The Dawgs traveled over the mountains to go toe to toe with conference rival Idaho in a fast paced game played in the rain, sleet, and snow, downing the Vandals 19-16 for a critical win. The game saw the return of midfielder Brody Lundquist, coming back into the action after missing several games due to a bone bruise, but looking as tight as ever, scoring two goals. The game was also the scene of another significant event, as two Huskies turned in double hat trick performances, with Alex Crane and Josh Redhair getting on the books for 6 goals each! Congratulations to Josh and Alex for an amazing game! See the photos below for the game conditions, it can only be described as bizzare, almost an April blizzard, requiring the home team assistants to break out the snowshovels to clear the side lines just to be able to see the edges!
The Huskies drew first blood after most of the quarter had gone, with Alex Crane scoring the first of his six goals on an unassisted wrap around at 6:12. The Vandals came back about three minutes later, tying the game at 1 apiece until Josh Redhair took the Huskies up with an unassited goal at 2:23. Not satisfied with his first effort, Crane nailed another goal with only 46 seconds left in the quarter to lead the Huskies to a 3 - 1 advantage.
With the weather stabilizing into a constant snow, the scoring action picked up; the Vandals getting first crack of the quarter to close within 1 after only 34 seconds gone. The Dawgs roared back, like true Huskies on the Iditarod trail in the snow, scoring three unanswered goals to move ahead 6-2. The goal burst was led by Josh Redhair with an assist by Nathan Puldy, followed by a Rem Baumann goal with another assist by Puldy, then Nathan Puldy nailing his own goal at 8:54 to put the Dawgs in a commanding lead.
Undaunted, Idaho dug down, scoring 30 seconds after Puldy's goal to edge back into the game until Josh Redhair scored on the fast break on the feed from Alex Crane at 6:35 to put the Huskies ahead, 7-3. Just like the snow flurries, the Huskies and Vandals traded goals back and forth, with an Idaho goal at 3:56, a UW goal at 1:30 by Josh Redhair on the assist from Chris Brown, then Alex Crane scoring at 0:41 on a solo shot to bring the Huskies to a 9-4 lead. The Vandals rallied, getting two more goals in the last few seconds to close the gap, ending the first half with the Dawgs in a 9-6 lead.
Idaho came out firing on all cylinders in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring three quick goals to tie the game up at 9-9. Coach Cerchiara called a key timeout to get the Dawgs settled down and back on track. It must have worked, Alex Crane answered the call with an unassisted goal to move the Huskies back into the lead by one, followed by Brody Lundquist's double team splitting, one handed goal to move the markers to an 11-9 lead. Alex Crane got back in the action, with another unassisted goal, followed by senior Chris Brown getting his first score of the day on an unassisted effort to get the Huskies out to a 13-9 lead.
The Vandals wouldn't give up, getting two more goals in the closing minutes of the quarter to edge back into contention, trailing by two until Lundquist combined with the assist from Puldy for another goal and Brown nailed down his second goal of the day to close out the third period with the Huskies up by 4, 15-11.
With the weather finally cooperating somewhat, the Vandals led off the action with three goals in the first six minutes, clipping the Husky lead down to only one goal. Having worked the crease all day, Alex Crane found his favorite spot again, getting his sixth goal with an unassisted goalie beater to move the Huskies up again by two, 16-14. Josh Redhair found the backside of the net on this fifth goal of the day at 5:29 to push the Husky lead up to 17-14. Idaho stormed back, scoring again less than a minute later to edge back in, closing within 2, Huskies still up 17-15. Senior midfielder Brown banged in a solo score about a minute later, followed by an Idaho goal at 1:55, shortening the Husky lead to 18-16. As anyone in the lacrosse world knows, two goals with under two minutes left is not much of a lead, it can only take 5 seconds or less to score a goal after a successful face off.
Even though the Vandals won the next face off, the Huskies sealed the deal on a Josh Redhair goal at the 40 second mark from the assist by Chris Brown. The Huskies came back to Seattle with a critical win, besting the Vandals 19-16 in the final scorebook column.
Now for the Stat Wrap Up, First theTeam Stats
S=Shot, G=Goal, A=Assist, GB=Ground Ball, SV=Save
UW: 38S, 19G, 6A, 48GB, 10SV
UI: 58S, 16G, 8A, 35GB, 9SV
And the Individual Stats:
Spencer Adams: 3GB, 10SV
Alex Crane: 14S, 6G (Double Hat Trick!), 1A, 3GB
Kane Swanson: 4GB, plus 9 Face Off Wins!
Alex Candoo: 4GB
Rem Baumann: 4S, 1G, 3GB
Eric Lonsway: 1S, 2GB
Chris Brown: 6S, 3G (Hat Trick!), 2A, 6GB
Drew LaMaita: 9GB
Rob DeLisle: 1GB
Leo Phillips: 1S,
Nick Stevens: 1S, 4GB also, 10 Face Off Wins!
Josh Redhair: 7S, 6G (Double Hat Trick!), 3GB
Nathan Puldy: 1S, 1G, 3A, 3GB
Brody Lundquist: 3S, 2G, 1GB
Sean Flinn: 2GB
The Montana Grizzlies Come to Town for Final Regular Season Game
Come on out to the field this Sunday, April 21st at 11:00 am as the Huskies play host to the visiting Grizzlies from Montana. This is a key game for both teams and could decide who goes to the PNCLL Championship weekend in May! Don't miss this exciting finish to the 2013 season, be there for your Huskies!
