.
Riverside's Matt Weaver (left) defends Annapolis Christian's J.J. Miller (10) on Saturday, March 17, 2005, at Riverside.
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Riverside's Tim Woolley began the scoring with an unassisted goal at 9:09 of the first period. The Eagles tied it up at 3:21 when James Baden intercepted a pass near the crease and assisted Will Hanchett on a goal to make it 1-1. The Eagles extended their lead to 2-1 at 1:23 when Joe Stelfox scored unassisted.
At 11:37 of the second period the Pirates tied the game at 2-2 when Woolley scored on an assist from Kercher. The Eagles were called for a deep pocket in the stick-check following that goal and had to sit a man down for a one-minute non-releasable penalty, which they managed to kill successfully.
At 8:32 of the second period Clayton Abbott scored on a Kercher assist to make it 3-2 and again the Eagles were called for a stick infraction in the ensuing stick-check, this time for an illegal crosse and a 3-minute non-releasable penalty. Again the Pirates were unable to score in the man-up situation, but a minute later they went up 4-2 when Philip Tieszen scored on an aerial shot from the goalie's right.
Shortly before halftime it seemed the Eagles had cut the lead to one but the shooter's stick was ruled illegal and the goal taken away. Most of the penalty would be served after the halftime.
After play resumed, the Eagles for the third time managed to keep the Pirates from making them pay for the penalty, and it came back to haunt Riverside as at 10:16 of the third period J.J. Miller scored unassisted for AACS to make it 4-3, and less than a minute later Baden tied the game at 4-4 on an unassisted goal.
The Pirates had another extra-man opportunity but failed to cash in again, but after the teams were at even strength Woolley scored on a low shot on a Tieszen assist to give the Pirates back the lead, 5-4 with 6:57 left in the third period. Thirty seconds later Kercher scored on a sidearmed scorcher to make it 6-4.
Miller scored unassisted for the Eagles at 5:03 of the third period, but Kercher scored unassisted with only 4 seconds left in the period to pad to put the Pirate lead back to two goals, 7-5.
The Pirates' EMO woes continued as they failed on two opportunities early in the final period. Neither team could score for most of the period, but at 3:45 Woolley scored Riverside's final goal in spectacular fashion, getting an LBC at midfield, picking up the ground ball and taking it all the way in for an unassisted goal to make it 8-5.
The Eagles got their final goal at 2:38 when Drew Kuechler scored on an assist from Stelfox to make the final score 8-6. The Riverside win gives them eight wins against nine losses in the annual series with Annapolis Christian which began with the 1994 season.
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Pirates rebound to defeat Apex 9-6
Riverside shakes off Page loss and plays sharp game
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Posted Mar. 14, 2007, 5:30 p.m.
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Riverside fans and parents who came to the Pirates' game on Tuesday night, March 13, didn't know what to expect after their beloved team looked sluggish against Page only three days earlier. They didn't have to wait long for their answer as the Pirates came out strong and handled a tough Apex team by a 9-6 score.
The Pirates were led by Tim Woolley's 5 goals and Bob Kercher's faceoffs and tenacious groundball work. Each of them had goals worthy of enshrinement in the Pretty Goal Museum. Meanwhile, the defense looked fresh and aggressive compared to the Pirates' last outing.
There were some new wrinkles in the offense and defense for the Pirates, including the appearance of goalie Bryan Rooney in his first varsity start. He ended the game with 13 saves, two of them coming in the first two minutes as Apex's Josh Tomlinson and B.J. Leighton saw their shots stopped by the former Pirate ball boy.
The teams traded possessions for five minutes before Riverside scored the first goal of the night. Philip Tieszen, showing great patience behind the goal, waited for what seemed forever before spotting a streaking Dylan Britt who scored to make it 1-0 at 7:20.
With the Pirates' John Diguiseppi on Apex's Leighton, Bobby Trimble on the Cougars' Forrest Moog, and Riverside's Jackson Marshall marking Tomlinson, and Apex's Steven Doligalski and Jim Nordt on Riverside's Woolley and Kercher, respectively, things stalemated for several minutes. That stalemate was broken when Woolley got free and scored the first of his five goals on the night to make it 2-0 at the end of the first period.
As the second period was about to begin, faceoff man Mike Schwartz's stick was ruled illegal and the Pirates were facing a 3-minute, non-releaseable penalty against a team they hadn't defeated since 2003. But not only did the Pirates gain possession and keep it for most of the three minutes, they scored shorthanded at 10:05 when Sam Cordones hit Britt for Riverside's third goal. The Pirates nearly added another shorthanded when a Kercher shot hit the pipe just as the penalty was ending.
At 5:33 Apex finally got on the board when Parker Wilson decided he simply wasn't going to be denied and drove from 20 yards and managed to get past the until-then stingy Pirate defense to make it 3-1. That gave the Cougars some momentum and, only 28 seconds later, John Szep made it 3-2 with an unassisted goal at 5:05.
Both teams threw the ball out of bounds a couple of times over the next few minutes, but at 1:55 Apex had possession and called a timeout. They came out flinging and Rooney was forced to make two strong saves to keep the Pirates up 3-2 as the first half ended. Apex was called for a 1-minute penalty with 12 seconds remaining so the Pirates just held the ball until the buzzer.
Up a man for 48 seconds as the second half started, the Pirates could not take advantage of the opportunity. Apex goalie Garrett Bruss made a save on a Woolley shot late in the penalty to keep the Pirates from converting. At 10:36 Moog came from around the back of the goal to force one in past Rooney to cut tie the game at 3-3. The Cougars suddenly seemed to have all the energy as they peppered the goal with shots. Rooney made two of his 13 saves during this period and the Pirates got a gift as a strong shot by Apex's Steven Sredzienski hit iron at the 7:18 mark.
At 5:32 the Pirates were again a man down for 30 seconds but managed to kill the penalty. Ten seconds after going even Woolley came from behind and scored unassisted to make it 4-3 with 4:23 remaining in the third period. With Kercher winning nearly every faceoff, the Pirates had their opportunities to score, but the defense also gave the offense opportunities. At 2:39 defenseman Zack Brown stripped his man of the ball and passed it ahead to Kercher the most entertaining goal of the night. Kercher weaved through the entire Apex defense before dropping low and skimming the ball past the Apex goalie's feet to make it 5-3 with 42 seconds left in the period. Apex's Bruss kept it from being much worse as he registered two saves in the final three seconds before the buzzer.
At 9:07 Apex made it 5-4 after a Riverside player slipped on the dewy grass at midfield and lost the ball to an Apex middie. Tomlinson got the score that pulled the Cougars to within one goal. But at 8:03 Woolley again forced his way in from behind the goal to score unassisted, followed at 7:35 by Tieszen who did the very same thing, and suddenly it was 7-4 and Riverside had some breathing room.
They got even more at 5:56 when Kercher faked a pass to Tieszen but instead redirected it to Woolley, who scored his fourth goal on the night to make it 8-4. At 5:33, after Apex won a rare faceoff, Wilson again showed determination not to be denied as he drove on the goal and put the ball in to cut the lead to three, 8-5.
At 3:46 Woolley had a pretty goal when he took a pass from Cordones and backhanded the ball in low for his fifth goal of the night. Apex scored a man-up goal at 3:33 as Tomlinson put one between Rooney's left shoulder and the pipe to make it 9-6. Apex began doubling the ball at every opportunity at that point, and it paid off with several Riverside turnovers and a failure-to-advance.
At 1:52 Rooney made a save on a Leighton shot and a few seconds later Brown was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and was ejected from the game. Rooney made two saves in the final minute and a takeaway by Riverside's Marshall with 26 seconds remaining sealed the win. The Pirates must play Chapel Hill on Friday without the services of Brown due to the late-game infraction.
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Some of the Mulch Madness loading crew poses in front of Lowell Tieszen's 1941 Chevy truck about midway through the deliveries on Saturday, March 10, 2007. [Photo slide show]
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Mulch Madness done with military precision
It was a record day as nearly 5,000 bags delivered before 4 p.m.
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Posted Mar. 12, 2007, 7:45 p.m.
In top photo (left to right) Lowell Tieszen, Joe Pietrantoni and Coach Jim Kirkley load a truck with 150 bags of mulch. In bottom photo, left to right, Dave Juranas, Joe Pietrantoni, Riverside Principal Jim Key and John Schwartz help load a truck for a run.
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The Pirate lacrosse family had its most successful Mulch Madness day ever on Saturday, Mar. 10, delivering more than nearly 5,000 bags of mulch and leaving the Riverside High School parking lot looking by 4 p.m. as if no one had been there all day.
John Schwartz, who along with Mike Cash served as co-Mulch Master this year, was pleased with the day.
"The 2007 edition of Mulch Madness was an absolute success," he said. "The morning began at 6:30 a.m. when six tractor trailer loads of mulch were delivered to RHS. It was a daunting scene with 69 pallet loads of mulch were stacked the entire width of the back of the school. It ended about 3:30 p.m. after more than 4,800 bags of mulch had been successfully delivered to more than 250 customers."
It was a great day, he said, for parents, Coach Jim Kirkley and members of the JV and varsity teams to get to know each other better. "Thanks go the many parents and friends of Riverside Lacrosse who donated food, equipment, their time, vehicles and energy to make the day a huge success," he said.
Schwartz did some math and found that:
Each 2 cu ft bag weighed about 50 pounds
The team took delivery of 4,830 bags
Total weight was 241,500 pounds of mulch
Tim Starnes and the "green machine" unloaded and reloaded 328,250 pounds, which players and parents would have had to handle had they not had the forklift.
All of it got handled once, for a total of 241,500 pounds
3095 bags were handled twice (from the pallets to the smaller vehicles) for an additional 154,750 pounds
The total number of pounds handled was 396,250 pounds
Divided by an estimated 40 players and volunteers, that means each person lifted a total of 9,900 pounds during the day on Saturday.
Special thanks is owed to Tim Starnes and Sunbelt Rentals for providing and operating the fork lift, Mike Cash, Dealer Supply and Penske Truck Leasing for providing the large trucks and covering fuel costs, Hager Rand and Durham Coca Cola for supplying beverages and all the parents that brought trucks trailers and themselves.
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Page's Pirates manhandle Riverside 12-4
Page jumps to 4-0 start in first two minutes and never looks back
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Posted Mar. 12, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
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Two minutes and eight seconds into their game against the Page Pirates on Friday, March 10, before many Riverside fans had settled in for the second game of the season, the Riverside Pirates found themselves down 4-0. And despite a brief comeback attempt that cut the score to to 6-3 in the third period, Riverside couldn't stop another Page flurry that led to a 12-4 drubbing in this Battle of the Pirates.
Seldom has a Riverside team seemed so somnambulent in a game. They were bested in all phases: groundballs (46-25), shots (40-26), faceoffs (20-12), saves (18-8), and, of course, the final score (12-4). The Page offense was balanced, with eight different players scoring. Four different players had two goals each and four others had one goal each. Bryan Romaine in goal and Philip Nahser and Will Newman teaming up on faceoffs kept Riverside from grabbing any momentum.
Page scored first only 42 seconds into the game in an extra-man situation as Nahser scored unassisted. That was followed by another unassisted Nahser goal at 11:04, an unassisted Robert Aycock goal at 10:40 and an unassisted goal by Patrick Clark at 9:52. Around the 7-minute mark Romaine made his presence known with three saves in a one-minute period (one of them a point-blank save on a shot by Riverside's Bob Kercher) to keep Riverside off the board.
Riverside settled down in the second period and played better defense. They broke their scoring drought at 5:02 on an unassisted goal by Kercher to make it 4-1. But at 4:29, after an unfortunate out-of-bounds pass by RHS, Page got possession and Taylor Barker beat his defender to score unassisted, making it 5-1. A minute later Boo Hook took a feed from Adam Hardy to make it 6-1 and Riverside saw its 3-goal deficit become 5 as the half ended.
Riverside's Philip Tieszen scored unassisted at 11:12 of the third period to make it 6-2. That was followed by another unassisted Kercher goal at 10:32 to make it 6-3 and again the margin had been cut to three. Riverside goalie Steven McGhee, who seemed to have trouble seeing the ball early in the game, racked up several saves over the next few minutes to keep the margin at 6-3. But at 3:19 Page's Tyler Long scored unassisted to make it 7-3. Adam Hardy added another one before the end of the period to make it 8-3 and it looked like the wind was out of the Riverside Pirates' sails.
Page outscored Riverside 4-1 in the final period, with Adam Hardy scoring on a Barker assist at 10:06, Barker scoring unassisted at 6:40, Hook scoring his second goal at 3:05 on an Adam Hardy assist, and Si Statham finishing the scoring at 1:23 on an unassisted goal. Riverside mustered a single goal in the period, an unassisted score by Kercher at 8:15.
Page defender Kyle Wright got the assignment of dogging Kercher and Brent Holbrook was on Tim Woolley. Meanwhile Page longpole Gray Byars intercepted or got his stick on at least three passes over the middle during the game to mess up any rhythm Riverside tried to establish.
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Pirates over Whirlies 10-9 in squeaker
Britt from Woolley with 14 seconds left avoids overtime
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Posted Mar. 7, 2007, 3:30 p.m.
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The Pirates went up 4-1 in the first six minutes of their game against Grimsley on Tuesday, March 6, and it looked as if they might handle the Whirlies easily. But that was not to be as Grimsley kept it close all night, tied it at 9-9 and forced the Pirates to score with 14 seconds remaining to escape with a win.
With time running down Tim Woolley, who had been kept under wraps most of the evening by Grimsley defenseman Mike James, got free behind the goal, came around the right side and hit a flashing Dylan Britt who put the ball past Grimsley goalie David Dennis for the 10-9 lead. Dennis had made several spectacular saves during the evening (he had 15 overall), but this one got past him with 14 seconds remaining. The clock ran out before Grimsley could mount a threat to tie.
The Pirates were led in scoring by Bob Kercher (3g, 2a) and Dylan Britt (3g, 1a). Colin Cash had 2 goals, and Philip Tieszen and Woolley each had 1 goal and 1 assist.
Riverside scored at 11:28 of the first period as Kercher scored on a running right-hander unassisted to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later David Hinkle hit Dylan Britt who scored the first of his three goals on the night to make it 2-0. The teams traded possession on some sloppy play for the next few minutes before Grimsley got on the board as freshman Kevin DePopas had the first of his five goals on the night, four of them unassisted on strong drives.
At 7:35 Britt scored on a Tieszen assist, followed by a Cash score on a Kercher assist in the man-up. That made it 4-1 with 6:00 remaining in the first period. At 3:15 the Whirlies cut the lead to 4-2 as DePopas assisted David Millican. At 2:31 Riverside ran the lead back to 3 goals as Tieszen scored unassisted coming from behind the goal to make it 5-2. The Pirates had to hold off two man-up attempts by Grimsley, including a 16-second period when they were down two men, to escape the period still up three goals.
Grimsley made it 5-3 at 9:28 of the second period as they scored in an exta-man situation. Kercher made it 6-3, scoring unassisted on a classic clear-out. The Pirates seemed out of sync on both offense and defense over the next few minutes, resulting in the 2007 season's first "God bless America!" exclamation from Coach Jim Kirkley at the 5:38 mark of the second period.
Grimsley took advantage as DePopas scored unassisted at the 5:38 mark to make it 6-4. Riverside survived another Grimsley EMO attempt before Kercher scored on one of the more impressive shots by a Riverside player in some time to make it 7-4. He ran to the left of the goal and shot left-handed from about five yards with almost no angle, but the ball went over Grimsley goalie Dennis' left shoulder and hit the far corner of the net, eliciting whoops from the Pirate faithful in the Grimsley stands. Grimsley's Millican scored unassisted with 49 seconds remaining in the half to make it 7-5 at the break.
The Whirlies took advantage of another extra-man opportunity at 9:27 of the third period as Max VanDorn scored on an assist from Travis Murphy to cut the lead to one, 7-6. Riverside's Colin Cash scored on an assist from Britt at 5:28 on a play that seemed to run in slow motion. Britt, playing behind the goal, hit Cash in front of the crease. After watching Grimsley's Dennis make numerous saves up to that point, Cash patiently waited and waited until he saw an opening up top and shot right under the bar and over Dennis' right shoulder to make it 8-6.
At 2:39 DePopas scored again unassisted to make it 8-7, followed by a Woolley goal from Kercher as Riverside was in the extra-man, making the score 9-7 after three periods.
That's when DePopas kicked it into yet another gear, water-bugging around defenders twice, at 9:37 and at 7:50, and scoring unassisted both times to tie the game at 9-9. The Whirlies had another man-up opportunity at the 4:38 mark and Riverside goalie Steven McGhee had two saves during the Riverside man-down to keep Grimsley from taking the lead.
The Whirlies gained possession at 2:52 as Riverside passed out of bounds. The Riverside defense twice seemed on the verge of a turnover but timely timeout calls by the Grimsley coaches allowed them to keep possession. The RHS defense kept them from getting a serious look at the goal for more than two minutes until Riverside finally gained possession with 35 seconds remaining in the game.
After a timeout by Coach Kirkley the Pirates took the field to try to avoid an overtime. They were successful as Woolley broke free from his defender, came around the back right side of the goal and saw Britt standing on the crease waiting. He hit Britt's stick and Britt quick-sticked it into the net for the winning goal. Time ran out before Grimsley could answer.
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2007 Web site links finally updated
Webmaster gets off his duff and actually does some work
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Posted Feb. 28, 2007, 5:30 p.m.
I've updated the links (finally) for this year's Web site. Included are the 2007 statewide composite schedule, which Rick Wooten made available to me, the "Coaches and Staff" page, and the NCHSLA conference lineup page. The NCHSLA page also links to all the high school schedules.
I also posted the varsity and JV team photos, as well as the group photo of this year's stat girls (it's on the "Coaches and Staff" page). However, I need some help identifying some of the people. I know some but won't try to put the names under the photos until I have a full list. Can someone please email me the IDs? Remember to specify left-to-right and what row the person is in.
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First day of practice brings nice weather
New coaches Evan Leekley and Andy Ross take up their duties
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Posted Feb. 13, 2007, 12:28 p.m.
Yesterday's first day of 2007 practice -- Riverside's 15th such day -- was a success, according to Riverside Head Coach Jim Kirkley. Not only was the weather cooperative, but turnout was tremendous, he said.
About 55 players showed up, and there would have been more but some neglected to get physicals and, thus, were not allowed to practice. "Kids were excited about being out on the field again. It was a beautiful day weather-wise, and it was good having alums Evan and Andy out there coaching."
Evan and Andy are Evan Leekley (RHS '99), who will coach the offense on the varsity, and Andy Ross (RHS '05), who will coach the junior varsity. Evan graduated from Riverside in 1999 and still holds records for "most points in a game" (12), "most points in a season" (119), "most assists in a season" (56), "most points in a career" (243), and "most assists in a career" (124), so he knows a bit about generating offense.
The first day emphasis, said Kirkley, was "on individual evaluations so we can make decisions regarding the varsity roster, and cuts." Kirkley said he was hoping for another nice day on Tuesday so the team could go outside again.
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2007 kicks off with annual family dinner
Coach and mulch masters give fans, parents their marching orders
Players, parents, alumni and fans gather at Grey Stone Baptist Church for the annual Riverside lacrosse family dinner.
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Coach Jim Kirkley explains team rules, schedules and requirements for the coming season.
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Dick Woolley (left) and Mike Cash explain the delivery procedure for 2007 Mulch Madness.
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2007 captains (from left) Matt Weaver, Bob Kercher and Tim Woolley were introduced at the annual family dinner.
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Posted Jan. 11, 2006, 8:50 p.m.
Riverside lacrosse's 2007 season -- its 15th -- officially began on Thursday with the annual family kickoff dinner. The dinner served the triple purpose of satisfying the conference requirements for a preseason meeting, allowing for socializing and fellowship and kicking off the annual Mulch Madness fundraiser.
Coach Jim Kirkley began by announcing that Evan Leekley (RHS '99), Riverside lacrosse's career scoring leader, will be assistant coach in charge of the offense for 2007. He aslo announced that Andy Ross (RHS '05) will coach the junior varsity. The captains for 2007 were also introduced: seniors Bob Kercher, Tim Woolley and Matt Weaver.
He also announced schedules, rules, procedures and requirements for the coming season. Practice begins on Feb. 12, he said, with Monday-Wednesday-Friday conditioning starting on Jan. 29. Players will meet each day at 2:45 for the non-manadatory conditioning, Kirkley said, but he encouraged players who want to be in shape when practice begins to participate.
Parents were told to have their kids come to practice prepared for any weather, cold or hot. Also, a winter storm has been known to force practice onto parking lots so players should be prepared, shoe-wise, for that, he said. Also, all equipment should be brought each day. Players must be prepared to begin practice at 3 p.m.
Practice sessions will last until dark, Kirkley said, probably two to two-and-a-half hours. If school should be canceled or let out early, school rules dictate that there will be no practice, he said, but if there is a teacher workday, practice will be held.
Parents were encouraged to schedule all dental or other appointments at times that don't interfere with practice, or, better yet, to get them done before Feb. 12.
Every player must have a physical form completed and in the training room before Feb. 12. Players who have not submitted proof of a physical will not be allowed to practice, Kirkley said. He also reiterated the team policy regarding drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Any player caught drinking or smoking during the season will be suspended for a game after the first offense and suspended for the year after the second offense. Captains will help enforce this rule and report infractions to the coach.
About 65 kids have indicated a desire to play lacrosse this year, Kirkley said, so there will have to be some cuts. No juniors will be on the junior varsity team, he said, but no freshmen will be cut from JV. The JV philosophy will be to teach, improve and win. It is not a rec league, he said, so some players may not see the field. But players who only help in practice are an important and integral part of the team, Kirkley said, even if they don't see game playing time.
New players were told they needed black shoulder pads, elbow pads and gloves and a white helmet to comply with equipment rules.
Dick Woolley and Mike Cash discussed the 2007 Mulch Madness fundraiser. Mulch delivery day, they said, is March 10 and the goal is for each player to sell 110 bags of mulch. The bags are 2 instead of 3 cubic feet this year and are being sold for $3.50 per bag, including delivery. Any questions regarding Mulch Madness can be sent to mulchmadess@mindspring.com.
Funds from Mulch Madness will be used to buy new away uniforms for the varsity and new scrimmage jerseys for the varsity and JV. Also, at least 12 new helmets will have to be bought this year, he said. The funds will also help defray the transportation costs for the spring trip to Disney World. Kirkley also said the Pirates may play a league game in Florida since Charlotte Catholic is going to be in the Orlando area at the same time.
Coach Kirkley also announced that Julie Marshall will be in charge of the program this year. She said she would like for it to be available at the first home game on March 9, so the ad deadline is Feb. 15.
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