Victor Takes CA in Class B Semi

May 23, 2015 -  SPORTSFIVE REPORT:  Top seeded Victor scored the opening three goals and led 7-1 in the first quarter on their way to a 12-9 win over fourth seeded Canandaigua. The Blue Devils dominated the opening half before slowing down in the second half and allowing Canandaigua to get back in the game. The Braves held Victor scoreless for the first 21 minutes of the second half with the lone Blue Devil coming with 3:14 left in the game. The Braves scored eight of their nine goals in two four goal spans. The first came to finish the first and start the second quarter and the second spanned the end of the third and beginning of the fourth.

Both teams had strong offensive efforts. Leading the scoring for Canandaigua was attackmen Connor Hulme (2g-1a), Ben Smith-Wilcox (3g), Tim Bay (3a) and Devin Andrews (3g). The final Braves goal was scored by midfielder Mitchell Schaeffer in man-up. Victor's scoring was more spread out with seven different players scoring goals. Leading the Blue Devils was attackman Drew Collins (3g-1a). All-American face off midfielder TD Ierlan finished at 64% (14/25). He also led his team in ground balls with 10.

Victor scored seven of the first eight goals. Five of the seven goals were scored unassisted with straight dodges to the cage. The Blue Devils scored three goals in 12 seconds with Jamie Trimboli scoring with an outside shot followed by back to back face-off fast-break goals from Ierlan (both unassisted goals where he went right from the face-off ground ball to the cage). Victor led 7-2 after the first quarter.

The Braves came into the second quarter and scored three unanswered goals to bring the game within two. Andrews scored two unassisted goals and Hulme scored on face-off fast break with an assist across the crease from Tim Bay. Victor turned the game around in the final six minutes and scored four unanswered goals to take back the six goal lead. Trimboli scored an unassisted goal with 6:03 remaining with an impressive inside dodge for the Blue Devils.

As in the second quarter, the Braves came out of halftime and scored four unanswered goals. Smith-Wilcox scored the opening goal on man-up with a feed from Bay. Then the Braves scored two unassisted goals from Andrews and Hulme. The fourth goal was a face off fast break by Smith-Wilcox from Bay. The final goal of the game was a man-up goal by Collins (assisted by Ryan Maloney).

Between the pipes, Chayse Ierlan finished with seven saves for Victor. Defenseman Brandon Kunick had a strong game with 4 ground balls and 5 takes. For the Braves, Luke MacNeil finished with five saves. Face off midfielder Nick Johnson led his team with seven ground balls. Defenseman Michel McClain and midfielder Joe Como finished with three ground balls each.

Victor continues on to play Thomas on Wednesday at St. John Fisher.