With just four goals separating them from their opponents in their last three wins, including a game winner with just eight seconds left to knock out defending state champions St. Marks, the Dragon offense exploded in a game that was settled early in the second half. The Dragons erupted for 10 first-half goals to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.
A positive sign came early in the game when Goalie Luke Millican, exploiting the soft middle of Anderson’s transition defense, sprinted downfield to earn an assist from his pass to Senior Attackman Bryce Wasserman, who immediately shuttled it forward to younger brother Casey for the opening tally.
By the end of the first quarter, Bryce Wasserman had two goals of his own and Connor Harryman, the team’s face-off leader, converted his own face off win into a breakaway goal and the Dragons had a 4-1 lead.
After another Harryman face off win and breakaway goal delighted the pro-Dragon Stadium crowd, Anderson’s Ben Rinke scored to make it 5-2. Bryce Wasserman answered to give the Dragons a 6-2 lead. Chris Oliver got Anderson to within 6-3 and that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the afternoon.
The Dragons took advantage of an Anderson penalty as Casey Wasserman scored his second for a 7-3 lead. He followed this up with an assist on Bryce’s goal. Senior Scott Dickey then added his name to the scoring sheet with a goal, and then with a keen sense of timing, netted his second for the 10-3 half time lead.
Second half goals were tallied by Michael Cox along with another pair of goals for Dickey to end the third period at 14-3. Bryce Wasserman found Harryman again to extend the lead to 15-3.
The cushion provided Dragon Head Coach Bart Sullivan with the ability to spread minutes among his entire team, providing several underclassmen with their first taste of varsity experience in the 15-8 win. More importantly, it gave him the ability to save his starters for their rematch against The Woodlands on Sunday.
The Woodlands enter the state quarterfinal match with a 10 game win streak, including a 16-11 win against Southlake on March 22. Since this game, the Dragons have played much more consistently with seven victories and only two regular season losses to No. 1 ESD and No. 4 St. Marks. The Dragons have momentum with three wins in the last eight days. The Woodlands has not played a game since April 17.
The Dragons have been tested and strengthened by playing in the tough Northern Division. In fact, the Dragons have faced a tougher strength of schedule than 81 of the 83 Division I and Division II teams in the state. This has given then some close games and they have learned to maintain their composure and keep battling until the end. They will need this if they hope to keep their win streak alive and secure one of the four spots in the State Semifinals game next week at Friendswood High School in Houston.
The Dragon team includes Attackmen Ryan Juraidini, Carson Green, Holt Stairs. Midfielders are Cooper Green, A.J. Van den Dyssel, Alex Barnes, Brennan Mollere, Taylor Iniguez, Zach Bach and Long Stick Midfielder Nick Donfris. Goalies are Eryk Ross and Josh Sommerhalder. Other Defenseman are Justin Pearce, Michael Tsay, Jesse Havener, George Elmquist and Victor Simpson.
The Dragon Coaching staff also includes Asst. Head Coach Mark Lynch, Nick Bumpass and Delano Carniero.