Torrey Pines (Semi-Finals Div 1) game update 3-01-2011

We picked a bad time to lose our 1st home game of the year. The old saying that it's hard to beat the same team three times in a year was so true tonight. The game started very positive for us as Eric Budniewski's free kick sailed into the box where Darien Naraghi sent a great header over to Ben Faller and Ben was able to send another header by the Falcon goaltender for a 1-0 lead. Torrey Pines came back and scored two quick goals to take a 2-1 lead. We were able to tie it late in the half when Eric Budniewski scored on a indirect free kick from inside the penalty area. The half ended @ 2-2.

Torrey Pines came out strong in the 2nd half and their pressure on us finally paid off when they scored two quick goals to take a 4-2 lead. We did make it close late in the game when Eric Budniewski made a rush into the Torrey Pines zone and was tripped inside the penalty area and we were awarded a penalty kick. Evan Myers then stepped up and blistered a shot past the Falcons goaltender to pull us within a goal at 4-3. We kept the pressure on but Torrey came back and restored the lead to two and made that hold up for the final score 5-3.

You can tell we missed our star defender, Sean Gallagher. We had only allowed more than 2 goals in a game once this year before tonight. I believe it would have been a different outcome if Sean had played.

What a ride it's been for us this year. With only Four returning starters from last years team we were not expected to have a good year. Did this team show us otherwise. This years highlights:

- Champions of the Coronado Invitational Tournament
- Champions of the San Diego High Holiday Tournament
- Co-Champions of the Palomar League
- Team record 24 victories
- Team record 19 wins in a row
- Team record 23 game unbeaten streak
- Ranked in the top 5 of the state since Jan. 1st
- Eric Budniewski # 1 point scorer in San Diego County - Large Schools (19 goals, 22 assists)
- Evan Myers # 2 point scorer in San Diego County - Large Schools (26 goals, 5 assists)
- Evan Myers named Palomar Player of the Year
- Eric Budniewski named ESPN Rise player of the week (Jan. 5th, 2011)
- Ranked in the top 10 in the Nation from January - March.
- Ranked # 2 in the nation (Feb. 14th, 2011)

On another note, our record with 3 of the 4 remaining teams left in the Div.1 & 11 playoffs this year was 6-1, that is amazing. What a year we have had. Thank you to all the boys and to all our fans for supporting us this year. This will be hard to top next year but if anyone can make it happen it's Coach Morris.