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Sonoma Visits The Longhorn State

Apr. 4, 2012

By Ryan Heidrich 

            The twentieth ranked Seawolves traveled to the longhorn state for a three game series over their spring break. Opening with a victory over Texas A&M in College Station. Sonoma then traveled to San Marcos for a tilt with the host Texas State Bobcats and came out on top, 13-8. The trip was wrapped up with a showdown with the seventh ranked Texas Longhorns. Sonoma beat the Longhorns in a dramatic overtime thriller, 11-10.    

 “As a team we have been looking forward to this trip since our schedule came out in November. Going in we knew that if we could sweep all three games it would give us a huge confidence boost heading into the meat of our WCLL schedule. “ Said captain Casimir Morawski. 

            After a long travel day and a rough adjustment to hotel life, Sonoma traveled nearly two hours to take on Texas A&M. In extremely hot weather, the Seawolves jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Senior Defensemen George Porter opened the scoring for the Seawolves. Sonoma kept the pressure up in the second quarter and headed into halftime with a 5-1 lead over the Aggies.           

Texas A&M would answer back with a strong third quarter, outscoring the Seawolves 3-2. Sonoma would hold its lead and coast onto an 11-5 victory. After the game the gracious parents of Texas A&M hosted Sonoma to a BBQ that featured a tremendous amount of world class BBQ.   

 Sonoma used their day off to rest and get prepared for a scrappy Texas State team.  Noma traveled to San Marcos, TX for their first night game of the year. Playing on a beautiful natural grass surface inside Bobcat Stadium. Sonoma once again jumped out to a first quarter lead following two goals by the teams long stick middies, George Porter and Xavier Griffen. Sonoma would continue to outplay the Bobcats and would eventually head into halftime with a 7-4 lead. With a strong second half play by senior goalie Michael Clothier and consistent effective offensive play Sonoma would go on to win the game 13-8. 

After taking the first two games of the spring break trip there was added pressure for the Seawolves to beat the highly ranked Texas Longhorns. Playing in their beautiful new lacrosse facility Sonoma came out flat, falling behind 2-0 early to the longhorns. Sonoma would battle back to tie it up but head into the second quarter down 4-2. 

  "This was a big game, but guys at Sonoma State plan on winning these games," said Head Coach Doug Carl 

Sonoma responded with a strong second quarter heading into halftime down 6-5. After a back and fourth third quarter which saw the Longhorns lead grow as big as three, Texas would lead at the end of three, 10-8.  Junior Kyle Riddle would score to bring the Seawolves within just one and with less than four minutes Junior midfielder Ryan Heidrich would tie the game at 10-10.  With their backs against the wall, the Sonoma defense lead by Clothier would make a stop as time expired and the teams would head into overtime.

"I think our composure was great.  Earlier in the year Oregon jumped out on us and we panicked, we didn't this time," added Carl 

After a Texas faceoff victory, Sonoma’s defense rose to the occasion once again and produced a stop. Sonoma successfully cleared the ball and began their assault on the Longhorn goal. Heidrich would eventually net the game winner for the Seawolves. 

With the wins, Sonoma extends their win streak to 5 games, which is their longest winning streak since the 2009 season. The Seawolves look to push their streak to 6 games against the #1 Cal Poly Mustangs in Rohnert Park on Saturday April 7th, faceoff is at 3pm.