April 24 , 2008 - UA AT THOMAS FRIDAY NIGHT

The Upper Arlington Golden Bear lacrosse team hopes to bounce back Friday night at 7:30 when they renew the oldest high school lacrosse rivalry in the state at Thomas Worthington. This series is now 35 years old.

"I'm sure they (Thomas Worthington) cracked open the newspaper and couldn't believe it," said UA Head coach Ted Wolford, referring to the Bears 8-5 loss to Dublin Scioto Wednesday night on the road. "I'm sure they feel after our loss that they can get something going," added Wolford. "It's a big game because we are still in the hunt for the 'A' bracket at
the Midwest tournament. Thomas is in our region and an OCC opponent."

After a season-opening loss to Moeller, Thomas Worthington has won 7 of its last 9 and comes off a 10-4 win at Dublin Coffman Wednesday night. The Cardinals lost to nationally ranked Brother Rice, 9-5, on theirown two-game road trip to the state up north.

The 6-2 Golden Bears roll up State Route 315 on the heels of a disappointing effort against Scioto, the first team to shutout the Bears in a quarter this season.

"For the most part we were concerned about our team coming off the weekend against Brother Rice and how that loss might affect us, " Wolford said. "Our guys were less than mentally prepared to play."

A 4-4 game went Scioto's way in the third quarter with two goals and the Irish goalie making what Wolford called, "some amazing saves." The Scioto keeper finished with 15 saves. The Bears, who dropped to 21st in the Inside Lacrosse/STX rankings prior to their matchup with the Irish, began to doubt themselves. "Our shot selection was less than desired though we were still getting good looks," said Wolford. "We dominated faceoffs and ground balls. We had no
difficulty riding or clearing but we had way too many dropped balls and bad passes."