Feb. 27, 2018

Alumni 13 Los Angeles Athletic Club 8

Danville, CA - February 27 - Week 1 of the 2018 National League is in the books and Alumni WPC is in the middle of the standings at 1-1 with a win over LAAC and a loss against USA University at San Ramon Valley HS.

The first match of the weekend against LAAC welcomed Alumni  WPC newcomers Zacchary Kappos (LBSU), Christopher Vang (EUR), Devon Thumwood (UOP), Spencer Galli (UCD), and Vlad Kazanskiy (SJSU). Although not a newcomer to Alumni's organization, head coach, Robert Lynn (USA) made his Alumni WPC debut as a player/coach (scoring his first goal in game 1). 

This first game of the 2018 season was about finding the right match-ups in the pool for Alumni. Mixing newcomers with veteran players is always tough as strengths and weaknesses have yet to be learned. However, as the game progressed, one could see the team beginning to gel as players communicated and played well together. 

As to be expected in early season play, scoring was sporadic and dominated by veteran players.  Greg Enloe, scored 4 goals on 4 shots, while Nikola Vavic added a hat trick of his own.  Andrew Reego added to the veteran scoring trio by adding 3 more goals, while new addition,  Z. Kappos found the net twice in his debut match. Olympian player/coach Robert Lynn finished off Alumni's scoring with a goal on 2 shots.

Olympian, Chay Lapin played well in the cage, racking up his first 8 saves of the season.  

USA University 12 Alumni 4

A game which Alumni wishes it could have a "do-over", ended with a score that didn't reflect the true essence of the game. 

This match was hard fought in the first half, with Sean Grab(1), Nikola Vavic (3), and Andrew Reego (1), scoring for Alumni, keeping the score tied 4-4 with :25 seconds to go in the first half. 

The second half of play was dominated by a strong USA University sqad, holding Alumni to just one more goal (N. Vavic). USA proved to be a team in great shape, dominating the counter attack with quick transitions which Alumni had no answer for.  Goalkeeper, Chay Lapin, tallied 6 saves for the game.