By Phil Murphy
Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
**Check below the story for a video player with dozens of highlights from Thursday’s game. Re-live the entire game in 14:43.**
Oakton defensive coordinator and goalkeeping coach Jon Weston has great confidence that middie Nick Stevens can shoot right-handed with lethal accuracy and power.
So does Langley.
The Saxon defenders rendered the junior ineffective for the first 47 minutes Thursday night by over-guarding his right side until — with the score tied — Stevens took Weston’s advice and tried going left.
He ripped a low shot past goalkeeper Galen Kuney with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter to lift Oakton to a 6-5 road win over Langley and push the Cougars into the Northern Region tournament semifinals.
“I had talked to him for a while and they had set him up that he was going right, going right and getting caught in the middle,” Weston said. “About the end of the third quarter, I said, ‘Look. Go left and make sure you don’t get caught. If you get caught, roll out and be more patient.’
“He got a little bit of a slot and he’s got a good enough shot to put it on-goal. I didn’t know if he had enough zip on his left hand – because he’s a righty, mostly – but he did.”
Added the ambidextrous Stevens: “Will [Harris] set me up perfectly up top. I was thinking about going right, but I saw the left just open up … I just heard the crowd roar and I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to jump; I didn’t know what to do. I just ran to the sideline.”
Although the Cougars held a 33-25 advantage in shots — out-shooting the Saxons (12-4) in every quarter but the fourth — any difference in momentum as the game progressed was indistinguishable. There was an obvious respect each team showed for its opposition’s defensive organization.
“I think we played 48 minutes of defense, that’s what their real strength is,” said Weston, a self-proclaimed defensive guy. “Our offense, we’re glad they got what they got. But our defense is our real strength … our strength worked out. They didn’t fluke into it.
“I want to play one more game, just like they do.”
After Oakton had been herded off the field, paced by the throngs of supporters who made the drive from Vienna, the team gathered at the bus entrance in Langley’s parking lot and held their hands in the shape of a ring, howling “O” exuberantly in unison.
It’s a celebration the Cougars (10-7) can enjoy for the moment, but a semifinal date with Patriot District champion Annandale (14-2) on Wednesday at South County stands between Oakton and the Northern Region finale.
“I’m really impressed with that team,” said Stevens, one of the few Cougars without a face caked in eye-black. “They seem to be playing really well and they have a lot of strong players. We just need to come out and play hard and hopefully get the win.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
**To see highlights from Oakton’s semifinal opponent, Annandale, against Robinson, click here.**
Oakton 2 2 1 1 — 6
Langley 0 2 1 2 — 5
GOALS
1st Quarter
OK — Wheatley (9:04)
OK — Leonard (5:36)
2nd Quarter
OK — Leonard (11:25)
LG — Masters (8:32)
LG — Goeke (4:40)
OK — McClellan (3:35)
3rd Quarter
LG — Ningard (4:33)
OK — Koster (2:19)
4th Quarter
LG — Bentz (11:05)
LG — Ningard (5:58)
OK — Stevens (1:19)
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