Tech Rallies in the Second Half for 11th Win

WINSTON-SALEM, NC- The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets improved to 11-3 on the season with a come from behind second half deficit to beat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 8-5.  The Jackets dominated play in the second half outscoring Wake 5-1 after trailing 4-3 at the half. Freshman phenom Michael Thomas (Atlanta, GA/Wesmintster) continued his scoring ways with three goals on the day and senior Cory Borgel (York, ME/York) added two goals in the win.

The first quarter of play was dominated early by Wake as they possessed the ball for a majority of the first quarter after multiple turn over’s by the sloppy play of the Jacket offense. Trailing 1-0 at the seven minute mark Tech’s offense opened up when Ben Anzovino (Kennesaw, GA/Harrison) found Borgel on the crease to get Tech on the board. Then Tech responded with two more goals in the quarter, one each from Trey Gantt (Marietta, GA/Lassiter) and Thomas. The second quarter was a see-saw affair for both teams as they looked to gain ground on one another but Wake was ready for the track meet and scored three straight goals in the quarter. The Wake defense was also up to the challenge and shut down the Jacket’s offense and held them to zero goals in the quarter. At the half Tech trailed 4-3.

The third quarter was a new game for the Jackets. They dominated play throughout the quarter and scored two goals to build a 5-4 advantage. The defense looked solid as senior’s Ryan Solan (Alpharetta, GA/Alpharetta) and Casey Fleming (Ganiesville, GA/North Forsyth) along with Junior Joe Burton (Alpharetta, GA/Milton) and Freshman Zach Ilisevich (Bethesda, MD/Georgetown Prep) held down the Wake offense shutting them out for the entire quarter. The Tynan Brother’s, Chris and Pat (Martinez, GA/Lakeside), once again dominated the face off battle and continued to give Tech possession time.

Entering the fourth Tech was wearing down the Wake defense and were closing in on pulling away in the contest. The Jacket’s went man up for two minutes and were able to score two goals in that stretch to put the game away leading 8-4. The defense held strong even when they went two men down, including one on goalie Solan. Back up goaltender John Mahoney (Atlanta, GA/Lovett) came up with a big save to thwrart a possible Deacon comeback late in the fourth quarter. The offense did the rest of the work and preserved the game for the Jackets until Wake cracked through with seconds remaining to make the final score 8-5. The 11^th win for the Jacket’s is the most since 2004 when Tech won their second SELC title. Tech returns to action on Saturday versus in state rival Georgia at Milton High School at 2:15pm. The winner of the game wins the SELC Southwest title and a trip to the post season conference tournament.  

 

GT   3   0   2   3- 8

WF  1   3   0   1- 5

 

GT Goals- Thomas 3, Borgel 2, Gantt 2, Jarriel

GT Assists- Stapleton 2, Anzovino, Jariel,

GT Saves- Solan 12, Mahoney 2