June 24, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in Recap with 2 comments
The Indianapolis Alleycats came out of their tough road trip with a huge victory over the Minnesota Wind Chill to move one step closer to the playoffs. That story and more in our Week 11 roundup.
MIDWESTERN DIVISION
Windy City Wildfire 34 – 26 Detroit Mechanix
The Wildfire continued their dominance in the Midwestern Division this weekend with another pair of road wins, starting off with a strong game against the Mechanix.
AJ Nelson had another MVP quality performance: 9 goals, 4 assists, and no turnovers (he was a perfect 40/40 throwing) to lead the Wildfire to extend their winning streak to 10 games.
The Wildfire, much like the Alleycats did last year, have weathered the loss of Brodie Smith to an injury. Smith played a handful of points last week but did not even travel with the team this weekend.
The Wildfire have a huge game coming up next week against the Radicals, the only team to beat them this season. Even with a loss, the Wildfire can still control their destiny with wins against the Wind Chill and Mechanix in their final two games of the regular season. That would leave them with the #1 seed in the Midwest and a bye into the Division finals.
Madison Radicals 20 – 16 Indianapolis Alleycats
The Radicals got a big win over the Alleycats on Saturday to all but ensure they will take at least the #2 seed in the Midwest. They are now three games ahead of the Alleycats in the Division and two and a half back of the Wildfire.
Scott Richgels continued his excellent play this week, finishing with three goals, two assists, and four blocks in just fifteen points played. Tom Annen contributed five assists on offense on a strong 45/48 throwing performance.
The Radicals have four games remaining to catch the Wildfire for the top seed out of the Midwest. They need to start with a win against them next weekend in what could be an Midwest Conference Finals preview. Expect both teams to be playing near full strength and looking to make a statement.
Indianapolis Alleycats 29 – 21 Minnesota Wind Chill
The Alleycats rebounded after their Madison loss with a dominant performance against the Wind Chill to put them a lot closer to their second straight playoff appearance in the AUDL.
Travis Carpenter did it all for the Alleycats on defense, tallying six goals, three assists, six blocks, and no turnovers. Cameron Brock hurt the Wind Chill on offense, notching four goals and, more importantly, six assists as the Wind Chill worked to keep him out of the endzone.
The win put the Alleycats three games ahead of the Wind Chill with four games to play. Two of those will be between these two teams. The Wind Chill need to win both matchups to even have a shot at the playoffs.
Windy City Wildfire 20 – 17 Cincinnati Revolution
The Wildfire were clearly feeling the effects of their Saturday game on Sunday against the Revolution, but still come away from Cincinnati with the win.
Cullen Geppert had four goals, four assists, and a block for the Wildfire, picking up some slack from a less effective AJ Nelson (1A, 3D, 0T).
But it was a strong team effort from Windy City (nine different players scored) that got them the win.
The Wildfire (12-1) moved their win streak to 11 games.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Toronto Rush 40 – 16 DC Breeze
In one of the biggest blowouts of the year, the Toronto Rush took down the DC Breeze and moved to 11-0 on the year.
The team had an impressive 94.5% completion percentage on the day with 11 players completing every one of their throws. As a result, many of the Rush had great box scores; Adrian Yearwood’s two goals, six assists, and zero turns stands out.
The Rush have just five games to go to finish off an undefeated regular season. One more win will clinch them the #1 seed in the Eastern Division playoffs.
New York Empire 23 – 22 Philadelphia Phoenix
Back in New York, the Empire once again struggled to finish off the Phoenix but still managed a slim victory to finish the season series with a 3-0 sweep.
The Empire had a 19-13 advantage late in the 3rd quarter, but the Phoenix slowly chipped away at the lead and eventually got to within one with just seconds remaining in the fourth. Much like their first matchup in New York, the Empire turned it over on the final possession, but the Phoenix weren’t able to punch in the score to take the game to overtime.
As in most weeks, Matt Esser (7G, 3A) and David Brandolph (3G, 8A) led the way for the Phoenix. New York got a huge performance from Phil Kaye (6G, 3A) to help make up for a large number of missing starters, including Husayn Carnegie, Mike Drost, Lu Wang, and Billy Katz.
Rochester Dragons 24 – 20 DC Breeze
Rochester continued their quiet work to get back into the playoff picture with another home victory, this time over the DC Breeze. With the Phoenix loss to the Empire, the Dragons are now just a game out of third place in the East.
TJ Burns scored or assisted on half of the points he played on, finishing with four goals and six assists to guide the Dragons to a victory.
Unfortunately for the Dragons, it may be too late for them to rally: two of their final three games come against the undefeated Rush.
New Jersey Hammerheads 21 – 18 New York Empire
The Hammerheads snapped their ten game losing streak on Sunday with a well-played 21-18 win over a depleted Empire roster.
Matt Tacheron had three goals and three assists in just 12 points played for the Hammerheads and Marquez Brownlee added two goals, four assists, and a block.
The Hammerheads outplayed the Empire from start to finish, taking a three point halftime lead before extending it to five in the second half. The Hammerheads also snapped a six game win streak by New York.
The Empire will look to rebound against them next week at home in New York with most of their missing starters back in the lineup.
