Akron Invite - Nov '08
On November 15, the Ohio Squirrels wandered up 71N to attend a one-day invitational at the University of Akron. Scheduled to play against their local rivals, Xavier University, they certainly needed to be warmed-up and ready. Thanks to car trouble and traffic, the Squirrels barely made it to the game on time and had a slow start of the first half. Not trailing the entire game, the Squirrels were able to stay ahead of the Musketeers and utilize their depth to win 12-7. Impressive performances by Rachel Knighton in center and Greg Jones at guard, the Squirrels started off the day with a 1-0 record.
Game 2 was against the Ohio State Buckeyes and immediately the squirrels were able to use their quickness to out swim this Big Ten program. Steve Coupland built a wall in front of the goal allowing only 6 goals and non of them were shots from outside of 6 meters. Chris Mathers, utilized his known backhand shot to knock in 2 goals as Mike Jones and Greg Jones reigned in on the defense portion. A strong confidence builder with another win of 15-6 gave the Squirrels a 2-0 record for the day.
The final game was against the newly formed masters program in Columbus, Ohio called Central Ohio. The last meeting with them gave them a 4-2 loss in a very tight defensive game. Knowing the Squirrels had a cagemaster, they utilized this to anticipate missed shots which created panic for the other team when they were ready to counter. Dusty Doris and Brandi Shoupe lit up the cage as the ever-so-popular "The Walnut" (The Wheel) was successfully run on several occasions. Central Ohio, however, saw this and continued to play tough defense not letting ball side drives occur and dropping a slough to help. Going into the fourth quarter, tied 8-8, the tired Squirrels were out matched by a couple miscues on counter attacks. They took the game with a win of 13-9. The Squirrels ended the day with a 2-1 record, but very impressive play by several players including Steve Coupland, Rachel Knighton, Dusty Doris, Brandi Shoupe and Jaclyn Tameris.
