Game 2 Recap: Cascades at Spiders
By Marcus Lee
Following the season opener last week, in which the Spiders lost a close game to the home team Seattle Cascades, the Spiders were excited to play their home opener, at Oakland Technical High School, and get revenge on the Cascades.
The game started off slow for the Spiders, the mistakes which had lost them their season opener continued to be an issue in the beginning of the first quarter. Drops and throwaways forced the Spiders into calling an early timeout after going down 4-0. Following the timeout the Spiders were able to fight through their mistakes and take advantage of the deep space. Sawyer Thompson threw two assists as the Spiders were able to end the first quarter taking three of the final five points. Despite Seattle’s 6-3 lead the Spiders remained within striking distance.
The second quarter saw the Spiders playing with more intensity. The Spiders were able to use big defensive blocks by the rookies Jacob Miller and Jake Thorne and the defensive mistakes of the Cascades to go on a 3-1 lead to begin the quarter. Despite early success, Seattle’s offense was able to tighten up and the Cascades scored 5 of the final 7 goals including three in the last minute and a half to take a 12-8 lead.
The third quarter emulated the second, although the Spiders were able to put together a 3-0 run in the first half of the quarter San Jose struggled to stop Seattle’s offense when it mattered. So, despite two blocks from Jordan Kerr, one of the best rookies in the first two weeks, the Spiders were unable to win the quarter and entered the fourth quarter down by five.
The fourth quarter started off with the Spiders bringing their fans to their feet as; led by 2 goals from Jacob Miller, the Spiders forced the Cascades to call a timeout with 3 consecutive breaks. Coming out of the timeout the Spiders continued to grind on defense leading to turnovers by Seattle and two more breaks for the Spiders, tying the game up at 18-18, the Cascades were finally able to score as they pulled back ahead with less than 3 minutes to go in the game. The Spiders were fatigued, they had trouble with mistakes, throwing the disc away two times in the following point. The Seattle players were very tired and they kept giving the disc back. With just over a minute to go, the Spiders were able to tie the game back up. The Cascades just had to be patient and work the disc up the field to give themselves a chance to throw a game winner, but the Spiders pressured their handlers and forced a quick turn. Using both their timeouts the Spiders scored the go ahead point with three seconds left in the game. Two hucks, a timeout, and a knocked down disc later, Andrew Moore’s throw to Justin Norten officially became a game winner.
The Cascades had a good defensive strategy and were able to force the Spiders into making hard throws, but in the end they ran out of gas too early and allowed the Spiders to come back. The Spiders defense, led by smothering sideline double teams and big time blocks, paved the way to the Spiders 20-19 victory over the Seattle Cascades. The Spiders, now 1-1 on the year, will need the help of their fans as they face their division rivals, the reigning Western Division Champions, San Diego Growlers this Friday at 6:30.
