Group Games began a few weeks ago and students groups have been playing handball in the Shanley during group/lunch. Here are our updates:

Comeback Kid, March 17

John Doyle, which won its first group game in three years, came in on March 17 with great momentum. The do or die win last week over Father Valerian came in the final seconds after stellar offense. On March 17, against Father Cornelius, John Doyle led by UD1 Yasuhiro Yamauchi, left no mercy on the field coming home with the 6-4 win. Yasuhiro scored all of JD’s points, except for the couple of goals overturned because of violations. John Doyle got out to an early lead 3-0 and held on to the lead for the rest of the game. Father Cornelius showed late promise after switching goalies from Ryan Brown to Ian Garay who blocked 7 attempts.

Blowout, March 17

Timothy Dwyer, which dominated over John Ford 5 – 0 on March 17, showed solid game play both on offense and defense. Lead by UD1s Tristan Farinhas 4 pts and Ben Perez 1 pt, the helpless John Ford struggled to communicate, get the ball down field and furthermore, in the goal. UDII Emmanuel Okoye played fantastic defense as a silent threat with seven deflections in total which lead to turnovers, eventually leading to the one-sided score. UDII Tiwalayo Eisape described him as the key to the victory and their secret weapon.

HeartBreak, March 19

Previously ranked number two Dustin Smith, had a heart breaking loss yesterday in overtime. A valiant effort led by UDI Jakub Iwaniuk, who scored John Doyle’s only two goals, could not finish the game against Father Bernard Peters. Bernard Peters played with an arrogant fury, and won in what seemed to be a never ending overtime shootout. UDI Magnum Phelps managed to stay calm, although it took six back in forth attempts from both teams for Bernard Peters to finally pierce John Doyle’s last hopes of making it to the finals. Senior goalkeeper Brandon Johnson had an incredible game with seven blocks.

Joe K Squeaks by Philip Hoover, March 19

Joe Kasburger lead by UDI Khalil Fleming attacked what seemed to be a defenseless Philip Hoover. Although the game resulted in an overtime win, Khalil scored  five points including two penalty shots, followed by UDII Cornelius Faux with one point and impressive goalie UDI Joe Alba with over ten blocks. Philip Hoover showed they were lacking without their all-star Russian goalie UDI Andrey Svistunov. However, they gradually managed to score through advancing passes and a fatiguing Joe K defense. The thought of losing, ignited Khalil’s passion and he was able to direct his team to  a better defensive game. The final score was Joe Kasburger 6; Philip Hoover 5.