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#23 SOU Defeats #15 UC-Santa Cruz 11-6

Box Score

Mar. 25, 2017

Ashland, OR-  The # 23 SOU Raiders hosted undefeated #15 UC-Santa Cruz on Friday night in Raider Hawk Stadium.  SOU jumped out to a 2-0 lead on back to back goals by Jr. Captain #29 Spencer Pregal.  Defense and sloppy play by both teams kept the score at 2-0 at the end of the first. 

Santa Cruz would score their only goal of the first half early in the 2nd qt.  On the ensuing face-off Sr. Captain #57 Sam Taylor won the face-off forward to himself and scored past the Banana Slug goalie, 3-1 Raiders.  Freshman #19 Jared Wyatt would add another goal for the Raiders assisted by #29 Pregal.  4-1 Raiders at the half.

The Team Defense of the Raiders was the real difference on the day led by the Seniors.  #26 Goalie Zack Kowalski recorded 13 saves while only giving up 6 goals.  Sr. Captain #23 LSM Taylor Harrison caused 8 turnovers, scooped up 6 GB's, and scored a goal.  Sr. Captain #57 Sam Taylor scored a goal too, and picked up 7 GB's.  Sr. D #8- Jaren Breault picked up 2 GB's and caused a TO also.  The team defensive pressure was all over the Slugs hands causing many shots to go wide.  The slugs took 41 shots but were only able to put 19 on goal.  SOU's Man Down Defense was 4/4 before SOU even had 1 Extra Man Opportunity of their own.  The Man Down unit finished the day at 5/5. 

SOU's offense really picked up in the 3rd qt. scoring 5 goals to seal the win.  #29 Pregal finished off his hat trick, followed by Sr. Captain #7 Ari Feldman, #23 Harrison, and then Freshman #94 Connor Mason pushing the Raiders lead to 8-2.  Santa Cruz answered back w/ two of their own making the count 8-4.  #7 would strike again for the Raiders on EMO to put the lead 9-4 going into the final qt.

#94 Mason would strike again on a fast break assisted by #3 Jacob Kritzer, a good freshman connection is born.  The freshman weren't done as #10 Hayden Hupfer found the back of the net via a nasty shot on the run pushing the score to 11-4.  Santa Cruz would score the last two goals making the final 11-6 Raiders.

Key stat of the game was the Raiders picking up 33 groundballs to only 17 by Santa Cruz.

Game Balls went to #57 Taylor for his excellent work at the Face-off X going 8-11 (filling in for Face-off Specialist #6 Humphrey), scoring a goal, picking up 7 GB's, and holding UC-Santa Cruz's leading scorer to just one goal.  #7 Feldman got the other game ball for his offensive leadership, hustle, 2 goals and 1 assist. 

SOU improves to 5-2 on the year while handing Santa Cruz their first loss of the season.

Next up for the Raiders are the Yotes from College of Idaho on Sunday at Noon.