Despite a drop of about 40 degrees in a few hours and 20 plus MPH winds, Coppell JV Boys opened up their 2019 season on Tuesday night against McKinney JV. It was the first official Texas high school action for almost half of the roster, so there were some nerves as expected, but the Cowboys outplayed McKinney on ground balls by an almost 2-to-1 ration in the game, and Sophomore Treat Judlin won 70% of his face offs for Coppell, which gave them a significant advantage in time of possession.

Sophomore midfielder Andrew Sullivan led the offense, getting involved in 4 of Coppell’s 6 goals scored on the night, including 2 goals and 2 assists. Freshman midfielder Brandon Point scored the opening goal of the night on a feed from Freshman Jack McAdams, who then scored his own goal a few minutes later on a pass from Sullivan. Coppell added goals from Sophomores Aiden Strickland and Jacob Dashner to take a 4-2 lead into halftime.

The second half was more of a grind-it-out effort, as the physical play picked up a bit with several big hits and a few dust ups of competitive spirit. The Coppell attackmen were busy forcing turnovers and cleaning up lots of loose offensive possessions on the night, with McAdams grabbing a game-high 9 groundballs and Strickland picking up 5 more for Coppell. This allowed the Cowboys to keep the ball away from McKinney for most of the second half, and Coppell’s only scores in the half coming on two goals by Sullivan.

The Coppell defense was stingy and aggressive all night, limiting the number of quality shots on goal by the McKinney offense, which missed cage nine times, and Goalie Matt Dean stopped another three shots, holding them to just three goals in the game. Junior Davis Dodd was a steadying presence for the Cowboys, grabbing 3 groundballs and forcing 3 turnovers. Junior defenseman Ryan O’Toole added 3 groundballs and 2 forced turnovers along with midfielder Harrison Hook grabbing 4 ground balls and forcing 1 turnover. Coppell was able to run out the clock and come away with the 6-3 win.

The next action for the Coppell JV Boys will come next Tuesday when they face Allen JV at Lesley field in Coppell. Please come out and support the boys in their season home opener at 6 PM on 2/19.