Intramurals prep for championships: Floor Hockey

FLOOR HOCKEY

Throughout the entire season, the team to beat in floor hockey was Las Tortugas. The team, which consists of field hockey and soccer players, went undefeated, beating many of their opponents by large margins every week – until playoffs.

After receiving a night off for their first-round bye, Las Tortugas found themselves behind 3-0 in the first period of their semi-final match with the fifth-seed Atlantic Division United, whom they had defeated 7-2 earlier in the season.

In the second period, Atlantic continued to cruise past the Tortugas’ defense, scoring two more times. Las Tortugas managed to get their first goal of the night as the whistle blew for the end of the period, making the score 5-1. Both teams scored in the final frame, for an end score of 6-2.

“It was a big upset,” Assistant Intramural Director junior Michael Hofmeister said. “I didn’t think (Atlantic Division United) had a chance.”

Atlantic pushed hard in the first period and their speed seemed to be too much for Las Tortugas, especially that of junior David Slaght, who scored four of his team’s six goals.

“We’re on a winning streak right now,” Slaght said of his team. “We lost our first four games, but haven’t lost since.”

That winning streak will be tested by Stick2It, a team that has been to the championship game in the previous two years, but has yet to win the title.

Their semi-final match with last year’s champion, Case Closed, was very close throughout, with Stick2It up 2-1 going into the third period. They quickly knocked in two insurance goals and then played patient, disciplined defense until time ran out, winning 4-2.

“They’re the ones who beat us last year in the champion-ship game,” senior Leslie Messick of Stick2It said about Case Closed. “We knew that if we got up, we just had to play heavy defense.”

With many of their players graduating this spring, Stick2It hoped that their third shot at the championship would end with some intramural t-shirts.