The Indians showed their true colors as a blanket of Pink covered Unionville stadium on the 2nd annual “Unite for HER” night
By Dave Conard Sports Editor UnionvilleTimes.com
Unionville's Max LKelly was a one man Knight killer as he posted six points
EAST MARLBOROUGH—When it come s to life everyone knows what the “C word “ means, one of the most dreaded words in the English language: cancer.
For years it was thought that even the mere mention of the word was bad luck and just talking about it would jinx some one you know into contracting the horrible disease that affects so many lives every year.
It seemed fitting that on a night where Unionville was donned in pink to support their second annual “Unite for HER” night that raises money for and hopefully awareness for friends, family and community members help cope with dealing with cancer, that another “C word” was the word of the evening; confidence.
Indians Riley Piper scores one of his three goals on the night inan 11-5 win
After starting the season a surprising 0-5, the Indians although the effort was there and it appeared that they were trying to do the right things, were lacking one major component in their arsenal, confidence.
Webster’s defines confidence as “the state of mind characterized by one’s reliance on himself, or his circumstances, a feeling of self-sufficiency, such assurance as leads to a feeling of security”.
Following a come from behind win on Saturday over Arch Bishop Carroll, Unionville took the turf Tuesday night with a new found swagger and confidence.
Unlike their previous six games, Unionville (2-5-0) jumped on the board first as David Apruzzese scored on the first shot on net just 12 seconds into the tilt, followed by Matt Olsen 37 seconds later to post the host to a 2-0 lead before the crowd even had taken their seats at 11:01 of the opening frame.
“It was huge for us to get the first couple of goals, it really helped our confidence,” said senior Max Kelly, who posted five assist and a goal of his own. “Saturday we got down early and we could of all been like, oh here we go again and instead we found a way to come back and win that game. Tonight we had a completely different feeling when we took the field.”
The first of many “confidence building plays“ came a little more than a minute after Olsen’s first goal of the night as goal keeper Chris Baker stoned West Chester Rustin sniper Peter Theil at point blank range, squashing the Golden Knights first scoring threat.
Unionville goal tender Chris Baker was stout in net leading the Indians to a league win
“Chris was huge in net tonight,” said defensemen Austin Lowe. “We know we have a very good defense, we are all athletic and know what we need to do back there, we have worked very hard at practice this week on communication and executing. After tonight and Saturday our confidence level will be the highest it has been all year since we started camp.”
Unionville, led by Kelly, Olsen, Hunter Gausch and Riley Piper did an outstanding job moving the ball and patiently locating the man cutting to the front of the net, while Rustin inexplicably seemed to be content with allowing the Indians to cycle the ball, which led to 6-4 halftime lead.
After the break, Lowe and company turned up the screws defensively holding the Golden Knights to one second-half tally, eliminating the possibility of a Rustin come back and securing the Indians second win in a row.
“They played a zone on us last year and it worked well for them, I guess that is what they thought would work tonight,” said Unionville net minder Chris Baker. “I was surprised that they didn’t pressure our attackers, but our forwards did a great job being patient tonight and finding the open man. It really helped our confidence to get an early two goal lead instead of having to play from behind.”
The URA lacrosse U-9 team entetained at halftime with the blue winning by a 1-0 score
“We played with confidence tonight,” added Unionville head coach John Rohde. “They are starting to believe in each other, we took care of the ball tonight and eliminated some of our mistakes and that’s what happens when you relax and play with your self.”
Unionville's Matt Olsen, Riley Piper and Patch Johnson celebrate Piper's second goal
Next up for Unionville is a chance to claim their third straight win as the Indians travel to West Chester East on Thursday night at 7 pm.
With the football team raising almost $3,000.00 for “Unite for Her” in the fall, the boy’s and girl’s lacrosse (who will hold their pink game on Thursday night under the lights of Unionville’s stadium) along with the boys volleyball team hope the raffles along with the online silent auction items will eclipse that amount for a great cause.
The online silent auction includes such items a U.S open flag signed by Tiger Woods, a full sized basketball autographed by Michael Jordan, a Calloway FT-5 Fusion driver, a full sized helmet signed by Peyton Manning, a lithograph signed by Dallas Cowboys quarterbacking greats Tony Romo, Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, as well as a guitar signed by the Black Eyed Peas.
Log on to www.32auctions.com/uhsunites and click view an auction to have a chance to bid on any of these items. Auction ID is- uhsunites and the password to bid is- unite
To view or order photos from the game or URA halftime click on the following link-
http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=159&user_id=63742&action=viewalbum&event=1055573
West Chester Rustin 2 2 0 1 -5
Unionville 4 2 2 3 -11
West Chester Rustin scoring
Malloy goal
Theil,T assist
Muliawan goal, assist
Theil, P 2 goals, assist
Burke goal
Amunziolo goal, assist
Unionville scoring
Olsen 2 goals, assist
Apruzzese 2 goals
Piper 3 goals, assist
Kelly goals, 5 assists
Stewart goal
Johnson goal. assist
Springer goal
