Senior Maceo Glenn racked up a half-dozen goals to lead Millikan to a 10-5 win over Long Beach Poly on a frigid Monday night at Cabrillo High. Glenn scored a hat trick in the first quarter and added a pair of nifty back-handed goals in the fourth quarter to single-handedly outscore the Jackrabbits.
Glenn said he made some adjustments after the first meeting with Poly–a game the Jackrabbits won in overtime after an impressive comeback. Glenn said he played wider and got his elbows lower in the water in this game, and he said benefited from teammates like Zack Jamali who helped split the Jackrabbits defense and give him more room to operate.
For a senior who wasn’t sure he’d have the chance to play again, Glenn was grateful for the chance to make a lasting memory in one of his final games for Millikan.
“I just wanted to go into it doing the best I could,” said Glenn, who admitted he hadn’t scored that many goals in a competitive game before. “It feels really good to walk out on a high note. That’s a good one to go out on, and I didn’t even think I would get it.”
Glenn converted on his first four shot attempts and ended up leading the team with six shots on the night. Max Miller added a hat trick for Millikan and Jamali chipped in a goal as well. Goalie Kai Goeku was terrific in the cage, racking up 13 saves on the night.
“I think they played great. They showed up to play today and were actually ready to roll,” said Millikan head coach Dane Smith of his team’s performance. “The first meeting with Poly was the first game we’d played in a year, so we were a little rusty and I think it was a wakeup call for the boys. It’s a senior-heavy group and they wanted to play hard against Poly and come out with a win, so I’m pleased.”
Reece Hammond netted a hat trick for the Jackrabbits, converting twice from five meters in the game. Colin Soohoo and Beau Wade each added a goal for Poly, who weren’t outplayed by as much as the final score would indicate. The Jackrabbits held a 29-25 edge in shots and had a 6-4 edge in man-up opportunities. However, they were only able to convert one of those advantages into a goal while Millikan scored on half of their four man-up chances.
“Millikan had the added fuel of that overtime loss, and they came out pushing hard,” said Poly head coach Ish Pluton. “They made some adjustments from the first game and played really well, but I thought we played even harder than we did in the last game. So I’m stoked on how we competed, even though the result wasn’t great.”
Poly will return to the Cabrillo pool on Wednesday to face Wilson at 8:15 p.m. while Millikan will square off against the Bruins on Friday at 8:30 p.m. as both teams close out their Moore League schedules.
