locked down the Legion side of the pitch, their midfield
was hard at work pouring a volley of shots onto the Ninjas. However, shots were sailing wide due to the strong wind, or dropping short and causing headaches near the net. Second chance shots were the key to this quarter it seemed as Steinbrecher gathered the sliotar after a blocked shot and went back in weak-side and put one over the bar for All Tool. The Ninjas were reeling and needed to keep the game close going into half. Trying to make something happen for his team, pony tailed Pub midfielder Brian Marsolek used his lightning speed to poke through the Legion backs and slip one into the goal. A follow-up Pub goal looked to be inevitable late in the half as the Legion keeper was drawn out of the box, but an amazing diving save from Chris Kadrich kept the sliotar from trickling across the goal line. Pub would settle for a point before the whistle blew to cap the first half Irish Pub 2-4 (10) to All Tool 1-5 (8).
The Legion must have liked what they saw from Chris Kadrich in the first half as he now found himself in goal for All Tool. The Pub squad looked to their defense as well to propel them into a second half victory, as the Annas (Krajcik and Downs-Dombroski) and Chris Servais all putting stops on the Legion offensive. Attacks from above seemed to be the only way through the stalemate as Legion captain Steven Schmid lobbed one up, then caught his own rebound and put it back up again to split the pipes. The Ninjas would answer right back with a quick aerial point from Tim Dombroski who managed to slip unnoticed into the Legion defense. All Tool was determined not to let Pub pull away with the lead as a quick point was followed shortly by a Legion free that was collected on the bounce by Jerry Miller for his second goal of the match. Scott Schmid and Katy Hambrook were invigorated by the play of their forwards and confidently closed the door on any chance for a Ninja rally in the quarter. At the last water break, the All Tool Legion found themselves within striking distance at 2-7 (13) to Irish Pub’s 2-6 (12).
All Tool full forward Jerry Miller continued to ride his hot streak right on into the final quarter as he opened play by completing a hat trick and stealing away the Ninja lead. Pat Minster continued to make heroic efforts to push play downfield, and he had considerable help from Todd Witt who relayed the ball up the lines and put some great blocks on the Legion midfielders. Ron “Burgundy” Burghaus showed incredible catching ability as he plucked the sliotar out of the air and added a point to the tally for his Legion.
All Tool was firing on all cylinders and Pub Keeper Eamonn de Cogain was forced to run up and blast through the approaching scrum to secure his net. The physicality of the play was reaching a fever pitch and both sides were getting caught up in it. As the match approached its conclusion there had already been three broken sticks, one broken helmet, and a possible broken arm (Aaron Freyer), but that didn’t deter anyone’s drive to win. The Ninjas would put up a valiant effort to capture back the point that slipped away in the final quarter. However, they just couldn’t muster up the strength to combat the late surge from All Tool, who went on to close out the match with a goal and three more points to take the victory 4-11 (23) to Irish Pub’s 2-6 (12). “I love playing with this team,” shouted one All Tool player as they celebrated their hard-fought win.