AC: NorCal Pups Wins Warrior Boys Elite Division Title

By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor

SAN DIEGO -- There is another Emery kid coming up, and he spent the weekend demonstrating his skills at the 2010 Adrenaline Challenge.

St. Ignatius Prep freshman Matt Emery, the little brother of the West’s No. 1-ranked player, scored a game-high three goals to lead the sixth-seeded NorCal Pups to a 7-4 victory over fifth-seeded San Diego LaxDawgs Royal in the championship game of the Warrior Elite Division.

On a weekend in which big brother Rob Emery’s NorCal Fog City team failed to advance out of group play in the top-flight Adrenaline Elite Division, the Pups (5-1) showed their play was a lot fiercer than their nickname. After losing its first game Saturday morning, the Northern California-based team came back to win five straight.

“I think it really shows well on our character,” Emery said. “It shows we have a lot of heart, because we’re freshmen and sophomores playing against kids who are on varsity.”

Emery had plenty of help. Sophomore middie Patrick Worstell registered a co-game-high three points on two goals and an assist. Worstell gave the LaxDawgs’ defense fits with his wicked rips, one of which caromed about 15 yards off the crossbar.

Sophomore middie Michael Tagliaferri added a pair of goals, and sophomore middie Kevin Kuptz had an assist for NorCal.

In defeat, junior attackman Jacob Lujan scored twice, and freshman attackman Jack Perkins and junior attackman Warren Brody each had a goal for San Diego (4-2), which was one of two LaxDawgs teams to advance to their flight’s championship game, only to lose in the end. LaxDawgs Royal is the No. 2 team in the LaxDawgs system, and the Warrior Elite Division was the tournament’s Division II flight.

NorCal outshot San Diego, 27-16, but it was the Pups disciplined play that allowed them to take control. NorCal didn’t take any penalties, whereas the LaxDawgs were penalized six times. Two of Emery’s goals came on man-up situations.

San Diego led 2-1 after Lujan scored with 14 minutes to play in the first half, but the Pups answered with a three-goal run that included Emery’s two man-up goals.

NorCal led 4-3 at halftime before Tagliaferre and Emery scored back-to-back goals in the opening three minutes of the second half. Lujan pulled one back to bring the LaxDawgs within 6-4 with 20 minutes to play, but Worstell answered four minutes later, and the teams played a scoreless final 16 minutes.

“I could not be prouder of these guys,” NorCal coach Peter Worstell said. “As a fragmented group from all over Northern California, they had one practice under their belts, came down here, got the kinks out after the first game and got better every game after that.”