4/17-4/19 Match Recaps
Greenwich Panthers vs Lake Erie Beacons
Lineups:
GRE: Mostafa Asal, Dimitri Steinmann, Greg Marche
LE: Tom Walsh, Ben Smith, David Baillargeon
Despite the large world ranking gap in the two lineups, this turned out to be an incredible match. Period 1 was neck-and-neck until Mostafa Asal stepped on court for Greenwich. He scored 13 points in six minutes and led Greenwich to a 22-15 victory in Period 1.
Period 2 was an NSL squash masterclass from the Beacons. Ben Smith’s four point power play built the lead, and Tom Walsh closed out the period with ten minutes of brilliant attritional squash. A late surge from Greg Marche was too little too late for the Panthers in the 2nd. Lake Erie won 19-18.
The match was all tied up headed into Period 3. Lake Erie once again played well…but Mostafa Asal was not to be denied. He played 21 minutes in Period 3, racking up 27 of his team’s 33 points. Greenwich ended up winning the match 3-1 after a 33-28 victory in the third period.
Louisvlle Colts vs Chicago Grizzlies
Lineups:
LOU: Leonel Cardenas, Sam Osbourne-Wilde, Perry Malik
CHI: Karim Gawad, Simon Herbert, Yassin Elshafei
Another exciting match. In Period 1, Chicago was behind the eight ball tactically. They were behind early, and used their power play on Yassin Elshafei rather than Karim Gawad, who only ended up playing five minutes in the 1st. On Louisville’s side, Sam Osbourne-Wilde took advantage of a cold Karim Gawad to the tune of a seven point power play. That built an insurmountable lead for Louisville, who won 24-15.
In Period 2, Gawad let the Grizzlies with a whopping 16 points in six minutes of play. Perry Malik countered with 21 points of his own for Louisville. But, the Grizzlies consistent performance from their supporting cast in Herbert and Elshafei put them over the edge in the 2nd 35-29.
Period 3 came down to the wire, and was much lower-scoring on a per-minute basis than the rest of the match. Gawad and Cardenas did the heavy lifting in this period, but statistically the standout player was Simon Herbert, who scored 11 points in seven minutes. That was good for 1.57 points per minute in the 3rd, which was far higher than any other player. Herbert’s minutes proved to be the edge Chicago needed to close out the match with a 28-25 Period 3 victory.
Seattle Freeze vs Lake Erie Beacons
Lineups:
SEA: Tinne Gilis, Laila Sedky, Asia Harris
LE: Alina Bushma, Keira Marshall, Karina Tyma
Tinne Gilis, take a bow. Gilis’ 73 points in 39 minutes of play carried the Freeze to a dominant 4-0 victory. In Period 1, Gillis built a double digit lead early. But, Keira Marshall went off for Lake Erie in the middle of the 1st, scoring 18 points in seven minutes, with the help of an eight point power play. The Freeze still ended up winning 36-30, but Marshall did everything she could for the Beacons.
Period 2 was pure domination from Tinne Gilis. She scored 22 points in seven minutes (more than a point every 20 seconds!). Keira Marshall played well once again, and Alina Bushma came alive in the 2nd, but Gilis was simply too dominant for Lake Erie to mount any sort of comeback.
The 3rd period started out close. Bushma kept the score remarkably close for the first few minutes, but wouldn’t you know it, Gilis controlled the game again. Both teams actually did quite well defending the power plays in the 3rd, as both teams only scored four total points off power plays. The defensive effort was highlighted by Keira Marshall not giving up a single point to Laila Sedky on a power play. But, Lake Erie not generating any advantage from power plays meant that Tinne Gilis could lead the Freeze to victory fairly comfortably.
