Captain William Teglia’s ‘Willuigis’ are doing their Nintendo namesake proud and turning L’s upside down. Their latest W also handed a (right-side-up) L to the only remaining undefeated team in the league in Captain Eli Sconbrun’s Blue. The win not only has them at the top of the standings at 4-1-0, but also makes them the first Summer League team to clinch a playoff spot.
Captain Bryan Ossa’s Brown opened their season with a 3-2 win over our Week Five cover team, Purple, but the ‘Willuigis’ have been wiping up since, and it has been a steady flush since for ‘Dookey Kong’. The consolatory thinking for Brown after losses in their second and third matches of the season…the combined incoming record for their three opponents so far…4-0-0. Considering Purple’s 3-1-0 record since, it was clear that Brown had faced the steepest of schedules to start, and could expect a better chance to improve their playoff stance through the balance of their season. The first such ‘beatable’ opponent came in the form of Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s 1-1-1 Neon. Neon came off a Week One bye to pluck their three points in the standings from Green and Red…teams with a current combined record of 1-8-1. A narrow Week Four loss to Orange had them looking to bounce back and shovel more dirt on a struggling Brown side. Joe Malki wasted no time executing that plan, putting Neon in front with an unassisted effort at at 8:49 in the first, and an early second period pair of strikes (Ryan Karns from Captain Vankoughnett and Parsa Mostafavi at 8:19, and Captain Vankoughnett from Vinny Santora and Pat Gladstone at 7:45) had the Brown burial well underway. Chris Koziol’s third of the season halted Neon’s plot (see what I did there) at 6:53 (Vance Morra), but three late second period tallies from Chris Malki at 2:01, Karns at 1:22 (Vankoughnett), and Joe Malki at 0:36 (Wendy Enright & Chris Malki) had Brown six goals underground (well, technically five, but that sort of ruins the turn of phrase) going into the final ten. With the game well out of hand, Brown’s approach was to look to win the final period and restore some faith in their ability to compete. Mark DeGraffenreid tucked home the rebound from a Josh Wirt shot to make it 6-2 at 6:25, and when DeGraffenreid returned the favor on Wirt’s strike at 5:57 (Leah Gonzales with the second assist), it started to feel like the ‘just win the period’ mantra might have morphed more to ‘just tie this game’. Alas…math…time…the enemies of such lofty aspirations for Brown. Don Tran (21/24) would settle in the rest of the way and seal the 6-3 win for Neon, while SUPER sub Chuck Bender (16/22) would swallow the loss in his first of three games on the night (on his bye week, no less). The win keeps Neon in the middle of the pack at 2-1-1, while the loss drops Brown to 1-3-0, far too close for cut line comfort heading into a Week Six showdown with Orange.
Two two-win teams looked to tack on a third, with Captain Zach Siemer’s 2-1-0 Grey taking on Captain Jeremy Copp’s 2-2-0 Orange. While the teams’ incoming records were similar, and while their goals-against numbers matched exactly at nine, Grey’s ten goals-for in three games stood double that of Orange’s five goals-for in four games. So, if there is any true trajectory in the established scoring trends for these two teams, Grey came in as a clear favorite. Making matters worse for Orange…2/5 of their scoring output to this point would be elsewhere, with Chris Fiore out of the lineup. That left the other 3/5 of the Orange offense-to-date in play, and Justin Hepler wasted VERY little time adding a fourth to his personal season total, stuffing home some crease debris at 9:17 (Aaron Cooney & Steph Palomo Schmidt) to give the underdogs the early upper hand. The remainder of the first wound down without another notch, and Kalen Hunter would score the lone goal of the second at 5:03 (Sean Kelly & Captain Seimer) to draw the teams level going into the second break. The time of possession, scoring chances, and shots (18-6 in Grey’s favor, through two) all told a tilted tale, and Kalen Hunter would finally pen the expected end, scoring at 8:48 in the third (Captain Siemer & Steve Linke) to push Grey in front for the first time. That aforementioned scoring ‘trajectory’ would hold true for Orange, with no further citrus conversions forcing a pulled Will Heinl (23/25, in a sub stint for Matt Henderson), and an empty net icer from John Kushneryk with 0:18 to play (Craig Russell). If you’re scoring at home, that’s now just SIX goals for Orange through five games…four for Hepler, two for Fiore, and ZERO for the remainder of the roster. They’ll certainly need to score more if they hope to avoid a loss to an increasingly desperate Brown this Sunday. Chuck Bender (9/10), earned the win in relief of a now out-for-the-season Jon Cima, braving the heat in his second sub stint of the evening. The 3-1 win moves Grey to 3-1-0, very close to clinching a playoff berth, and very much still in the hunt for the top playoff spot as they enter the second half of their summer schedule.
The remaining recaps are on the way…
