Northern California College Hurling Championship starts Saturday

[Eamonnca1]

2010/2011 Northern California College Hurling Championship starts on Saturday. Stanford University v UC Davis at 1pm, Páirc na nGael, Treasure Island.

This is the third year of this championship, Stanford and UC Berkeley (Cal) have won the Gary Duffin Cup once each.  Saturday's game will be the first competitive outing for the UC Davis team that was just founded last year.

[gallsman]

2010/2011 Northern California College Hurling Championship starts on Saturday. Stanford University v UC Davis at 1pm, Páirc na nGael, Treasure Island.

This is the third year of this championship, Stanford and UC Berkeley (Cal) have won the Gary Duffin Cup once each.  Saturday's game will be the first competitive outing for the UC Davis team that was just founded last year.

Saw a few things about this on YouTube over the last year. Best of luck to you.

[Eamonnca1]

Difficult Start for Davis

Stanford 7-14 (35) Davis 0-4 (4)

Davis began their difficult journey on the learning curve of collegiate hurling with today's season opener on Treasure Island.  Playing against the wind in the first half, it took them ten minutes longer than Stanford to register a score.

While Davis had James Daly and Mitch Hennessey and their experience of playing with the San Francisco Rovers club to give them an edge, Stanford were able to dominate all over the field, particularly with Colin Roach, Sam Svoboda and Roscoe Wetlaufer showing a lot of confidence on the ball. Stanford goalkeeper Ben Arevalo made it very difficult for Davis to finish off anything that they could get into close range.

These teams will meet again on January 29th. Davis now know where the standard is. Stanford go to the top of the table.

	P	W	L	SF	SA	SD	Pts
Stanford	1	1	0	35	4	31	2
Davis	1	0	1	4	35	-31	0
Cal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

[gallsman]

Sam Svoboda is the lad I saw on the YouTube clips. He seemed absolutely fascinated by the sport. Great to see.

[imtommygunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngT99oihLNo

Had a quick look on youtube as I was interested to see the standard.

Fair play - sounds like a good crowd there too. Seems somewhat surreal seeing a hurling match in what looks like baking heat with a load of yanks shouting mind!

[Eamonnca1]

Another lop-sided game on Saturday between Stanford and Davis. It'll take Davis another few games to get the hang of hurling, but this competition is sharpening their focus and they're working hard on it.

Updated standings:

	P	W	L	SF	SA	SD	Pts
Stanford	2	2	0	75	8	67	4
Davis	2	0	2	8	75	-67	0
Cal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Next game: Cal v Davis on Feb 5th at 3pm.

[Eamonnca1]

Bit of an improvement today by Davis against Cal in Cal's first game of the season.  Still a bit one-sided in the scores though, Cal had more players and could bring in subs, whereas Davis had the bare minimum for this 11-a-side game.  11-18 to 1-4 was the final score.  Don't be fooled by that though, Davis had a great goalkeeper who stopped many more goals going in.

	P	W	L	D	SF	SA	SD	Pts
Stanford	2	2	0	0	75	8	67	4
Cal	1	1	0	0	51	7	44	2
Davis	3	0	3	0	15	126	-111	0

Next game: Cal v Stanford, Feb 19th at 3pm Pacific time.

[Eamonnca1]

Stanford's Robust Fight Not Enough to Stop Cal

Northern California College Hurling Championship

Cal 4-15 (27) Stanford 1-10 (13)

This much anticipated clash between California's big two names in college hurling did not disappoint the large crowd who showed up to watch at Páirc na nGael on Saturday.  The crowd happened to include former Tipperary hurling manager Liam Sheedy and former Tipp full back Declan Fanning who were in San Francisco for a function hosted by the Naomh Padriag Hurling Club and Clan na Gael Ladies Gaelic Football Club.

In a much more balanced affair than has been seen so far this year against the newcomers at Davis, these two teams were very evenly matched as they fought hard all the way to the interval where Cal led ever so slightly by 2-7 (13) to 1-8 (11).  Cal stretched their lead into the second half but did not have an easy time doing so as Stanford's Roscoe Wetlaufer and Sam Svoboda kept on top of things in the middle of the field and punished every slight mistake that their opponents made.

Limerick native and Berkeley graduate student Liam Reidy acted as sweeper for Cal and cleared up anything that crept too close to the Cal goals, with Connor Fitzgerald in mid-field and Zach Streng up front providing an added backbone to the team.

Cal's strength in numbers became more apparent as the second half progressed since they were able to bring on more fresh pairs of legs to keep the frantic pace going.

The winner of this championship is to be determined by who wins the next game between Cal and Stanford on Sunday March 6th at 2pm.  If Cal win, they take the Gary Duffin cup.  If Stanford win, it has to be by more than the 14 point lead that Cal has over them since ties are settled by the scoring difference between the top two teams.  That game will be at Stanford's intra mural fields at El Camino Real opposite Churchill Ave. weather permitting. Stay tuned for updates.

	P	W	L	D	SF	SA	SD	Pts
Cal	2	2	0	0	27	13	14	4
Stanford	3	2	1	0	13	27	-14	4
Davis	3	0	3	0	-	-	-	0

Format: Double round robin, any tie settled by scoring difference between top two teams.

[Eamonnca1]

Sunday's cancelled game between Cal and Stanford has been rescheduled for Sunday March 13th at 2pm at Stanford. The Cal v Davis game originally set for March 12th will be played at a later date, most likely on the Davis campus.

[Eamonnca1]

Score from yesterday's game at Stanford, Cal 10-6 Stanford 5-13. Comprehensive win for the Berkeley boys, although Stanford didn't go down without a fight. Some soft looking goals made a big difference, just shows you what a difference a slightly uneven surface makes in the goalmouth. Good high standard throughout, a lot of players blossoming and eager to keep on playing after they finish with college. Cal take the Gary Duffin cup and the first ever two-in-a-row in US college hurling.

There's still a 'dead rubber' game to go between Cal and Davis, date to be confirmed and the venue will likely be Davis.

[Eamonnca1]

Standings after Sunday's game:

	P	W	L	D	Pts
Cal	3	3	0	0	6
Stanford	4	2	2	0	4
Davis	3	0	3	0	0