Seawolves edge Penguins in Final Preseason Tune UpBox Score
Feb. 4, 2012 SAN RAFAEL, Calif.- The Seawolves got off on the right foot to their Spring 2012 campaign, edging North Bay NCAA Division II rival Dominican University 12-11 in a scrimmage on a warm Saturday afternoon in San Rafael.
“This was a team win. Everyone played great and did their jobs. We won this game as a team,” said captain Matt D’Angelo.
 Kyle Riddle had three goals and three assists and Matt D’Angelo added four rips and two dimes to fill the the stat sheet as Sonoma earned its first win against an NCAA opponent since last fall’s scrimmage against the same team.
“It’s great to go out as a club team and earn one against the D-II school down the street,” said D’Angelo, a fourth year senior. “Just to have that experience going forward will definitely benefit us.”
The Wolfpack burst out on fire out of the starting gates, with Matty “The Genius” Gillan feeding long stick midfielder George Porter from X for the game’s first goal. Gillan was filling in at attack for an injured Casey Wood, who led the team in points last season with 43.
“With the chemistry we saw down there today, there’s a possibility that we might use (Gillan) down there more,” said head coach Doug Carl.
Gillan, who was a starting attack-man at La Costa Canyon High, excelled in the starting roll, finishing the day with four assists.
Riddle and D’Angelo took the scoring reigns from there, boosting the Seawolves to an 8-4 halftime advantage. Dominincan bounced back quickly out of the half scoring on a SSU turnover to make it 8-5 just 45 seconds into the third, but was quickly quieted by a Ryan Heidrich top shelf laser just two minutes later.
The defense continue to hold strong through the third quarter, despite an injury to starter Tony Carvutto. Bob Federighi fared well as the fourth defender, his effort highlighted by a desperate save made in goal when starting keep Mike Clothier came up just short fielding a ground ball behind the net at the seven minute mark.
Goals by freshman Blaine Sando and another blast by D’Angelo (completing his hat trick) gave the Seawolves an 11-7 advantage going into the fourth quarter. D’Angelo seemingly put the game away with a low to high rip early in the fourth, but the Penguins were not going to back down on their home turf passively.
Dominican responded to a five goal deficit by netting two goals within three minutes of each other, prompting a time out by the Seawolves with the score 12-9. Momentum and the home crowd on their side, Dominican came out of the timeout roaring scoring twice more to come within one goal of tying the game with 1:30 left.
“There were times when the defense was great,” said the redshirt junior Federighi. “and then there were times when we were poor. We need to be great all four quarters.
Barring collapse and heartbreak, the SSU defense held strong forcing arid shots dropped balls during the final posession, highlighted by the efforts of Andrew Day, Porter and Federighi. The Seawolves would hold on to the one goal advantage as the clocked ticked down, en route to the teams first victory of the spring.
While technically a scrimmage, the win will not reflect in the team’s final standings. However, according to Carl, it will give them a boost of confidence going forward.
“I have confidence that we’re going to play well,” “this is a smart team, this is tight team and they’re going learn from their mistakes, we made a lot during the fourth quarter.”
The Seawolves will travel next week to Seattle, Washington for the first official game of the regular season. Taking on the University of Washington next Sunday. Fans at home may follow the game with the team’s live stream or official Twitter page @NomaLax.
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