Sam Houston finished their MCLA Division 1 schedule with a 12-7 victory over 30 year rival Texas A&M!  KATS went 4-1 in Div 1 play!

KATS took a 2-1 lead at the end of the 1st quarter and went into the half leading 6-3.  To open the 2nd half, A&M scored in the first ten seconds! “Exactly what we didn’t want to see” said Coach Fritts.  “It was what we spent half time talking about… ‘Don’t let them back in.’”  The Aggs would score again before Sam Houston got things going.  “Tech lit us up for 5 goals in the 3rd quarter on Sunday and it stuck in our minds not to let that happen again.”  A&M got 3 but so did Sam and the 4th quarter started with a 9-6 lead.  The 4th quarter, especially at Home, means great Sam Houston lacrosse and it came through again as the defense held A&M to just one goal in the 4th while the offense put 3 more in the net.

Sam Houston was flagged for 13 penalties (11 minutes) while A&M only saw the penalty box for 4 (3.5 minutes).  “Our Man-Down team was just incredible.  Twice we were two men down and they only scored once on that.  Two total extra man goals during 11 minutes… just incredible.”  That Man-Down team is made up of Goalie Avery Flores and Defensemen John Messer, Travis Cottle, Greg Kremen, Tyler Tyson, Forrest Schmidt and Brian Eckhoff.  Fritts added “Never, in the history of Sam Houston lacrosse, has there been such a collection of defensive talent.  It’s amazing what these guys can do on the field.”

Offensively, the Kats were thrown a curve ball.  Alex Badour went down in the Texas Tech game on Sunday with a broken collarbone.  For an opponent like A&M, you need as much offensive power as you can at all times.  With Coach Fritts, Zach Fry, Logan Holmes, Nick Williams and Badour, all met and outlined the plan.  It was decided to rotate Fry or Holmes to Attack when the 2nd Midfield was in and bring Nick or Wil Nielsen up from the Attack to run Midfield.  “It worked.  Plain and simple, it worked due to the hustle and endurance of those four. We settled the ball more on offense to give everyone time to catch their wind and got good scoring opportunities with our patience. ”

A major contributor to the win was ball control.  With help from the wings on faceoffs, Donny Meyer and Austin Atwood were credited for winning 68.5%!  “For people who don’t know this game, understand, that number is HUGE… off the charts in a game like this!”

Scoring:

Zach Fry 6 goals/2 assists; Wil Nielsen 3 goals/1 assist; Logan Holmes  2 goals; Brendan Gawronski 1 goal; Nick Williams 3 assists; Donny Meyer 1 assist.