Friday night vs St. Pius X:
JPII: 13  // St Pius X: 4

Sophomore Jake Thurston got the Cardinals off to a hot start with a hat trick in the first quarter, and they never looked back, holding a commanding 7-1 lead at the half.  The offense continued to roll, as Jake Thurston ended the game with 5 goals, also getting huge contributions from Junior captain, Gabriel Castaneda (1 goal, 4 assists), and Sophomore Luke Chandler (3 goals, 1 assist).  Senior captain Andrew Welch showed great leadership, helping to control the ball and set up the offense, also scoring 1 goal and assisting on another.  First year varsity lacrosse player, Ethan Patterson, continued his impressive contributions this season, scoring 2 more goals.  Sophomore LSM (long stick midfielder), Gus Kahn, scored his first goal of the year, and the team's first long-pole goal of the season, to cap off the scoring.  Your Cardinals also got great play from their specialty positions, as Sophomore Matthew Messner and Junior Connor Corwin combined to go 68% at the faceoff X.  Some call him "Brick Wall", others call him "Beast"; his parents call him Tobin.  Sophomore goaltender, Tobin McDermott, continued his torrid stretch in the cage, saving 12 of 16 shots for a 75% save percentage, and the Cardinals took care of business in game one with a 13-4 victory.

Saturday at noon vs Concordia Lutheran:
JP II: 9 // Concordia Lutheran: 8 (OT)

It was a quick turnaround for your JP II Cardinals with a noon game the next day versus a very tough, well coached Concordia Lutheran team.  John Paul II opened up the scoring with a beautiful play by Sophomore defender Nicolas Zaby.  Nic created a turnover on defense, scooped up a cheeky groundball, then led a picture perfect tic-tac-toe fast break goal where all three attackmen touched the ball, finished with a dunk from Sophomore attackman Luke Chandler.  It was a defensive struggle early on, with your Cardinals holding a 1-0 lead at the end of the 1st quarter, and holding onto a tight 3-2 margin at halftime.  Your Cardinal defense of Vincent Anderson (Sr captain), Nic Zaby (Soph), Ben Morton (Soph), Gus Kahn (Soph), and Ryan Welch (Fresh) led the way, with help from short sticks Daniel Saloma (Fresh), Kyle Diamond (Fresh), and Graham Sirna (Soph), as the Cardinals caused 13 turnovers in the game.  The heat picked up, and tired legs kicked in, as both teams were playing the second game of a back-to-back.  The offensive action and transition really opened up in the 3rd quarter.  Your Cardinals jumped out to an 8-5 lead after three quarters, getting another hat trick from Jake Thurston, two goals from Luke Chandler, another goal from Andrew Welch, and a 17 yard snipe from Sophomore Connor Gorli, but Concordia was not going to go away easily.  As they had done all game, Concordia answered, scoring the next three goals and tieing the game with just 2:43 left in the 4th quarter.  But, your Cardinals never trailed in the game.  The team continued to show mental toughness, and the Cardinals were able to win the ensuing faceoff to gain possession.  Gabriel Castaneda beat his man to the goal before getting tripped up for a penalty, giving JP II the man advantage with just over 90 seconds left in the game.  The Concordia goalie came up with a big save on the Cardinal's attempt to score, giving Concordia the ball back with just over a minute.  If you have met freshman Daniel Saloma, first year lacrosse player, you may know, he's not be the biggest player in stature, but he came up with THE BIGGEST ground ball play of the game (and the year), getting your Cardinals the ball back with 30 seconds left in the game.  Gabriel again beat his man to the goal, and was again fouled, this time as time was expiring, giving your Cardinals the ball and a man-up advantage to start overtime.  If you're going to start it, you might as well finish it, so Junior captain, Gabriel Castaneda, called GAME just 13 seconds into overtime with a CLUTCH shot off the man-up play to give your Cardinals the 9-8, thrilling OT win, and a happy bus ride back to Plano, going 2-0 against fellow TAPPS opponents on the trip.

Some weekend totals:
Jake Thurston: 8 goals, 2 assists
Gabriel Castaneda: 3 goals, 6 assists, 11 ground balls
Luke Chandler: 5 goals, 3 assists
Andrew Welch: 2 goals, 2 assists
Ethan Patterson: 2 goals
Connor Gorli: 1 goal
Connor Corwin: 1 assist and 11 of 14 faceoffs (78.5%)
Matthew Messner: 13 of 23 faceoffs (57%)
Tobin McDermott: 21 saves (64%)
Gus Kahn: 1 goal, 6 ground balls