Los Angeles, CA — The Occidental Tigers followed their Saturday morning against Cal Lutheran with a fun game against alumni. Kellen Radtkey won the sprint and scored the first goal of the game. Shortly after, Keegan McNamera '98 pushed the ball past to earn the first point for the alumni.
Everyone present for the game particularly enjoyed watching Daniel Cruz face off and score against his own head coach, Jack Stabenfeldt '14, bringing the score to 2-1.
In the second period, although Radtkey won the sprint again for varsity, Nico Lipari '20 found the net first. Wilson Noll and Shea Grosz each picked up a goal, bringing varsity to 4-2. Head coach Stabenfeldt showed he still had some moves and scored with a sneaky spin lob. McNamara continued the alumni charge, getting past the defense and goalie to tie things up at 4 all. The alumni goalie, Adam Florsheim '17, had a sequence of nice saves and blocked the lob shot by Grosz to end the half.
In a fun twist, varsity started the second half with all of their goalies playing in the field. Taking over for the varsity cage was none other than Keegan Klein. Henry Grady turned on the jets and won the sprint. Grady was also the first one to score in the second half when he found his way to the center and was able to punch a goal past the keeper, with the assist going to James Derrod. In what may have been the start of the alumni comeback, Christian Erwin '14 was able to get around the defense and score. Varsity changed strategy and put goalkeeper Daniel Cassel in the cage to help counter the building alumni offense.
Brian Murphy '73 gave the alumni the first lead of the game when he scored two consecutive goals. Falling behind for the first time, varsity readjusted their field to see if they could regain control. A penalty was called in the alumni favor, however goalkeeper Brandon Yeh was able to block the shot. Lipari and Stabenfeldt each scored, giving the alumni a sizable lead, 9-5. Grosz tried to reduce the deficit, scoring one, but the second attack was blocked by alumni goalie Josh Needleman '16. Luke Boyer '20 brought the ball down the pool and scored. To end the period, Needleman was able to score from the cage as varsity had pulled all of their players to be seven on six.
In the final period, Jack Sinclair '15 won the sprint. Nate Fisher was the first to score, but the alumni quickly responded with a goal of their own by Elisha Havens '21. Jasper Lee, taking a break from temporary coaching duty, got in the pool and scored the last varsity goal. Matt Munet '17 had a nice steal. Murphy took charge and found the net for the third time, scoring the final goal of the game for the alumni, 13-8. In the final minutes, Misha Grigoriev '06 had three saves to put an end to varsity's final push.
The alumni were led by Brian Murphy, class of 1973, who scored three goals.
Post-game, both teams met at the end of the pool for a team cheer ending the day on a high note. Occidental College would like to thank all the alumni that came out.
Alumni Roster:
1 Adam Florsheim 2017
1A Josh Needleman 2016
1B Misha Grigoriev 2006
2 Alex Zim 2019
3 Luke Boyer 2020
4 Scott Shannon 2006
5 Matt Munet 2017
6 Nico Lipari 2020
7 Christian Erwin 2014
8 Abi Garcia 2009
9 Brian Murphy 1973
10 Jack Stabenfeldt 2014
11 Keean Forgeson 2006
12 Alex Marlott (2021) Recent grads
13 Eliajah Havens (2021) Recent grads
14 Josh Moser 2006
15 Keegan McNamara 1998
16 Jack Sinclair 2015
17 Dan Reeves 1998
