As the morning moved on, the Burke’s Irish Castle Knights hit the pitch to challenge the Milwaukee Ale House Marauders. The Knights charged into battle without hesitation and came away with two points to get the momentum rolling. Marauder Eric Hobbins was making great transitions up through the mix to his teammate Steve “Jake” Jakubowski, who was cracking some great shots at the Castle keeper to come away with a point. The injury-laden Marauder squad began to gel with their subs as play progressed. Teresa Spigel and Sarah Eslyn were making quick work at breaking up the Knights’ plays and getting the ball back up the lines, forcing Burke’s away from their net. The shots began to fall from midfield though as Burke’s took the fight to the air to keep the tally going. As play broke for water, the Knights were up 0-8 (8) to the Marauder’s 0-3 (3).
Ale House came out with the plan of countering the midfield barrage with Eric Hobbins and sub Brian Marsolek chasing down the captain of the Knights. However, Brian Murphy would take the lead for his Castle crew with a fantastic solo down the crowd line and finish it off through the sticks to keep the rally going. The shots were coming fast and frenzied from the Burke’s forward lines. Sub for Ale House, AJ Varelas, was coming out of nowhere to swoop in and secure the ball and Ale House rookie Calysta Phalen was doing a great job of staying on her marks to take away dangerous opportunities. Their firm stance was creating opportunities at the other end of the field as
Ale House kept pushing their way back, but Burke’s would keep the lead at the half 0-14 (14) to the Marauders 0-5 (5).
No time was wasted after play resumed as a quick blitz came from Ryan Mosur and the Knights’ forwards. Their pressure near the box pushed a wedge between the Marauder defenders and resulted in one over the top and one in the net. Ale House shifted their focus to defense as Carl Chojnacki found sub Brian Dake several times to get the action away from his
keeper. Ale House was confident that they had shut down the aerial assault, but the Burke’s squad began to push deep. After Knight Matthew Mangan put a point over the
Marauder keeper, forward Patrick McGowan found a gap and sailed one between the pipes for three to bolster their lead.
The score seemed irrelevant to the Ale House team as they continued to push their marks and refused to give any ground. Teresa Spigel did a tremendous job holding her ground near the goal, but a step was all Brian Murphy needed to slip another triple hit onto the scoreboard. The entire Ale House team though was really finding their
rhythm in the closing minutes led by the monstrous efforts of Marauder Rebecca Miksch, who kicked it into another gear. The scrappy Ale House squad kept pounding away at the Knights, and as the scrums got
closer to the net the Marauders finally slipped one across the line for a confidence-boosting goal. They never stopped believing that they could get back into the mix, but the charge came too late in the match as the Burke’s take the win confidently 3-19 (28) to Ale House’s 1-6 (9). “Great game all around for the Knights,” said Burke’s captain Jesse Hieb.
Shoutout to Brian Dake who subbed for Ale House on the field, and later in the day as a sideline judge in the pouring rain. As always, Brian Dake leads by example.
Brick By Brick, The Castle Prepares for Marauder Assault
by Jason Kirkpatrick