Griz Lacrosse heads to L.A. to face Claremont and UCLA in out-of-conference action over spring break 2012.

MISSOULA – Griz Lacrosse is pleased to announce that their final home game of the 2012 season against Simon Fraser University will be broadcast live on Laxx.TV. The game will face-off at 7:00 pm (Mountain time zone), and be played under the newly-installed lights in Washington Grizzly Stadium. Come on down if you can, watch online if you can’t!

Goalie Hank Vieten saves a bounce shot in game against Washington. Photo by Lyn Barta.

Seattle, WA – The Griz had a warm welcome to the west coast with a team and family dinner provided by some of the parents in the greater Seattle area along with tailgate before and after the game. With such a large Montana Grizzly presence it seemed like the game was in front of the hometown fans. But like most of the year, Montana couldn’t pull out the close win losing again by only two goals.

The game started out slow with the first quarter score with the Huskies up 1-0. But thanks to the dominant play of face-off specialist Ross Cobb from Bainbridge Island, WA against his high school rival #8 Riley Goodman from Issaquah, WA the Griz had multiple possessions on offense. The highlight of the game was the explosion of freshman Andrew Wenzl, scoring a total of four goals, ripping 2 goals in the second quarter to end the half with a 4-3 lead by the Huskies.

The Griz were still with out captains Henry Bishop and Chuck Forsyth, and Senior Kent Davis missed his second consecutive game due to back problems, but with the emergence of Wenzl, the defensive midfield play of Joe Kirkendall and Dominic Petrilli and the return of FOS Ross Cobb, the legs were that much fresher in the heat of Saturday’s game.

The start of the second half didn’t favor the Grizzlies as Washington out scored Montana 4-1 in the 3rd quarter. But with the tenacious 4th quarter defense of long poles Zach Barta and Cody Dems and clutch saves by Goalie Hank Vieten, the would be hometown team stymied the Husky offense. Wenzl put another 2 in the net with dodges on goal and the Griz got within 2 but mistakes late in the game were costly and they couldn’t, yet again, overcome having a short and young roster. Washington won with a score of 9-7.

Catch the stats from the BOX SCORE.

Check out the GAME AWARDS.

Hank runs over 3 Cat players on a successful clear. Photo by Tim Goessman

Bozeman, MT – Friday the 13th, the Montana Grizzlies returned to Bozeman for the rematch of the game won by the Bobcats earlier in the season. The Grizzlies have gained experience, improved cardio due to a short bench and the loss of two captains and contributors Charles Evans and Scott Krueger from injury. The Cats faced a much different team than last time around.

Montana State came fast out of the gate scoring the first few goals until the Griz got some much needed offense by Max Reuter hitting twine for the first of his two goals. Attackmen JD Chapman and Patrick Shelso both had 2 goals as well and both notching an assist each.  The leading scorer for the griz on the day once again was Kent Davis with 2 goals and 2 assists. With his points in this game Kent leades the team in goals with 24 and is second on the team with 8 assists to Patrick Shelso’s 13 assists and second on the team with 18 goals of his own.

Andrew Wenzl, Trevor Currie, and Davis were either knocked out of the game or sat out large chunks from hits to the head and concussion like symptoms. The already short roster was spread out further and the bench began to dwindle to only a couple players. Kent returned and powered through back pains, but the scoring from Max, JD and Patrick couldn’t overcome Montana State’s deep roster, poor play on the face from Dominic Petrilli and costly defensive mistakes. In the end the result was the same with a 4 goal lead and 12-8 win by the Bobcats.

Look at the stats from the BOX SCORE.

PHOTOS of the game by Tim Goessman.

FOS Dominic Petrilli rolled off a Wildcat defender for the ground ball. Photo by Tim Goessman

Saturday proved to be a much different story. With most starters sitting from injuries, the Grizzlies suited up three attackmen (Patrick Shelso, JD Chapman, Chris Fey) and only 7 midfielders (Andrew Wenzl, Will Baur, Jordan Wade, Dominic Petrilli, Dave Whyel, Joe Kirkendall, and Dan Finnegan). Like most games it was short roster but the difference is that the back-ups, so to speak, of the Griz put up 19 points on the Division II Wildcats of Central Washington. The Griz defense led by Zach Barta‘s lock off defense and Hank Vieten‘s talents between the pipes only allowed one contested goal by the Cat offense which struggled for the day.

The story of the day was Dominic Petrilli and Chris Fey missing the first quarter as they sped back to Bozeman after Petrilli finished the WPA and Fey finished school projects of his own. They were put in as soon as the pads were on with Chris Fey scoring back to back goals in a matter of minute and strong face play of Petrilli unlike Friday’s failures. The game had some historical moments of its own with Dave Whyel and Dominic Petrilli scoring for the first times as Grizzlies, also with 1 assist each,with Dominic taking four years and Dave only a few games.

Joe Kirkendall was relentless on his wing play on the face leading all players with 7 ground balls and a shot off a fast break. With DM Joe and FOS Dominic adding offense to their duties, Junior defenseman John Cuccaro faced off multiple times winning a few of his own with the long pole.

All in all Andrew Wenzl netted 5 goals, JD Chapman and Will Baur 4 goals apiece, Jordan Wade‘s selfless play with 4 assists and Patrick Shelso‘s 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) the Griz won for the second time with a dominate score of 19-1.

Look at the stats from the BOX SCORE.

PHOTOS of the game by Tim Goessman.

Check out the GAME AWARDS from the weekend.

Andrew Wenzl had his best game as a griz putting up four goals against the competitive defense of Washington. In the second quarter he put up two quick catch and rips to get the first goals with two later shots on the right dodging from the right. The Griz look for Andrew to step up for the last game of the season again for the first game under the lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Bob Wards Play of the Game
Dave Whyel, Freshman, Midfield

Dave was a constant on the crease with his off ball movement to get some great looks multiple times when he was fed right in the box for s quick turn around and shoot. The much needed goal kept the Grizzlies in the game against Washington.

Beach Transportation Scholar Athlete of the Game
Dominic Petrilli, Senior, Midfield

Dominic Petrilli is graduating this Spring with a 3.0 accumulative GPA with degrees in Business Management and Business Marketing with a certificate in Entertainment Management. Dominic is also the Philanthropy Chairman in the Sigma Chi Fraternity volunteering with the local Chapter of the Kiwanis Club and Boys and Girls Club of Missoula.

J.D. had amazing weekend in his efforts in going 1 and 1 in 2 games. He had a total of 6 goals and 1 assist with 2 goals and his lone assist in the game against Montana St  keeping the score close. In the blow out against Central Washington Chapman tied for 2nd in total points for the Griz with another 4 goals.

Bob Wards Play of the Game

J.D. Chapman, Freshman, Attack

In the Central Washington game Chapman was riding his defender on the clear where he yard-saled the midfielder’s stick sending it whirling in the air like a baton and was able to get the ground ball to add further insult to injury on the play.

Beach Transportation Scholar Athlete of the Game
 Charlie Forsyth, Junior, Defense

Chuck is a Junior in the School of Business Administration trying to obtain a degree in Business Management with a 3.2 accumulative GPA. In the off season Chuck is a Pollock Fisherman in Alaska and enjoys volunteer coaching lacrosse back in Washington and here in Missoula with the local youth teams.

The Rhinoceros Hit of the Game
Hank Vieten, Sophomore, Goalie

During the game against MSU, Hank made a save and took off down the field where at the mid line, he went head on into 3 Cat players absorbing a slashing, tripping up another, and sending one crashing backwards into the ground. Hank not only plowed through 3 players but successfully cleared the ball to the ball to the offense and made his way back in between the pipes.

Both Patrick and Kent both notched 2 goals and 1 assist in the games in California. Both initiated the offense with excellent dodges and shots on the run. Due to injuries and a short bench both players help put the team on their collective backs to keep the Griz in both games never quitting even in the fourth quarter, evidence from both scoring late in the 4th of each game.

Bob Wards Play of the Game
Kent Davis, Senior, Midfield

Late in the 4th quarter against Claremont, Kent’s relentless dodges in between multiple players got him a goal on the starting goalie as he was put back in the Game to try and close out the Griz. It was another example of Kent’s never say die mentality as a player always looking to bring his team back.

Beach Transportation Scholar Athlete of the Game
Scott Krueger, Junior, LSM

Scott is a media arts major in the process of entering into the competitive School of Media Arts. Scott has been a stable asset to the team taking picture and filming games and putting together the videos we enjoy so much. Krueger is also an avid outdoors men spending countless hours on the ski hill and in the water.

The Rhinoceros Hit of the Game
Joe Kirkendall, Freshman, Midfield

In the game against Claremont, Joe displayed his tenacious play on ground balls this time instead of scooping up the ball, he decided to  enforce his will on another sending a Cougar long pole to the ground with a tremendous thud. Watch it HERE at the 1:40 mark of the video over and over again until your thirst for big hits is satisfied.

]]> http://grizlax.com/grizlax-back-to-cali-2012-video/feed/ 0 http://grizlax.com/griz-heading-to-washington/ http://grizlax.com/griz-heading-to-washington/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:33:56 +0000 Will http://grizlax.com/?p=1916

MISSOULA – Griz Lacrosse will make its last road trip of the regular season to face PNCLL opponent Washington Saturday. The Griz took down the Huskies at the end of last season, but will need continued improvement through their roster to overcome injuries and notch consecutive victories for the first time of 2012. Follow Griz Lacrosse on Twitter (@GrizLax ) for game updates, and stay tuned to GrizLax.com for photo and video highlights from California and Bozeman.

By Dom Petrilli for GrizLax.com

LOS ANGELES – The University of Montana Grizzlies made their way down to California for the second straight year to face SLC opponents Claremont College and the UCLA Bruins. This marked the first times that these teams have played the Griz and provided some good out of conference competition. The Griz will now head to Bozeman for tests against Montana State and Central Washington before finishing their season with vital in-conference games against Washington and Simon Fraser University.

CALIFORNIA

The first game was at the Claremont Colleges facing the Cougars in a Monday night contest. The game started out close with a early goal by Freshman Andrew Wenzl  and only a one goal deficit for the first quarter. But due to the early exit of starter Henry Bishop (hamstring) and in the second quarter midfielder Jordan Wade (concussion), the already depleted midfield line was down to two lines after defensive midfielder Joe Kirkendall was added to the offensive side and Dominic Petrilli added defensive midfielder to his face-off duties as well. Claremont was able to pull away from Montana putting up 4 in the second quarter for a 6-2 lead.

The third quarter saw the defense stiffen allowing only one goal but the offense had trouble finding the net and good saves by the Cougar goalie. After starting long pole Chuck Forsyth went down from injury (hand) and the already tired legs on the midfield, they were able to put up two more goals by senior Kent Davis and Junior Patrick Shelso both with one goal and one assist apiece for the game. The cougars put back in their starting goalie to finish the game out strong and the constant speed of the cougar midfield they closed out the game with a 10-4 win.

Wednesday night was another example of a hard fought game by Griz only to slip away. Multiple starters and contributors sat due to injury including two captains: defense Chuck Forsyth, midfielder Henry Bishop along with midfielder Jordan Wade.

The Grizzlies came out running with a first quarter strike by Senior Kent Davis dodging through multiple defenders from the right side attack while the stifling defense didn’t allow a goal. The second quarter was still was a change from the first but still extremely competitive with the score begin 2-1 at halftime with a UCLA lead.

The third quarter was a much different story for the Griz not having an answer for the UCLA offense allowing 6 goals in the period without posting a score of their own. The fourth quarter was a great display of the tired yet relentless play of the Griz stopping the Bruins to one goal and attackman Patrick Shelso dodging from X around the goal ripping it top right to end the game 9-2.

The Grizzlies return home for a rematch against in state rival Montana State and old PNCLL Div 2 foe Central Washington in Bozeman, MT on Friday at 3:00 PM and Saturday at 1:00 PM.