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| Mirror image: East defeats Pirates 14-6 Riverside falls in a game eerily opposite of April 25 meeting
On April 25, when the Pirates visited East Chapel Hill for the two teams' final regular-season meeting, nothing went wrong for Riverside and nothing went right for the Wildcats in the 13-7 Riverside win. On May 12, in the NCHSLA tournament, it was the exact opposite, as East dominated to take the win 14-6.
An Alvin Black goal on a Tim Woolley assist at 3:29 was all the Pirates could muster in the period. The Wildcats pushed it to 8-1 before the midpoint of the second period on three rapid-fire goals: Scot Meyer off a Lim assist at 9:21, Manning off a Richmond assist at 9:13 and Mendes on a Vanya Almekinders assist at 8:56. At 8:18 Bob Kercher took the ball from end to end to score unassisted to make it 8-2. But a minute later the Wildcats pushed the lead back to seven when Kihlstrom scored unassisted to make it 9-2. At 2:14 Kihlstrom added another unassisted goal to make it 10-2. A goal by Alvin Black, a slow bouncer whose pace completely fooled Wildcat goalie Wally MacGregor, with 1:59 left made it 10-3. But a Chris Manning goal on a Mendes assist with 1:02 left in the half to made it 11-3. At 10:45 of the third period Doug Cook scored on a Woolley assist to make it 10-4, but, as they did all night, East answered, this time on a low burner from Mendes for his 100th point of the season at 9:24 to make it 12-4. Kihlstrom added the 13th goal for East unassisted at 4:46, and Mendes scored unassisted with the Wildcats a man down at 2:53 of the third period for East's final goal. Riverside added two more goals in the third period, Black from Cook at 2:32 and Jonathan Beck from Kercher at 44 seconds to make it 14-6. Neither team scored in the final period. Riverside goalie Brad Smith had 9 saves on the night while teammate Steven McGhee had 2 saves. East's Wally MacGregor had 10 saves. East's Nick Walters played in the final minutes for East but did not register a save. |
| Riverside downs Laney 13-7 in first round Pirates avoid being ousted third year in a row by a coastal team
The Riverside Pirates, eliminated two years in a row in the first round by Wilmington teams, jumped to a 5-1 lead after one period and a 9-2 lead at the half and then cruised to a 13-7 win over the Laney Bucs on Tuesday, May 9, 2006, in the first round of the NCHSLA state tournament. Leading the way for the Pirates were junior middie Bob Kercher with 4 goals and 2 assists and senior attackman Alvin Black with four goals. Also, Jonathan Beck and Doug Cook each had two goals, Tim Woolley had 1 goal and 1 assist and Philip Tieszen had 2 assists. For Laney, Chuck Batchelor had 2g, Chris Martin had 2g, Mac McDonough had 1g and 1a, and Ad Newman and Brad Kelley each had 1g.
Riverside jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, with Kercher scoring at 7:55 unassisted, Black scoring on a Kercher assist at 2:58 and Black again on a Kercher assist at 2:30. At 2:08 the Bucs got on the board when Ad Newman won a scrum in front of the crease and knocked a ball in to make it 3-1. Riverside's Doug Cook answered at 1:30 with an unassisted goal to make it 4-1 and Cook scored again unassisted with less than one second remaining in the period to make it 5-1 at the first break. The Pirates jumped to a 7-1 lead after goals by Jonathan Beck from Philip Tieszen at 10:17 and Kercher on an unassisted left-hander at 8:47. Laney took advantage of one of Riversides' too-many passes out of bounds on the night to make it 7-2 when Batchelor scored unassisted for the Bucs. At 4:22 Riverside's Woolley faked out his d-man behind the goal and passed to Black for an assist and Riveside's eighth goal. An unassisted Woolley goal with 15.4 seconds remaining made it 9-2 at the halftime break. The Bucs got on the board first in the second half, with Martin scoring unassisted at 11:02 to make it 9-3. The Pirates answered at 8:06 when Beck scored on a low left-hander to make it 10-3. Laney responded at 5:53 with Martin scored on a Brad Kelly assist to make it 10-4. At 4:10 remaining in the third period Kercher dodged at 15-yards and went in for an unassisted goal to make it 11-4. That's when Riverside decided to take a snooze, going scoreless for the next 10 minutes while allowing the Bucs to score three unanswered. At 1:34 of the third period Batchelor scored on a McDonough assist, at 1:00 McDonough scored unassisted to make it 11-6, and at 6:53 of the final period Kelly scored unassisted to make it 11-7. Riverside broke its Sleeping Beauty spell when Black scored on a Tieszen assist at 6:16, followed by a Kercher unassisted goal, scored after two circuits around the offensive end of the field, to make it 13-7. Laney had three EMO opportunities in the final five minutes but couldn't cash in, even with two Pirates in the box for the final minutes. Next up for Riverside is East Chapel Hill in the NCHSLA second round on Friday in Chapel Hill. |
| Pirates fall to Jordan 10-9 in OT Pirates surge to lead, lose it, surge back but fall short
The Riverside Pirates surged to a 4-1 lead, then fell behind 9-5, but came back to tie it in regulation before falling to the Jordan Falcons 10-9 in overtime on Thursday, May 4, 2006. Alvin Black led the scoring for Riverside, including the goal that put the game into overtime, with 3 goals and 1 assist. Joe Howard led the Falcons with 3 goals and 3 assists. Riverside's Jonathan Beck won 19 of 23 faceoffs. Each goalie, Brad Smith of Riverside and Sam Reynolds of Jordan, had 11 saves.
However, at 7:25 Cook did make it 3-0 on an assist from Woolley. Jordan finally got on the board at 3:28 when Mike McGeary intercepted a Riverside outlet pass and scored to make it 3-1. After a Beck faceoff win the Pirates scored at 3:00 when Philip Tieszen fed to Beck to make it 4-1, which was the score at the end of the first period. The Pirates had a man-up opportunity early in the second period but didn't score. The teams traded possessions for the next four minutes, with both goalies making saves during that period. At 8:42, Jordan's Howard found Brandon Marks at the crease to make it 4-2. Then, at 7:09, with Jordan in a man-up, Marks again scored on a Howard assist to cut the lead to one, 4-3. Riverside answered at 6:40 when Kercher found Alvin Black open to make it 5-3. But after one of their four faceoff wins on the night the Falcons quickly scored at 6:03 as Howard scored unassisted to make it 5-4. At 3:58 Howard sped wide from up top and cut in for another unassisted goal to tie the game at 5-5. The Falcons had an EMO opportunity for 30 seconds beginning at 3:23 but didn't score. Then, at 1:57 Riverside's Matt Weaver was called for a push. Then the Pirates' Bobby Trimble was called for an illegal body check shortly thereafter. That put Riverside two men down, with Weaver set to come out of the box at 1:27. However, 1:27 passed and there was no release. At 1:01, with Riverside still two men down, Ben Feldman scored for Jordan to make it 6-5 as the half ended. Jordan scored three unanswered in the third period, one at 8:03 on a blistering left-hander by Howard, one at 7:49 on another Marks-from-Howard goal, and at 6:22 on an unassisted Feldman goal, which made it 9-5, the score at the end of three periods. Riverside, however, did not fold, scoring four unanswered of their own to put the game into overtime. First was a Woolley unassisted goal in a man-up situation at 8:54, then an Alvin Black goal on a Woolley assist at 8:18, followed by a Kercher goal on a Philip Tieszen assist at 2:00, and finally an Alvin Black goal on a Doug Cook assist with 1:41 remaining to tie the game 9-9. The Pirates had the ball with 32 seconds remaining but were called for a failure to advance. Riverside's Smith saved a shot at 22 seconds to keep the score tied and the Pirates got the ball back with 6.2 seconds remaining on a Zack Brown takeaway, but they couldn't score in that short span. In the overtime Beck again won the faceoff but was triple-teamed just past midfield and Jordan's Matt Little won the ensuing ground ball. He ran toward the goal and was never picked up by the defense and scored the winning goal unassisted at 3:40 of the overtime. |
 Riverside's Bob Kercher (7) scores against Page on May 2, 2006 in Greensboro. (Click on photo to see other photos of the game.) |
| Pirates down Northern 21-1 on Senior Night Eleven different Pirates score as RHS skates to easy win
The Riverside had a victorious Senior Night game on Friday, April 28, 2006, defeating the Northern Knights 21-1. Scoring for the Pirates was as follows: Tim Woolley 3/6, Alvin Black 5/1, Doug Cook 2/2, Jonathan Beck 3/0, Bob Kercher 1/2, Mike Schwartz 2/0, Clayton Abbott 1/0, Sam Cordones 1/0, Colin Cash 1/0, Dylan Britt 1/1, Ben Gibala 1/0, Matthew Tieszen 0/1 and Russell Warren 0/1. The Pirates began looking a bit ragged but pulled to a 6-0 lead by the end of the first period. Scoring in that quarter were Black from Woolley, Cook from Kercher, Woolley from Kercher, Black from Woolley, Black from Woolley again and Abbott unassisted. The Pirates scored six more unanswered in the second period. Scoring were Black from Woolley, Jonathan Beck unassisted and backhanded, Cook from Black, Black unassisted, Schwartz from Woolley and Woolley from Cook. Riverside added four more unanswered goals in the third period: Cook from Woolley, Beck from Woolley, Cordones unassisted and Cash unassisted. They added four more in the final period before Northern managed to get on the board. Scoring for the Pirates in that period were Beck unassisted, Kercher unassisted, Britt from Warren and Gibala from Britt. With 3:42 remaining in the game Northern's Luke Allen scored unassisted for Northern's only goal. Schwartz added a final Riverside goal on a Matthew Tieszen assist at 1:46 to make the final 21-1. Riverside had 82 ground balls to Northern's 22 and shot 53 times to Northern's 6. Riverside goalie Brad Smith had 2 saves and Steven McGhee, entering the game in the third period, had 1 save. Northern's Nathan Farabee has 21 saves for the Knights. |
| KA-BOOM! Riverside downs East 13-7 Pirates get early lead, defense keeps Wildcats caged rest of the way
It was a night that the spotlight fell on Riverside's young defensive unit as the Pirates took an early lead and the defense held the vaunted East Chapel Hill offense to seven goals (two of them man-up) and pulled away to a 13-7 win. Each Riverside score was punctuated by the Pirate fans yelling "KA-BOOM!" in unison, this in response to East's PA announcer who had made fun of Riverside's home-game cannon in pre-game announcements. Not content to ridicule Riverside's artillery, he also bashed it's victuals, mainly the pizza at the Riverside concession stand. But in the end it was Pirate fans who left with a sweet taste in their mouths. The game began promisingly for the Wildcats when Chris Manning scored at 9:37 of the first period. Both goalies, Brad Smith for Riverside and Wally MacGregor, had early saves to keep the score 1-0. But at 9:14 Riverside's Jonathan Beck, after winning the ensuing faceoff and passing to Doug Cook, took a pass from Cook and scored at 9:14 to make it 1-1. The next five minutes gave a flavor of the rest of the game. The Wildcats held the ball for most of that time but never scored. Their one threat was called a no-goal for a crease violation. Twice they passed the ball out of bounds under pressure from the Riverside defense. That effort was rewarded at 5:39 when Cook scored on a Tim Woolley assist to put Riverside into a lead it never relinquished. East came close to tying the game at 2-2 at the 5:16 mark but Smith made a great save on a shot by East's Vanya Almekinders to help the Pirates maintain the lead. From the 4:22 mark to the 2:44 mark East could not get off a shot. With Matt Weaver on Almekinders, Bobby Trimble on Manning, Kyle Massey on Scot Meyer and Bob Kercher on Tony Mendes, the Wildcats were stymied. At the 2:10 mark a penalty was called on Coach Jim Kirkley and the Wildcats went man-up. Again the defense blanked East, forcing two passes out of bounds during the penalty. At 1:20 Alvin Black took a feed from Cook to put the Pirates up 3-1. Jonathan Beck won the ensuing faceoff and Riverside had possession, but an errant pass straight to an East player led to an Almekinders goal on a Kihlstrom assist with 56.8 seconds left to make it 3-2 at the end of one period. If anyone thought the Pirates would sit on their slender lead they were mistaken. They came out of the break and scored four unanswered goals, stunning the East crowd, the PA announcer and even, it seemed from afar, the East coaches. Bob Kercher scored unassisted at 11:46, Cook unassisted at 10:53, Philip Tieszen unassisted and backhanded at 10:40, to make it 6-2, two of those off Beck faceoff wins. It wasn't only the longpoles playing great defense. At 9:28 Cook snagged an East pass, which led to a Kercher goal sneaking in from behind the net to make it 7-2 with 8:39 left in the first half. East's Dave Pavlik won the ensuing faceoff and East cashed in with a Mendes goal on a Pavlik assist to pull to within 7-3. East passed out of bounds under pressure twice again over the next two minutes, and a save by MacGregor on a Cook shot kept the score at 7-3. A Smith save on an East shot at 5:34 also kept the score unchanged. But at 5:11 Black took another assist from Woolley to make it 8-3. MacGregor saved a Pirate shot at 4:22 and Smith likewise had a big save on a Mendes shot at 3:31 as the teams parried back and forth. At 2:29 Coach Kirkley called a timeout. As play was to resume the ref called Riverside for a delay of game which led to an East possession and an unassisted goal by Tim Kihlstrom at 1:42 to make it 8-4. With 54.2 seconds remaining a penalty was called on the Pirates for a slash, putting East a man up. But they couldn't get off a shot and, as the horn sounded they were passing the ball, meaning there was no possession and that there would be a faceoff at the start of the third period, even though 6 seconds remained in the penalty. The Pirates successfully killed the rest of the penalty as the second half began, and at 11:16 Cook scored off a rebound of a Woolley shot to make it 9-4. Beck won the faceoff and at 11:02 East was called for a slash. The Pirates cashed that in at 10:35 when Kercher found an open Cook to extend the lead to 10-4. The defense clamped down again for the next two minutes, holding East to one shot, which was saved by Smith, and at 8:06 came Riverside's Dr. Pepper score, starting with a ground ball by Tieszen (No. 2), a pass to Beck (No. 10), who assisted Black (No. 4) for Riverside's 11th goal (Get it! 10-2-4! That's for the old folks who remember that.). The Wildcats went into a zone briefly to try to stop the Pirate offense but that didn't work as Woolley forced one by East's Sepp Stephens to score unassisted at 4:42 to make it 12-4. At that point East decided to switch goalies, bringing Nick Walter in to mind the cage. With 2:25 remaining, Brad Smith had a 1-on-1 save against East's Ben Jones to maintain the lead. East's scoring drought came to an end at 1:26 after the Pirates were put a man down at 2:06. Almekinders scored unassisted to make it 10-5, keeping the Pirates from holding them scoreless in the period. Another Smith save at 1:16 gave the Pirates the ball and, with 14.5 seconds remaining a determined Woolley just kept backing in and backing in against Stephens, finally turning and putting the ball past Walter to make it 13-5 as the period ended. Again the Pirate defense stepped up, holding East scoreless for four minutes and killing time at their end when they had the ball. At 8:34 the Pirates were called for a slash and for a second time East managed a man-up goal, making the score 13-6. Mendes scored from behind the goal at 6:33 to end the night's scoring. Several penalties were called in the next six minutes, with Riverside being up two men as the game ended. However, they had no intention to shoot the ball and it was in Kercher's hands as the horn sounded, giving Riverside the win. Riverside's Smith had 11 saves in the game. East's MacGregor had 6 and Walter had 3. |
| Riverside downs Athens Drive 13-3 Pirates pull to big lead and coast in final period
The Riverside Pirates, looking sluggish at the beginning, outscored the Athens Drive Cougars 13-2 in the first three periods and then coasted to a 13-3 win on Tuesday, April 18. The game was delayed a half-hour late in the third period waiting for an ambulance to tend to an injured Athens Drive player. Late word was that the player, defenseman Ryan Dover, possibly had sustained a concussion in a collision with Riverside's Bob Kercher and would be fine. He received a standing ovation as EMTs took him from the field. The Cougars went on the board first when Sam Perry scored on an assist from Kyle Gross at 9:01. But the Pirates responded with two quick goals, one unassisted by Tim Woolley at 8:36 and one by Doug Cook on a Woolley assist at 7:43 to make it 2-1 Riverside. The Cougars tied it up after Riverside goalie Brad Smith made a save on an Athens Drive shot but the rebound went into the stick of Cougar Evan Fisher, who put it in the goal to tie the game at 2-2 with 6:44 remaining. The Pirates then went on to score the next 11 goals unanswered as the Riverside defense bottled up the Cougar attack the rest of the way. Riverside scored three goals in the remainder of the first period -- Alvin Black from Woolley at 5:29, Bob Kercher unassisted at 4:12 and Doug Cook from Kercher with 55 seconds remaining -- to make it 5-2 at the first break. Neither team scored during the first half of the second period as play turned sloppy. But at 7:03 Riverside found itself a man up and Alvin Black scored on a Kercher assist to make it 6-2. Then Black scored unassisted to make it 7-2, but his score was set up by a long pass from defenseman Matt Weaver, who heaved it 40 yards to Black. His dodge was the only thing that kept Weaver from getting an assist on the play. In the third period Kercher scored unassisted at 10:44, followed by Black from Cook at 9:27, Kercher again unassisted at 6:55, Woolley from Cook at 6:16, and Woolley unassisted at 5:39. With 2:31 remaining in the period Kercher came around the back of the goal and rushed the crease. He was met by Cougar Ryan Dover and the two hit hard, their helmets colliding. Dover got the worst of it as he fell in the crease and didn't get up. Trainers and some medical personnel who were spectators rushed onto the field and an ambulance was called. After nearly a half-hour delay Dover was wheeled off the field the applause of the crowd. It was reported that he possibly suffered a concussion and would be fine. The game was resumed with a running clock and with 3 seconds left in the third period Kercher scored unassisted to make the score 13-2. The Pirates were mostly content to kill time in the final period but they did take a couple of shots, both of which were saved by Cougar goalie Josh Liptak, who has 15 saves on the night. With 8:31 remaining Nate Barrett scored for Athens Drive to make the final score 13-3. Leading point-getter for the Pirates was Tim Woolley with 6 (3g/3a). Bob Kercher had five (4g/1a), Alvin Black had 4g, Doug Cook had 2g/2a. Riverside's Brad Smith had 7 saves. |
| Pirates fall to Jordan Falcons 14-10 Furious comeback by Riverside falls short in final period Posted April 12, 2006, 10:20 p.m. The Pirates fell behind Jordan 11-4 but rallied to score six straight to pull to within one goal with 6:36 left in the game on Tuesday, April 11, 2006. However, Jordan ran off three straight in a minute-and-a-half late in the period to put the game away 14-10. Points leader for the Falcons was Joe Howard with three goals and three assists. For the Pirates, Tim Woolley led with four goals and an assist. Also scoring for the Pirates were Bob Kercher with three goals, Colin Cash with two goals and Alvin Black with one goal. Jonathan Beck had an assist. Also for the Falcons, Brandon Marks had five goals, Matt Little had four goals and Ben Feldman had two goals and an assist. The game began with both teams looking tentative and the defenses dominating. The Pirates scored first at 8:40 when Alvin Black shoveled in a rebounded save to put Riverside up 1-0. The Pirates played splendid defense for the next four minutes, including a 1-minute man-down to keep the Falcons from scoring. But at 4:22 Little scored unassisted to tie it at 1-1. At 1:53 the Pirates' Tim Woolley scored on another put-back of a rebound to make it 2-1 Riverside. But the Falcons punched in two goals in the final 24 seconds to go up 3-2 at the first break. Marks scored on a Howard assist a 24.3 seconds and Little scored unassisted straight from the faceoff with 12.7 seconds remaining. Riverside tied the game at 3-3 at 9:51 of the second period when Colin Cash grabbed a ground ball near midfield and ended up on the scoring end of a Woolley assist. The Pirates took the lead 4-3 directly after the next faceoff when Jonathan Beck, who won 17 of 24 faceoffs for the night, scraped the ball to Bob Kercher on the wing and Kercher took it all the way in. That was, unfortunately, the last lead the Pirates would see. As they did in the Apex game, when they slumbered through the third period, this night it would be the second period. They let the Falcons score seven straight, most of those dumps into the crease, to take a 10-4 lead at the half. Scoring in that stretch were Little unassisted at 9:08, Howard unassisted at 6:27 in the man-up after a Pirate offsides, Marks from Howard at 5:55, Marks from Feldman at 4:02, Feldman unassisted at 3:39, Marks from Howard at 2:52 and Howard unassisted with 23.1 seconds left. Coach Jim Kirkley must have had some choice words at halftime because the Pirates came out of the break to play possibly their best 17 minutes of the year, outscoring Jordan 6 to 1 during that period and cutting the lead to 11-10. After the Falcons drew first blood in the second half at 11:04 on a quick turnaround by Feldman, Zack Brown stripped the ball from a Jordan player, which resulted in an assist on a Colin Cash goal to make it 11-5. The Pirates couldn't capitalize on an EMO at the 9-minute mark, and they lost the ball twice by not backing up shots, but their defense kept Jordan locked up to make up for those mistakes. At 8:06 Kercher got a steal at midfield that resulted in an unassisted goal by Woolley on a nice move against his defender at 7:39 to make it 11-6. By now the Riverside crowd was getting into the game and it seemed to spur the players. Beck won the next faceoff and raced in to assist Woolley on another goal at 7:32 and now it was 11-7, and the crowd was moving it up a notch. At 3:23 the Pirates were called for a foul and Jordan had the ball man-up. But again the Pirate defense stifled the Falcons as they didn't get a shot off during the minute penalty. Only a huge by Jordan's Sam Reynolds at 2:03 kept the Pirates from adding another score in their third-period run as the score was 11-7 at the break. That run continued into the final period as Woolley, after another Beck faceoff win, forced one in, backing his defender toward the goal and putting the ball under his stick, to make it 11-8. The crowd, needless to say, was getting giddy. The Falcons had another EMO opportunity at 10:00 but the Pirate defense again shut down their man-up offense. The Pirates failed to clear twice in the next two minutes and Pirate goalie Brad Smith had to come up with two big saves to keep those mistakes from costing. Then, at 7:48, Kercher scored the most entertaining goal of the night. He had the ball near midfield, ran outside the box to the right, down to the end line, around behind the goal, along the end line, nearly outside the box at the other side of the field and then forced his way past his defender to score. By one observer's calculations he ran about 75 yards to score that goal and make it 11-9 with 7:48 left. And then, at 6:55, Kercher grabbed a ground ball at the Jordan end of the field and raced to score an unassisted goal at 6:36, and suddenly the Pirates were within on, 11-10. The Jordan crowd was as mute as the Pirates were ecstatic. Kercher almost added another one but for a great save by Reynolds at 5:59. The Smith saved two equally impressively near the 5-minute mark to keep Riverside within one goal. At 4:27 the Falcons missed an open goal as Smith had come out to play defense. Their luck, however, ended a minute later when Howard scored unassisted at 3:29 to put Jordan up two, 12-10. Little won the next faceoff and scored on a shot that hit the to right corner of the net to make it 13-10. The Pirates won the next faceoff but mishandled a pass and gave it up. Marks scored his fifth goal at the other end to make it a 14-10 final. |
| Apex bombs Pirates 10-3 Cougars' muscle in five goals in 3rd period to pull away Posted April 8, 2006, 10:00 a.m. The game between the Riverside Pirates and the Apex Cougars on Friday, April 7, at Apex had all the makings of a close matchup -- for one half. But in the third period the Cougars scored five goals to put it out of reach for the Pirates. Apex midfielder Nick Patrone had two of those goals in the third period, one of them which brought the Apex crowd to its feet. He and a Riverside player collided but it was the Pirate who bounced off as Patrone went all the way in for an unassisted goal. That score made it 6-2 and the Pirates would score only one more the rest of the way. Apex opened the scoring with an unassisted goal by Joe Nugent at 11:18. At 6:14 Riverside's Tim Woolley scored unassisted to tie the game at 1-1. Apex took the lead again at 5:10 as B.J. Leighton scored unassisted to make it 2-1. A Patrone goal at 3:12 on an assist from Josh Tomlinson made it 3-1 at the end of the first period. The Pirates pulled to within one at 3-2 when Woolley attacked Apex goalie Garrett Bruss, who was trying to clear, and took the ball away, getting past him and putting a pooch shot into an open net at 5:37. The next score had to be demoralizing for the Pirate defense. With Apex on offense, a loose ball squirted out near midfield. Two Pirate longpoles went after it, as did Patrone. In the scrum it was Patrone who came up with the ball and raced back toward the goal, which by now was missing two defensemen. He scored easily at 3:05 of the second period to make it 4-2, the score as the half ended. In the third period, the Cougars put the game away by outscoring the Pirates 5-1 to take a 9-3 lead into the final period. At 8:55 Josh Tomlinson scored on a blistering shot coming around the goal, followed by Patrone's muscular goal (described above) at 7:01, followed by Leighton's unassisted goal at 6:36, followed by an unassisted goal by Patrone at 6:15 and ending with Tomlinson's goal on an assist from Forrest Moog, and suddenly it was 9-2. The Pirates fans got a scare with 13 seconds left in the period when Doug Cook was going for a loose ball and was pushed hard from behind by a Cougar defenseman at the sideline and went hard into the asphalt track surface. He injured his right leg and never came back in the game. As he was being treated on the track, the defenseman made a point of coming over and apologizing to him (at least that's what it looked like from afar), which was a nice thing to do. Because of the push, Riverside got the ball, and with 2.9 seconds remaining in the period Jonathan Beck scored in an assist from Colin Cash, Cook's replacement, to make it 9-3. Riverside would score no more and Apex would add one in the final period, a rocket shot by Patrone from 15 yards, to make the final score 10-3. |
| East defeats Riverside 12-8 Mendes has a hand in 7 of East's 12 goals as Wildcats roll Posted April 8, 2006, 9:45 a.m. The Pirates ran into a buzzsaw on Thursday, March 23, against the East Chapel Hill Wildcats, falling behind 5-1 by halftime before managing to put together two good quarters to make the final score a respectable 12-8. Problem was, East put together a dynamite third period themselves, scoring six goals to Riverside's four. The Pirates managed three goals to East's one in the final period but it wasn't enough to close the gap. The Wildcats scored four unanswered to start the game, with Vanya Almekinders scoring unassisted at 8:57 of the first period. Almekinders scored again at 6:17 on an assist from Tony Mendes, followed by unassisted goals by Mendes, at 4:34 of the first period, which made it 3-0 at the first break, and 11:38 of the second period to put East up 4-0. Riverside's Bob Kercher scored unassisted at 5:19 of the second period, but another unassisted Mendes goal at 5:07 put the margin back to 4 goals, making it 5-1 at the half. Riverside opened the scoring in the third period when Jonathan Beck scored on a Tim Woolley assist to make it 5-2, but East's Tim Kihlstrom scored at 10:08 on a Mendes assist and unassisted at 9:33 to widen the margin to 7-2. An unassisted goal by Woolley at 5:28 made it 7-3, and an Alvin Black goal on a Kercher assist at 3:49 pulled the Pirates to within three at 7-4. But East rattled off three straight unassisted goals to answer, with Kihlstrom scoring at 3:20, Uly Lim scoring at 2:20 and Mendes scoring off the faceoff at 2:07 to make it 10-4. The Pirates' Doug Cook made it 10-5 with an unassisted goal with 34 seconds left in the period, but Mendes cut it even closer to the buzzer by scoring with 12.9 seconds remaining to make it 11-5. In the final period Cook again scored unassisted at 11:20 to make it 11-6, but that was answered by East's Kihlstrom on an assist from Almekinders to make it 12-6. Riverside scored two to close the game, Beck unassisted at 5:29 and Cook unassisted at 4:35. |
| Denver East downs Pirates 12-6 Defensive lapses and missed offensive opportunities hurt Pirates Special report from Florida Posted Mar. 29, 2006, 5:30 p.m. The Riverside Pirates' second opponent on their spring break trip was another top tier-team, Denver East. From the outset the Pirates played with determination, and executed much better than against their previous dayÂ's opponent, Dublin Scioto. Nevertheless, Riverside could not overcome a few defensive lapses and missed offensive opportunities. Denver East scored first at 9:50 of the second quarter, but the Pirates answered quickly at 9:27 as Tim Woolley scored on a nice pass from Philip Tieszen. The Pirates assumed their only lead in the game at 7:36 as Alvin Black scored on a feed in the middle from Bob Kercher. That 2-1 lead was short lived as Denver East scored four straight goals at 6:39, 5:17, 4:00, and 1:11 in the first period, making the score 5-2 in favor of Denver East. However, immediately after Denver'Âs fifth goal, Bob Kercher picked up a Jonathan Beck face-off scoop, drove down the left side, and scored unassisted -- this narrowed the gap to 5-3 as the first period ended. Early in the second period, the Pirates were man up but threw the ball out of bounds. Denver East cleared and one of their middies ran around the back of the goal unchecked and scored at 11:16, bringing the score to 6-3 Denver East. A few minutes later, it was 7-3 after a spectacular behind the back shot by a well-defended Denver East middie. Riverside countered with an unassisted goal by Bob Kercher and another by Alvin Black, assisted by Philip Tieszen. Denver East scored the last goal of the second quarter at 2:18 and led 8-5 at the half. Both coaches substituted liberally in the second half. Denver East scored the only goal of the third quarter at 7:29 to increase their lead to 9-5. Kyle Massey narrowed the lead to 9-6 on a long run and shot up the middle at 8:55 of the fourth period. Denver East tallied the last three goals of the period and took home the 12-6 victory. Riverside: 3-2-0-1--6 Denver East: 5-3-1-3--12 |
| Pirates fall to Dublin Scioto 11-6 at Disney The Irish score 10 in the first two periods and cruise rest of the way Special report from Florida Posted Mar. 28, 2006, 12:10 a.m. The Riverside Pirates met the Dublin Scioto Irish from Ohio during their first game of the 2006 spring break tour at Walt Disney Wide World of Sports. The Irish opened the scoring seconds into the game with crisp passing after a face-off win. RHS tied the game at 9:29 of the first quarter as Tim Woolley drove around the left side of the goal. It was downhill from there as Dublin ran the field at will, exhibiting fine passing and good movement without the ball against a Riverside team that looked sluggish defensively and out of sync on offense. DublinÂs active defensive sticks often took away the ball  blunting the few Pirate offensive series for the remainder of the quarter (and the half for that matter). The game was broken open at the end of the first quarter as Dublin scored four straight goals in the last 3:32 of the period. The second period was all Dublin as well, as they scored at the 9:00, 8:00, 7:00, 5:00 and 2:30 minute marks. Tim Woolley scored on a drive near the goal at 0:31, to make it Dublin 10 RHS 2 at the half. In the second half Dublin substituted freely and there was no scoring until Bob Kercher nailed a shot from the right at 1:23 making it 10-3 through three periods. In the fourth period, the Pirates began by successfully defending a man-down situation. At 7:47, Tim Woolley scored on a pass from Doug Cook to make the score 10Â4 Dublin. Dublin added their 11th goal at 5:17. Riverside scored the final two goals, one by Phillip Tieszen and one by Tim Woolley, his fourth of the game. The final score was 11Â6 in favor of Dublin. Riverside 1-1-1-3--6 Dublin 5-5-0-1--11 |
| Pirates lose 8-2 lead, fall to AACS in OT Injury seemed to spark Annapolis Christian to 11-10 OT win
The Pirates seemed to have their annual game against the Annapolis Area Christian School well in hand, leading 8-2 with a little more than a minute left in the first half. That's when AACS's Matt Soldano went down with an injury, with 1:05 left in the half. The Eagles went on to outscore Riverside 9-2 from that point to win in double overtime.
It was the Pirates, however, who came seeming ready to play after their defeat only hours earlier to Chapel Hill. Bob Kercher made it 1-0 on an unassisted goal at 11:48, only seconds after a Jonathan Beck face-off win. Then, again seconds after a Beck face-off win, Tim Woolley scored on a Kercher assist to make it 2-0. The Eagles responded on an unassisted goal by Cal Napolitano to make it 2-1. But the Pirates closed out the period with three more as Alvin Black scored on a Woolley assist at 8:42, Kercher scored unassisted at 3:53 and Doug Cook scored on a turnaround shot at 2:24 to put the Pirates up 5-1 at the end of one period. They extended that to 6-1 at the 11:03 mark as Woolley scored an unassisted turnaround goal of his won. At 9:26 the Eagles answered with an unassisted goal by Derechinsky, to which Riverside responded with a Cook goal on a Kercher assist at 7:18. Cook added the Pirates' eighth goal unassisted at 2:01 but credit has to be given to Matt Weaver's 40-yard pass to Cook that set that one up. A minute later Soldano went down. Only 10 seconds after play resumed Derechinsky scored his third goal to make it 8-3 at the half, with Riverside seemingly in good shape. The Eagles came out fired up and scored four unanswered goals to make it 8-7 with 4:46 remaining in the third period. Scoring in that stretch were Derchinsky unassisted at 10:19, Joe Stelfox unassisted at 7:29, Stelfox unassisted at 6:35 and Will Hanchett unassisted at 4:46. The Pirates managed to keep from being blanked in the period when Woolley scored unassisted at 3:21 to make it 9-7 going into the final period. The Eagles quickly tied the game, first on an EMO unassisted goal by Derechinsky and then on another Derechinsky goal, this one assisted by Napolitano. Suddenly it was 9-9 and the momentum was clearly on the Eagles' side. But Alvin Black made it 10-9 on an assist from Cook at 5:32. That lead didn't last long, though, as Napolitano put a low roller into the Riverside net at 4:37 to make it 10-10. Neither team could manage a goal in the remainder of regulation. Riverside's Beck won the faceoff as the first OT began and Riverside controlled the ball for most of the four-minute period. However, three key saves by Eagle goalie John Gibson, who had come into the game in the final period, kept the game going. The Eagles' Dave Castle won the faceoff as the second OT began and raced straight toward the crease and put the ball in the net at 3:52 to end the game. |
| Pirates go cold, fall to hot Chapel Hill 13-3 After a close 19 minutes, Tigers break it open with 10-2 run Posted Mar. 19, 2006, 10:50 a.m. For more than a quarter and a half this looked like a classic back-and-forth Riverside-Chapel Hill game. The Tigers were up 3-1, two of those scored essentially in the extra man. But something happened with 5 minutes left in the first half. That "something" was four straight by Chapel Hill to make it 7-1 at the half.
Both teams seemed tight early, and it wasn't until 7:01 of the first period that either team scored. That's when Chapel Hill's John Haus scored on an assist from Stephen Burns to make it 1-0 moments after an EMO had ended but before the Pirate player could get into the play. At 3:20 of the first period, with the Pirates a man down, the Tigers' Nick Desper scored unassisted on his patented shot from 15 yards to make it 2-0. The Pirates answered at 2:04 on a Doug Cook unassisted goal to make it 2-1 but a quick response by Chapel Hill followed when Burns scored unassisted at 1:25 to make it 3-1 as the first period ended. The Pirates had their chances early in the second period but couldn't score in a 1- minute man-up. Then Tiger goalier Matt Patterson made two big saves on shots by Bobb Kercher at 9:23 and Tim Woolley at 8:18 to preserve the two-goal margin. Then, at 5:13 of the second period Chapel Hill's Logan Corey scored unassisted to start the four-goal run before the half. That was followed by Corey's man-up goal on an assist from Haus at 4:16, Al Mask's goal assisted by Burns at 1:59, and Casey Leeper's unassisted goal with only 4.6 seconds left in the half. The Pirates came out hot early in the third period, scoring two goals to make it 7-3. With 9:32 remaining in the period Woolley scored on a Kercher assist and then at the 9:15 mark Kercher scored unassisted. But the Tigers ended the quarter with three straight of their own: a garbage goal by Leeper at 7:05, a Chris Ragazzo goal on a Will Scroggs assist at 5:23 and another EMO goal with 8.5 seconds remaining as Burns scored on a Ragazzo assist. That made it a 10-3 game as the period ended. In the final period the Tigers added three more: Scroggs unassisted at 9:52, Desper from Leeper at 7:56 and Ragazzo from Haus at 4:14 to make it 13-3. Riverside goalie Brad Smith had 16 saves while the Tiger's Patterson had 10. The book had Riverside with 29 ground balls and Chapel Hill with 30 but to a spectator the margin seemed more than that. The Tigers had 41 shots to Riverside's 21. |
| Pirates wake up to down Western 14-6 Hornets run to 3-0 lead but Riverside storms back for win Posted Mar. 16, 2006, 10:05 p.m. The Riverside Pirates ran into a buzz saw early in their contest against Western Guilford on Wednesday, March 15, 2006, finding themselves down 3-0 with barely five minutes gone in the game. But they righted themselves and went on to a 14-6 with Riverside's Tim Woolley tallying 9 points on 7 goals and 2 assists.
But early in the game Wednesday it was problematical that the entire Pirate team would score seven goals. The Hornets' Saed Qunbar scored first only 25 seconds into the game on a long low shot. A minute and a half later Nick Remmey's goal on a Greg Mallernee assist put Western up 2-0, and two minutes later, at 7:42, Qunbar scored again, this time on an assist from Taylor Mendoza to put the home team up 3-0. The Hornets had taken three shots and had scored three goals. At 3:07 Riverside got on the board when Alvin Black scored on a Doug Cook assist, followed by a Bob Kercher unassisted goal, after a 360 dodge got him by his defender, at 2:50, to end the first period with Western up 3-2. After Jonathan Beck won one of his 13 of 17 faceoffs to open the second period, he passed off to Doug Cook and immediately took a pass and scored on a quick-hitter to tie the game at 3-3. Woolley scored the first of his seven goals at 5:41 on a Beck assist to make it 4-3, followed by another Kercher goal, an unassisted rocket shot to the top left of the net, at 5:28 to make it 5-3. Mendoza cut the lead to 5-4 on an unassisted goal at 3:29, but Woolley answered quickly with an unassisted goal at 1:35 that was set up by his own LBC and GB. That made it 6-4 at the half. The Pirates came out as hot at the beginning of the second half as they were cold at the beginning of the first. They scored four unanswered goals to pull ahead 10-4. Scoring in that stretch were Woolley from Philip Tieszen (set up by a Kercher LBC and GB) at 10:29, Cook from Woolley at 8:31 (after another Woolley GB), Black from Woolley after a Beck faceoff win at 8:04, and Woolley from Kercher at 7:24. Qunbar's unassisted goal at 6:42 made it 10-5, and Jimmy Rich's unassisted goal at 3:24 cut the lead to 10-6. However, Woolley wound his way through three defenders to score unassisted at 2:29, followed by Alvin Black's quick-stick goal on a Kercher assist to make it 12-6 after three periods. The Pirates added two more in the final period - Woolley from Cook at 6:50 on a classic fast break, and Woolley again on a fast break after an Alvin Black steal at 6:01 - to make the final 14-6. Riverside goalie Brad Smith had 14 saves in the game, the Pirate won ground balls 53 to 43 and outshot Western 48 to 38. Hornet goalie Scott Bowles had 10 saves on the night. The Pirates were 0 for 3 in the EMO. Western scored on 2 of their 6 EMO opportunities. On faceoffs, Beck was 13 of 17 and Mike Schwartz was 4 of 6 for Riverside. Woolley led in ground balls with 13, Kercher had 11, Beck 9, Black 3, Cook 3, Schwartz 3, Bobby Trimble 2, Zack Brown 2, John Diguiseppi 1 and Kyle Massey 1. In LBCs, Black, Brown and Kercher each had 4, Massey had 2, and Woolley, Matt Weaver, Trimble, Schwartz and Diguiseppi each had 1. |
| Archbishop Spalding downs Pirates 13-7 Penalties hurt Riverside against team from Maryland's A division
Barely a minute-and-a-half into Riverside's game with Archbishop Spalding, a team from Maryland's MIAA-A division, the visiting Cavaliers scored an extra-man goal. That was the first of six EMO goals for Spalding as they defeated Riverside 13-7 on Saturday, March 11, 2006.
Spalding scored two more goals, each of them in the extra man, early in the second period before Riverside got on the board at 7:21 on a Tim Woolley goal on a Bob Kercher assist to make it 6-1. And at 6:07 Kercher made it 6-2 as he was guarded by a shortstick and blew by for an unassisted goal. At 5:50 Spalding made it 7-2, but Riverside answered at 3:33 when Mike Schwartz scored unassisted to make it 7-3. At 1:33 Colin Cash scored on a Woolley assist to make it 7-4 as the first half ended. Two more EMO goals by Spalding (at 10:51 and 9:51) put Riverside in an even bigger hole 9-4 early in the third period. Two more Cavalier goals made it 11-4 just past midway through the period before Doug Cook backed his man toward the goal and scored unassisted to make it 11-5. Spalding made it 12-5 at the 3:07 mark, and Woolley's unassisted goal at 1:31 made it 12-6 after three periods. Each team scored a goal in the final period, Riverside's at 4:47 by Woolley coming around the back of the goal and sneaking one in, to make the final score 13-7. Riverside goalie Brad Smith had 14 saves and Steven Smith, who kept goal in the final quarter, had 4 saves. |
| Pirates fall to Durham Academy in 2 OTs See-saw battle tied seven times before Cavaliers won it 12-11
The first quarter was indicative of the entire game as the Pirates took on the Durham Academy Cavaliers on Friday, March 10, 2006. DA scored first, followed by Riverside, followed by DA, followed by Riverside, followed by DA, followed by Riverside, followed by DA, followed by Riverside, to make the score 4-4 at the end of the first period. It was pretty much that kind of game for the next three periods.
Durham Academy scored first as Grant Fowler put one in unassisted at 11:22. That was answered by Riverside's Doug Cook on a feed from Tim Woolley to make it 1-1 at 10:34. Then DA's Hutchins scored the first of his five goals on a bouncer unassisted to make it 2-1 at 9:01. Woolley tied it up 2-2 on an unassisted goal at 7:29 after a nearly field-long pass from goalie Brad Smith. Fowler score unassisted at 6:11 to make it 3-2 and then Woolley again scored unassisted at 5:35 after Zack Brown's LBC and pick-up to make it 3-3. Matt Williams scored on a DA fast break at 4:01 unassisted, followed by an unassisted Doug Cook goal for Riverside at 2:00 to make it 4-4 at the first break. Riverside took its first and only lead in the game at the 11:01 mark of the second period as Bob Kercher scored on a Doug Cook assist. That goal came right after an illegal pick was called on DA, giving the ball to Riverside when DA was threatening at the other end. At 9:18 DA's Chris Keller scored on a garbage goal as the ball was bouncing around the crease among a scrum of players to tie it at 5-5. Hutchins scored unassisted at 8:04 to put DA back up 6-5. Kercher answered on an assist from Woolley at 4:26 to tie it again at 6-6. But then Hutchins scored again at 2:41 on an assist from Matt Williams after time had expired on a Riverside slashing penalty but before the Riverside man could get back into play, putting DA up 7-6 at the half. The Cavaliers extended the lead to two goals at 10:37 of the third period when Jordan Williams scored unassisted to make it 8-6. Then at 8:11 Cook was not to be denied as he backed his defender into the goal and muscled the ball into the net to make it 8-7. That play was made possible by a Kercher steal at the 8:28 mark. The Pirates kept the ball in the DA end for the next few minutes and had their chances. But DA goalie Drew Littlewood made two big saves at 7:09 on a Kercher shot and at 5:40 on a Cook shot to keep DA ahead. His work was rewarded when DA backed up a Riverside shot and got possession, scoring at 3:48 on another Hutchins unassisted goal and putting the Cavaliers up 9-7. Riverside's defense toughened and forced four consecutive out-of-bounds passes by the Cavaliers over the next two minutes. They were rewarded with an unassisted Alvin Black goal at 1:19 to make it 9-8. At 1:09, Riverside went a man down and at the 39-second mark Keller put DA up by two again at 10-8. DA fouled with 5.2 seconds remaining on the clock and Riverside held the ball until the buzzer ended the third period. Guaranteed the ball at the beginning of the quarter (quite a luxury considering that DA's faceoff man, John Tabor, had won 12 of 18 faceoffs already), the Pirates took advantage. At 11:33 Kercher scored on an assist from Cook to make it a one-goal margin again, 10-9. But it didn't take long for DA to respond as James King scored unassisted at 10:18 to make it 11-9. It was at this point that the Riverside defense played the best they have played all year. Meanwhile, both goalies were coming into the limelight as the game got tense. Riverside's Brad Smith had four of his 16 saves over the next nine minutes, and DA's Littlewood likewise had four of his 17 during that stretch. After a ground ball was scooped up by Riverside's Kyle Massey, a shot by Alvin Black hit a post. Then Littlewood made two saves in a row on Pirate shots. At the 6:54 mark Smith stuffed a one-on-one shot on a DA fast break, and then had another big save at 6:28 while Riverside was in a penalty situation. Meanwhile, Littlewood saved a Black shot at the other end at 5:54 but couldn't stop a second one at 5:44 as Black scored on a Philip Tieszen assist to make it 11-10. Riverside won the ensuing faceoff and at 5:08 DA was called for a tripping penalty. Riverside scored in the man-up at 4:43 to tie the game at 11-11 as Tieszen scored on a bounce shot from the left side on a Kercher assist. DA was in a man-up for a minute beginning at 1:36 but great defense by Riverside blanked them. At the 47-second mark Smith made a huge save, and had to do it again at 34 seconds to force the overtime. In the final 20 seconds the Pirate defense -- Kieron James, Bobby Trimble, Matt Weaver, Zack Brown, Kyle Massey and Sam Cordones -- kept the Cavaliers from getting a good shot at the goal. In most of the first overtime neither team could mount any threat as both defenses clamped down. However, at the 17.1-second mark, Alvin Black had what looked to be the game-winner right in front of the net but Littlewood made a spectacular save on the shot. And at 2.9 seconds he made another save on a Kercher shot to force the second overtime. Tabor won the faceoff and DA came down quickly for a shot. Smith made a big save on a shot by Jordan Williams at 3:26 but DA got the rebound. Hutchins got the ball and ran around the right side of the goal, curved behind and came around the other side and sneaked the ball in at the 3:01 mark for the win. Kercher had 3g and 2a for Riverside; Cook had 3g and 1a; Woolley had 2g, 2a; Black had 2g; and Philip Tieszen had 1g and 1a. For DA, Hutchins had 5 goals, Fowler had 2, Jordan Williams had 2, Matt Williams had 1g and DA's only assist of the day; Keller had 1g and King had 1g. |
| Pirates defeat the Gibbons Crusaders 14-7 Riverside fans treated with higher level of play in second game Posted Mar. 7, 2006, 11: 10 p.m. The Pirates, looking much crisper than they did against Mt. Tabor just four days ago, jumped to a 2-0 lead they would never relinquish to defeat the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders 14-7 on a cold evening in Raleigh on March 7, 2006. Attackmen Alvin Black and Tim Woolley each had five goals in the contest to lead the Pirates.
Riverside opened the scoring when Cook scored unassisted at 10:05 of the first period, followed by an unassisted goal by Woolley at 8:19 that was virtually identical to Cook's, coming from behind and forcing one in. At 6:31 the Crusaders got on the board when Watts scored on an assist from Templeton. That was answered by Riverside at 6:16 when Beck fed Woolley to make it 3-1. After an excellent ride by the Pirates, Black scored on a nice quick-stick goal on a feed from Cook to make it 4-1. The Crusaders added on before the end of the period when Watts scored unassisted to make it 4-2. The score would have been much more lopsided without the play of Crusader goalie Merrick Reiland, who had seven of his 13 saves in that period. The Pirates managed to go kill two penalties in the quarter. Defenses and goalkeepers reigned for much of the second period as the score remained 4-2 until the 5:05 mark when Woolley scored unassisted to make it 5-2. Landvater made it 5-3 on a feed from Secoura at 2:40, but the Pirates added two goals in the last two minutes of the period to make it 7-3 at the half. Scoring during those were Kercher on a high change-up and Black on another sweet quick-stick, this time on a feed from Kercher. Goode scored for the Crusaders on a Secoura assist at 10:24, but was quickly answered with an unassisted goal by Black off a rebound of a shot by Kercher to make it 8-4. Gibbons scored in an extra-man situation at 5:32 as Landvater scored his third, this one on an assist from Watts, to make it 8-5. Black made it 9-5 on an assist from Cook at 3:23 and he had his third quick-sticker of the night at 1:33 on a feed from Woolley to make it 10-5 as the third period ended. The Crusaders' Secoura was called for an illegal stick to begin the final period and Riverside had a man advantage for three minutes. However, they could only manage one goal during that period as Woolley scored at 10:31 to push the lead to 11-5. Landvater got his fourth of the night unassisted at 7:47, but the Pirates scored three straight after that to make it 14-6. Scoring those three were Kercher unassisted at 7:17, Philip Tieszen unassisted 13 seconds later after Beck tallied one of his 12 faceoff wins on the night, and Woolley added the capper at 5:39 unassisted as Riverside was in the man-up. Landvater added a final Crusader goal as he shot unimpeded from 12 yards on an assist from Watts at 4:59. Neither team scored the rest of the way. Riverside goalie Brad Smith had three of his 12 saves during this period. The Pirates had possession the final two minutes and had several open-goal opportunities as the Crusader goalie (Jordan Senter at this point) left the cage to try to help gain possession. But the Pirates eschewed the shots and just kept passing until the clock ran out. Smith had 12 saves on the night, Beck went 12 of 17 in faceoffs and Mike Schwartz went 3 of 6 in faceoffs. Beck led with 11 ground ball, Kercher and Philip Tieszen each had 7, Black had 4, Woolley, Schwartz and Kieron James each had two, and Matt Weaver, Clayton Abbott, Kyle Massey and John Deguiseppi each had 1. Zack Brown led with 3 LBCs, Kercher had 2 and Woolley, Cook, Weaver, Beck, Philip Tieszen, Massey and Diguiseppi each had 1. |
| Pirates hang on to defeat Mt. Tabor 8-7 Spartans score three times in last 4 minutes to make it close Posted Mar. 3, 2006, 10: 40 p.m.
Riverside started strong, going up 2-0 on two unassisted goals by Woolley at 10:38 and at 9:10. On that second goal Doug Cook deserved an assist for a monster pick he set on Mt. Tabor's Ryan Taylor that freed Woolley for the dunk. Mt. Tabor made it 2-1 at 6:21 on Crowell's first goal. At the 5:30 mark Mt. Tabor had a great opportunity with two Riverside players in the penalty box for a minute, Woolley and Kercher. But the Pirate man-down defense, which played great all night, managed to kill the penalty with no Spartan goals. At 1:15 of the first period Jonathan Beck got a rebound off a Pirate shot and stuck it back in the net past Mt. Tabor goalie Andrew Parker to end the first period with Riverside up 3-1. At 8:58 of the second period Crowell made it 3-2 and it looked like the Pirates were never going to pull away though they were dominating play most of the way. At 7:11 Woolley made it 4-2 with an unassisted goal. The Pirates forced several Spartan turnovers on rides in the next couple of minutes but they passed the ball out of bounds on unforced turnovers one too many times and Mt. Tabor finally took advantage on another Crowell goal at 2:31 to cut the margin to 4-3 at the half. One minute into the final period Mt. Tabor's Piner made it 4-4 on an unassisted goal. The Pirates found themselves a man down for a minute at 9:48 but the man-down defense and goalie Brad Smith came through again and kept the Spartans out of the goal, with Smith's big save at 9:15 helping to kill the penalty. A the 7:08 mark Kercher scored unassisted to give the Pirates a lead at 5-4, but at 5:44 the Pirates found themselves down a man for two minutes on a double penalty. This resulted in the first "God bless America" of 2006 from Coach Kirkley. Again the defense kept the Spartans from scoring, with Smith making two of his eight saves during that stretch. With 2:24 left in the period the Pirates gained a bit of space with a two-goal lead as Cook scored on a Woolley assist to make it 6-4 as the period ended. Finally the penalties began to even out as the Pirates scored two extra-man goals to make it 8-4, with Philip Tieszen scoring on a Beck assist and Woolley scoring on a Kercher assist. It looked like smooth sailing from there, but it wasn't to be. At 5:23 the Pirates threw the ball out of bounds on an unforced turnover and the Spartans turned that into a goal as Crowell scored at 4:32. Then the Pirates did it again at 3:24 and the Spartans turned that into a goal as Soots scored at 2:22 to make it 8-6. And the dramatics weren't over. Piner won the ensuing faceoff for Mt. Tabor and Crowell scored again unassisted to cut the lead to 8-7. Riverside's Beck won the next faceoff and the Pirates held the ball until 55 seconds were left on the clock and again they passed it out of bounds unforced. The Spartans brought the ball down and at 37 seconds called a time out. When play resumed they managed a good shot and Smith made the biggest save of the game at 17 seconds and passed downfield to a teammate. But, with 6.9 seconds remaining, the Pirates went out of the box, giving the Spartans one last chance. A crowd of Pirate defenders rode the ball well and the time ran out before the Spartans could reach the box. |
| RHS goes 1-3 at Tony Cullen playday at Duke Four close games at annual event as Kercher watches from sidelines
The Pirates, playing without junior midfielder Bob Kercher, won one and lost three at the annual Tony Cullen playday at Duke. The Pirates defeated Cardinal Gibbons 2-1, but lost to Chapel Hill 6-4, East Chapel Hill 5-3 and Jordan 2-1.
Junior attackman Tim Woolley led the scoring for the Pirates with 4 goals. Doug Cook had 2 goals and 1 assist, Philip Tieszen and Colin Cash each had 2 goals, Alvin Black had 2 assists and Russell Warren had an assist. In the first game of the day Chapel Hill scored first and Riverside answered with an unassisted Woolley goal. Chapel Hill scored to make it 2-1 but Woolley scored on an assist from Cook to make it 2-2. The Tigers scored two straight, both by Nick Desper on his patented shot from up top, one a running left-hander and the other a running right-hander, to make it 4-2. Cook scored on a Black assist to make it 4-3 but Chapel Hill scored two more back-to-back to make it 6-3. An unassisted goal by Woolley made the final 6-4. In the second game Riverside scored first against East Chapel Hill on an unassisted goal by Philip Tieszen, but East scored three straight (No. 26 on an assist from No. 23, No. 9 unassisted and No. 9 from 23) to make it 3-1. Riverside scored two straight to tie the game as Cook and Woolley each scored unassisted. But East closed out the scoring with two straight of their own to make the final 5-3. In the third game, the Pirates went up 2-0 over Gibbons as Cash scored on a Black assist and Philip Tieszen scored unassisted. Gibbon scored one late to make the final score 2-1 Riverside. In the final game Jordan went up by one goal and was answered by a Cash goal on a Warren assist to make it 1-1. It remained that way until the final minute when Jordan managed the winning goal with less than a minute left in the game. |
Practice begins! Coach Jim Kirkley gives some defensive pointers during the second day of practice for the 2006 season on Feb. 14, 2006. Shown in the photo with Coach Kirkley are Bobby Trimble (15) and Doug Cook (17). Click on photo above to see a brief slide show of the second day of practice. |
| Players and families hear plans for 2006 Announcements include captains, fundraising plans, DisneyWorld trip Posted Jan. 12, 2006, 9:45 p.m.
Coach Kirkley got the meeting underway by holding the "lig's" mandatory "parents meeting" to discuss the coming season. Practice begins on Feb. 13, he told the group, but conditioning will begin the week after next, though rules changes have affected pre-practice activities quite a bit. New conditioning regulations New regulations have designated pre-season conditioning as "skills development," which means that for any coach to be involved there must be no more than nine players at a session. Since this would make conditioning for a large group impossible, Kirkley has delegated this activity to Jonathan Beck, Brad Smith and Kyle Massey, who were introduced Thursday as the 2006 captains.
He also asked that anyone who can't make their session let him know so he can substitute someone, and he said no one should show up unannounced and unscheduled since this would bring the number of players to 10 or more and would be a violation. Weather won't stop practices Kirkley told the parents that once practice begins it will take place regardless of the weather since there is not much time before the first scrimmages and then the first official game on March 3. Practice will take place even if school is out, he said, so he discouraged long-weekend ski trips during the season. Player eligibility: how to lose it Players and parents were also reminded that players can be absent a maximum of 12 days and remain eligible. Also, a player who flunks two grades this term will be ineligible for the coming season, and there is no way to regain eligibility for the spring. Player physicals mandatory Players were told that they need a sports physical prior to the beginning of practice on Feb. 13. Kirkley advised that players get their physicals in time to get him a completed doctor's form before that date. Physical forms can be obtained on the Riverside High School web site here in Word or PDF format. "Mulch Madness" and fundraising needs Randy Smith, father of Brad and director of the annual "Mulch Madness" effort since its inception, briefed the parents and players about this year's campaign. The goal, he said, was for each player to sell 100 bags of mulch so that a total of $8,000 could be raised. Each player was given his sales packet and informed that this year there is an additional incentive for hitting the bricks with a sales pitch. The top seller will get $100 in cash, next-highest seller will get $50 and third-highest will get $25. Plans for the funds include new "away" uniforms for the varsity, new scrimmage jerseys for the junior varsity, paying for the tour bus to get the team to and from Orlando in the spring, and entry fees for various fall and early spring tournaments and play days. On hand for the meeting was Hunter Wagstaff, treasurer of the Riverside Athletics Boosters Club. After introducing Wagstaff, Smith encouraged parents to attend the booster meeting held on the first Monday of every month. Mulch delivery day will be Saturday, March 4. Volunteers are needed with pickup trucks and garden trailers. Also, food and other refreshments are needed for the day-long event. Other help needed Help is also needed to sell ads for the program. Teresa Howard, who has headed the program project for several years, will do it again this year. Help is also needed in the announcement booth for home games. Announcers will be Randy Smith and David Beck, but spotters would be helpful. Parents were also encouraged to sign up for working concessions and bringing oranges. The signup list and instructions will be available soon on this page. |
| Annual family dinner, fundraiser Jan. 12 All Riverside parents, alums, supporters past and present invited Posted Jan. 6, 2006, 7:50 p.m. The annual Riverside lacrosse family dinner and fundraiser will be held on Thursday, Jan. 12, at 6:30 pm, at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church parish hall. St Luke's is located at the intersection of Hillandale Road and I-85. [Directions] The event will be a good kickoff to the spring season, plus, since a parents' meeting is required prior to the season, this will qualify as that. Coach Kirkley will discuss the coming season, the mulch sale and the spring-break Florida trip. Folks are asked to bring food using the following formula: Last name A H: Bring a main dish Last name J R: Bring a side dish Last name S Z: Bring a dessert Drinks, paper products and ice will be provided. Also, Coach Kirkley announces that there will be a team meeting immediately after after school on Tuesday, Jan. 10, meeting room to be announced, so stay tuned to the forum. Everyone should be there to discuss the preseason schedule. |
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