Exeter 11  Kimball Union 8
Wed, 5/5, Exeter - Exeter pushed its record to 11-2 with an 11-8 hard fought victory of a very physical and athletic Kimball Union Academy team. Exeter played a great first quarter and looked like they were going to blow the game wide open after racing to a convincing 5-1 lead while dominating all aspects of play. Leading the way was game ball winner Tom Petty who scored an amazing six goals and dished out three assists in one of his best career performances. Since face-off man extraordinaire Bobby Goulding was not 100%, long pole Gus Davidson took almost all of the face-offs and was critical in helping Exeter maintain possession and momentum throughout the quarter and the entire game. Also crucial in Exeter controlling was the gound ball and defensive work of Chris Mottau and Kirk Bansak. Kimball Union was clearly pumped for this game, and they came out aggressively and physically. Some of this backfired as their aggressiveness led to three first quarter man-up opportunities, and Exeter cashed in on two of them. In addition to Tom scoring three first quarter goals, he assisted on the other two goals to Bobby Goulding and Eric Horan respectively. As has been the case in several other games this season, Exeter did not put the opponent away when they had the opportunity. Instead, we made some mistakes to allow KUA to score four 2nd quarter goals and to get back into the game. Exeter scored three 2nd quarter goals by Eric Horan, Tom Petty, and Sloan Smith, and thus took an 8-5 lead at the half. The 3rd quarter was very physical as both teams went up and down the field with a sense that the next goal was very important. Despite applying a lot of offensive pressure to the opponent, KUA had changed goalies at the half, and the new keeper made several key 3rd quarter saves to prevent Exeter from breaking the game open. When KUA scored the only goal of the period for either team on a fast break with only 19 seconds left in the quarter, the momentum clearly shifted. Although KUA was not able to generate much offense versus Exeter's settled defense, they were hustling, grubbing for loose balls, and opportunistic. Their final two goals were off of loose ball scrambles in the Exeter offensive zone, and they were able to get as close as a 9-8 margin before Exeter pulled away for good. Tim Redmond scored off of a beautiful assist from Sloan Smith, Eric Horan fed Tom Petty for a nifty backhander, and Tom and Eric teamed up for the eleventh and final score as well. The close defense of Dylan Cox, Tom Rubel, Alex Zani, an Jon Reed played very well most of game, but Exeter must become more consistent and less careless with the ball as they face some of their toughest competition down the stretch. Click here to see game pics.

Team	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	Game Total
Exeter	5	3	0	3	11
Kimball Union	1	4	1	2	8

Game Ball Winner(s) - Tom Petty

Game Scoring - Goals - Petty(6),Horan(2), Smith, Goulding, Redmond

                           Assists - Petty(3), Smith(2), Horan(2), Redmond(2)

Saves/Shots on Goal - Rodier 9/17