Ryken gets back at Gonzaga for last year

Friday, April 6, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photos by Reid Silverman Ryken leading scorer Zach Angel (three goals, four assists) gets a hug from his mom, Lynn, after the Knights downed Gonzaga on Wednesday. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Ryken’s Zach Angel picks up one of his three goals in the fourth quarter Wednesday.

Gonzaga ended St. Mary’s Ryken’s season last year in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference semifinals.

‘‘I’ve had a knot in my stomach ever since last year when we lost to them,” St. Mary’s Ryken junior goalie Andrew Wascavage said.

So on a windy Wednesday afternoon in Leonardtown, St. Mary’s Ryken got its chance to show the Washington, D.C., based school that it could beat it. And the Knights did so in an 11-4 pasting of Gonzaga.

‘‘Last year when they won at the end of the year that stung with me,” said senior attack Bray Dunaway, who scored a team-high five goals. ‘‘I’ve been dreaming. I couldn’t sleep last night at all, so it really, really means a lot to get this team.”

Junior attack Zack Angel led the hosts with seven points, three goals and four assists.

‘‘During every game, we’ve always been up a little bit,” Angel said, ‘‘but Coach [John Sothoron] has always reminded us about Gonzaga, so we knew today was the day. We put everything together.”

St. Mary’s Ryken (5-2, 4-0 WCAC) won its fifth game in a row after falling in its first two contests.

‘‘It makes them step up,” Sothoron said. ‘‘It makes them play their best when we have these tough teams, so we’re getting most out of our kids and I’m extremely proud of them.”

Wascavage made 15 saves as the St. Mary’s Ryken defense — led by Justin Schmidt, John Bellezza and Greg Meinhardt — allowed Gonzaga to score just one goal per quarter.

‘‘They gave up the shots that could be stopped,” Wascavage said. ‘‘I just did everything my coach told me and [the defense] helped me do the rest.”

St. Mary’s Ryken put the game away with a four-goal third quarter.

‘‘We got smart and we didn’t throw the ball away and we possessed it at the end,” Sothoron said. ‘‘Very, very proud of the boys.”

Gonzaga (2-3, 2-2) had no answer for the Knights’ onslaught. Eagles attack Sean Dinn asked one of his coaches on the sideline in the fourth quarter, ‘‘What do we have to do to get through these guys?”

‘‘I’ve been assisting at Gonzaga for seven years and that’s the most talented best ball movement defensive team,” Gonzaga assistant coach Casey O’Neill said of St. Mary’s Ryken. ‘‘We got outplayed up and down the field.

Gonzaga’s only lead came with the game’s first goal by Josh Furnary in the second minute of action.

‘‘They moved the ball much better than we did and they played real hard,” O’Neill said.

A minute later, Dunaway scored his first of the day to tie the game at 1. Angel picked up the assist.

The two teamed up again late in the first quarter. With five seconds left in a Dinn cross-checking penalty, Dunaway scored off an Angel feed to put St. Mary’s Ryken up 2-1, and it never trailed again.

Angel picked up his third assist in as many goals, assisting on Tyler Spaulding’s wrister that gave the Knights a 3-1 lead with 7 minutes 47 seconds left until halftime.

Dunaway netted his third goal of the game unassisted with four minutes to go in the half. He scored off a rebound from Gonzaga goalie Conor Baucum as the visitors were killing off another penalty.

Gonzaga’s lone goal of the second quarter came 21 seconds into a man-up opportunity with St. Mary’s Ryken’s Nick Kriner off for cross checking as Pat Manders scored from Dinn.

Wascavage made two big stops in the final 30 seconds to keep the Knights up 4-2 at halftime.

‘‘Everything was perfect on defense — slides, everything,” Wascavage said.

St. Mary’s Ryken tallied twice in 20 seconds early in the third. Dunaway fired in a goal from Brett Schmidt’s feed, then the senior scored his fifth of the day from Reggie Harvey. The Knights led 6-2 with 8:46 left in the quarter.

‘‘If we control it and settle it down instead of run and gun, we don’t make as many mistakes,” Dunaway said. ‘‘We don’t throw the ball at people’s heads. We just focus a lot more and get the work done.”

Gonzaga’s Taylor Hanley was off for an illegal check penalty when Brett Schmidt tucked the ball in past Baucum, off an Angel assist, to give St. Mary’s Ryken a 7-2 lead with 5:31 to go in the quarter.

With 3:59 remaining in the quarter, Gonzaga called timeout. It turned the ball over in the defensive end when play resumed and Angel scored into an open goal.

St. Mary’s Ryken came close to shutting out Gonzaga in the third, but Manders fired a low shot past Wascavage with 1:21 left in the period. The Knights went to the fourth up 8-3.

‘‘We forced some things the first half,” Sothoron said. ‘‘But, I thought we calmed down a lot in the third quarter; we were great and we didn’t make turnovers. We finished shots real good and we possessed the ball. The first half, our offense wanted to force too much and we had some turnovers.”

Pat Baer scored 40 seconds into the final quarter to bring Gonzaga to within 8-4, but Harvey netted a tally 12 seconds later and Angel scored twice, the second around two Gonzaga defenders.

‘‘It’s a good relief, but we can’t take it for granted because we know we’re seeing them in the playoffs,” Angel said. ‘‘They’re a good team.”

E-mail Paul Watson at pwatson@somdnews.com.