Griz Drop Third Straight In PNCLL
Article by Nathan Cordova
Photos by Will Moss (GrizLax.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (March 8, 2008) – For the first eight minutes of their 19-10 loss, the Griz looked like the team to beat in the PNCLL.
No.6 University of Oregon struggled early on but rallied from its slow start with help from PNCLL points and goals leader, Justin Blackmore (5g, 3a), who led all scorers. Attackman Sam Cameron (2g, 1a) led the Griz.
“We haven’t played a team who possessed [the ball] so much. So they slowed it down and it was hard,” Blackmore said after the game. “We got the ball and we wanted to go straight to goal because we’re not used to having such a slow game.”
After falling behind 2-1 early, the Oregon offense started to wear down the focused and disciplined Montana defense, turning the first quarter deficit into a 12-5-halftime lead.
“I guess we just had to call sets and we had to make sure that everyone was on the same page and really slow it down,” Blackmore said. “Instead of just going, going, going we had to pick our spots and we knew that once we turned it over they were going to have the ball forever again.”
When Montana stuck to its possession oriented game plan, it was able to score with consistency and shut down Oregon’s shot-happy offense. Unfortunately for the Griz, these glimpses of greatness were early, and not often.
“We knew this was going to be our best opponent of the year so far,” Oregon head coach, Ben Tiller, said. “The guys aren’t going to get down about two goals in a quarter. […] They’ll never get down about it because they know we got twenty in us, at some point, and we’ve got another forty-five minutes to play.”
Aside from two 5-0 Oregon runs, goal scoring went tit for tat and the overall energy of both teams was very high. One highlight for the Griz was the outstanding play of junior goalkeeper, Colin Connery (17 saves), who kept Oregon’s lead to single digits.
“Oregon was a good team. They were just zipping the ball around and we knew that right off the bat. I just tried to stand tall, keep everyone’s head level and talk a lot.” Connery said.
Despite Montana’s considerable passion and discipline, they were unable to capitalize on nine of thirteen man-up opportunities including a three-man-advantage that sent the Oregon bench and crowd into a frenzy.
For the Ducks this was a significant improvement from the previous week when Chico State University stayed with Oregon by virtue of its EMO execution.
“This week we really concentrated on [man-down defense],” senior defenseman, Andrew Vincent, said. “Obviously it showed.”
With this win, Oregon moved its record to 4-0 in the PNCLL and 6-0 overall. The Ducks will take on Gonzaga University Sunday, at 12pm, in Eugene, in another conference match-up. This is a must-win game for the Zags if they wish to stay in contention for the PNCLL post-season after today’s 11-7 loss at Oregon State University.
Like Gonzaga, Montana will be playing in its own life and death game tomorrow when the team travels north to play Oregon State at 12pm in Corvallis, Ore.
“I think it’s going to be the biggest game of the year by far,” Montana senior, Townsend Hall said. “Hopefully I’ll play a little stronger.” Townsend’s offensive contribution on Sunday will need to be a lot more than the one-goal effort he had against Oregon in order to insure a Griz win and a shot at the post-season.
“It’s a battle between us, Oregon State and Washington,” Townsend said. “We got three losses in a row. We need to pick it up and keep rolling.”
“It’s the post-season. I mean that’s what it is. That’s what it’s coming down to tomorrow,” Montana Head Coach, Kevin Flynn, said. “We’re always a team that peaks late. If we have to roll the dice after tomorrow I’m all right with that but obviously we want to get a W for sure.”
