Desperately needing a bounce back from a 19-9 loss to Whitman, the Cats came back with a fire lit under them on Monday, April 8, besting county rivals B-CC in a 10-9 overtime victory.
The matchup was back and forth from the start, with both sides attaining offensive rhythms throughout. Fortunately for the Wildcats, a last-minute goal is what sent the contest into the overtime period.
Overtime was thrilling, with both teams expressing aggressive defense, and producing many crucial turnovers. Senior attackman JR Dubose had the answer to end the match as he ripped an impressive shot past the goalie to secure the victory for WJ.
“It was a great feeling, it’s always great to beat a rival, especially B-CC. Honestly, our team just set me up in the right position and after turning the ball over in overtime I knew I had to make up for it. That win is huge for our momentum but that being said we can’t get cocky or anything afterward it’s one game at a time,” Dubose said.
Marching on, the Cats faced off against Quince Orchard on Friday, April 12, concluding in a 10-7 Wildcat loss.
It was a hard battle under the Friday night lights, as Quince Orchard controlled the game’s pace and maintained a productive offensive outcome.
QO attackman Patrick Brick scored on a late shot before the half that beamed past senior goalie Alex Klein. The goal seemed to shift the momentum into QO’s favor heading into the break.
“That goal had a big impact, although they were already up three, the fourth goal hurt. People’s heads were down and that ultimately hurt us through the rest of the game,” senior attackman Nick Zampardi said.
Unable to get the late game surge, the whistle blew as the Wildcats have now fallen to 3-2 on the season, needing to get back to their dominant winning ways in their upcoming matches.
“We need to be smarter and cut down on our unnecessary mistakes,” junior Ryan Gardner said.
The Wildcats will encounter Rockville in an important recovery game on Tuesday, April 16. While it seems the season just started, the Rockville game only hits the six out of 12 game slot enhancing the significance of upcoming games if they want a high seed come playoff time.
“I think we just need to keep working, learn from our mistakes, and move on. Our game against Rockville should be a good bounce-back game,” Zampardi said.
