Location: Killarney, Ireland
Date: August 17, 2011
Time: 12:30 AM

We love the city of Killarney; with its fantastic geographical landscapes and pretty Irish gals there really isn’t much to complain about.  The day started off with a tour around the ring of Kerry, a beautiful sightseeing drive around the Ivergah Peninsula in Southern Ireland. The team was treated to breathtaking views with lush fields, giant mountain ranges, and the Irish Sea all contributing to the flabbergasted expressions that could be found on more than one person.  While taking a quick pit stop, we decided to climb the side of what these two bloggers consider to be a mountain.  With its huge steeping elevation, every forward step saw danger for the team and worry for Coach Z.  Upon reaching the top of the mountain, Oliver Carelton [(Ollie) Sydney, Australia] told us stories about some of his climbing trips in his own outback. With a beautiful view and great stories we were not only captivated but also mesmerized at the same time.

As they say, what goes up must come down and sure enough we had to hike back down. No climb is any fun without some tumbles and slides and let me tell you, we had our fair share. Assistant Coach Christopher Murphy, along with rising juniors Alex Greven and Nash Oh, all found themselves on their backsides at one point or another.  As much fun as the climb proved to be we did not come all the way to Ireland to scale mountains and so we boarded the bus an began the drive back to the hotel for pregame preparations.  Its game time!

Location: Killarney, Ireland
Date: August 17, 2011
Time: 10:27 PM

Team morale is at fever pitch. We just finished our fourth and final game of our International tour playing in front of another sold out crowd against the St. Mary’s All-stars. The game started with a bang as the Eagles jumped out to a big first quarter lead. The lead slowly increased into the second quarter courtesy of stifling defense and lights-out three point shooting. Momentum would take a small hit when rising junior Michael Friedberg found himself once again in a wrestling match on the low post.  Another incidental elbow found its way to his chin resulting in the removal of one of his three stitches obtained in an earlier game.  Not one to back down from a fight, Friedberg was quickly back in the game, posting up and scoring at will. The team was able to snatch 21 steals from St. Mary’s converting nearly everyone into a run-out basket. Among the many great plays of the night one soars high above the rest.  Catching the ball on the left wing, just outside the three-point line, rising junior Ryan Peters pump-faked his defender and drove baseline. Half a second later, Peters was in the air gliding to the hoop and soon thereafter finishing with an emphatic slam-dunk! When the final horn sounded the Eagles were the victors of an easy 98-46 dismantling of the All-stars.