The excitement was as expected for the Championship Finals, as Sunday provided a fantastic finish to the 2012 FallBall league sponsored by Team NorCal Lacrosse.  Congrats to the Team 1 Machine on their A Bracket Championship, and to the Team 6 Hounds on their victory to take 1st place in the B Bracket. Highlights of the final weeks games are below:

GAME 1-With the rosters depleted by out of town trips and injuries, this game for 3rd Place in the B Bracket ended in a 1-1 tie.  They had a spirited scrimmage with mixed teams, and we wish both the Team 5 Rattlers and the Team 3 Cannons players the best of luck on their spring seasons!

GAME 2-This game kicked off the real excitement of the day, between Team 4 Lizards and Team 2 Bayhawks.  Despite the dissappointment of these two top seeds losing in the semis, these teams came to play and the battle on Sunday was exciting to watch.  The Bayhawks were missing a few players, and the Lizards took advantage by jumping out to and early lead.  A pair of goals by Spencer Perry led the way to a comfortable lead.  But in the 2nd half, the tide turned.  The Bayhawks buckled down, and the Matt Seligson/Skyler Anderson duo kicked into gear. An 8-4 2nd half lead turned into 8-6, as each of these guys scored, and then a nice feed from Anderson to Seligson on an Extra Man opportunity, made this an 8-7 game.  The battle continued, but then Marco Sliva put the capper on his first Hat Trick of the season with a late goal, to ice this one for the Lizards 9-7.  Congrats to both teams on their winning records, and great seasons.

GAME 3-This rematch between Team 6 Hounds and Team 1 Outlaws (Outlaws won first round in a 1 goal come-from-behind victory) lived up to the excitement we expected.  As in week 6, the Hounds jumped out to an early lead, with some stifling Defense, and a couple early goals from Ben Hastings and Henson Kwok.  Hastings cushioned the lead with his 2nd and 3rd goal of the day early in the 2nd half.  But the Raasch brothers provided a spark, getting the Outlaws on the board and keeping this one close. An Eli Abbey goal late in the period, to make it 6-4, appeared to have this one put away.  Even with Andrew Changs goal with just under a minute left,  the running clock kept ticking and it didnt seem like there was enough time.  Even after a flurry of action by the Outlaws (quick face off win, shot clanging off the pipe, and another shot saved and rolling around the crease with under 10 seconds to go) it still didnt look good for the Outlaws.  But when the Hounds failed to clear the crease, Callahan scooped the ball in the scrum at point blank and put it in the net with THREE SECONDS LEFT to tie it. It seemed like it might be Deja Vu all over again, with the Outlaws taking all the momentum into the Sudden Death Overtime.  But after uncharacteristically losing the last few in Regulation, Sam Isola controlled the OT faceoff for the Hounds, and then fed Ben Hastings cutting across the crease, who put it away for his 4th goal of the game and to clinch the B Bracket Championship for the Hounds.  An exciting finish in an epic battle. 

GAME 4-The marquee matchup, for 1st place and the overall Championship in FallBall 2012.  Another rematch from a hard fought game in Week 3, when the Team 7 Nationals defeated the Team 8 Machine.  The Machine were determined not to let that happen again, and came out with a vengeance.  Jack Forsman started it off, and Luke Miller was solid in goal, and the Machine had a 3-0 lead before anyone knew it.  But Alex Lopez decided enough is enough.  After playing in a camp that morning, and not expected to play at first, Lopez flew back from SoCal in the afternoon and just made it out to the game.  Tired at first, he started off slow.  But after notching his first goal, he kept the team on his back with some great drives and nice rips.  The Nationals battled, the D tightened, and the score was tied 4-4 at half.  The Machine didnt panic though, and continued firing their balanced and consistent attack.  There was a lot of offense in this one, and Goalie play was outstanding on both sides this whole game.  In the 2nd half, the Machine kept scoring, but couldnt shake the Nationals who kept answering.  Alex Lopez's 5th goal of the game made it a 7-6 game, and then Anatole Colevas put one in for the Nationals with under 2 minutes to go to tie.  But the sturdy Machine Defense, and the balanced attack (5 players combined for the 8 Machine goals) won in the end, as Austin Kotas sealed the victory in the final minute with a nice shot from straightaway, helping the Machine close out the season with a 1st place victory.

Thanks to all of you who helped make this years FallBall league great.  We wish all the players good luck in their upcoming High School seasons, and look forward to seeing everyone out on the field this spring!!