Submitted by Langley Lacrosse
March 31, 2010 — Langley attackman Jack Lundeen delivered a hat-trick to help power his Saxons to an 11-5 victory over Herndon this past Wednesday to wrap up West Springfield High School Invitational Boys Lacrosse Tournament play for both teams. The win for Langley, 2-1 for the tournament, provided the Saxons some welcome bounce-back after an 8-7 overtime loss to the Loudoun Valley Vikings the night before.
The Hornets of Herndon ended the spring break tourney at 1-2, having dropped a pair following a spirited opening day win over St. Albans (2-1 at the tournament). Hosts West Springfield Spartans earned event top honors, going undefeated in three games, including an enthralling overtime clash with Loudoun Valley on Wednesday night to close out the three-day competition.
In addition to Lundeen’s hat-trick, Langley got two goals a piece from attacker Sean Ahearn and middie Ryan Miller, while middies Joey Byrne and Jack Curry, and attackers Ethan Bailey and Jack Sandusky, furnished single goals of their own. For their part, the Hornets saw attacker Billy Kelly contribute a pair, and middies Daniel Bentley, Ben Mank and Daniel Shull supply one each in the losing cause.
Junior Ryan Long and sophomore Andrew Spivey shared net-minding duties for the Saxons, making six and four saves, respectively. Herndon senior Ryan Swisher and junior Michael Comiskey similarly split goalkeeper work by halves and were credited with a combined total of 11 saves.
An eight-goal run for Langley through the gut of the contest comfortably offset fairly balanced play for the first 13 minutes, then the final eight minutes, of game time to give the Saxons the winner’s edge for the evening’s efforts.
Both sides started the game with patient, probing approaches to the contest, with the handful of goal-ward shots at each end in the early going not troubling either goalkeeper. But Langley drew first blood just past the midpoint of the opening period when Curry deposited past Swisher from long range. The Saxon senior, who enjoyed a productive night in the face-off circle, scampered from the half-line area to snap in an unassisted goal from more than 15 yards.
The Hornets crafted a swift reply, however, through a quite unexpected strike from Bentley a little more than a minute later. The Herndon senior launched from about 20 yards out what looked to be a harmless pass into the mix in front of goal that somehow eluded everyone, including Langley goalie Long, for a tying goal.
Herndon’s Swisher then was forced into fine saves of several Saxon scoring bids — from freshman middie Luke Salzer, then Bailey and Byrne — while Long had to be quick at the other end to deny a low drive toward net with only a couple seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Byrne restored Langley’s lead at the start of the second quarter with a left-hand shot from 10 yards, but the lead was short-lived as Herndon senior Shull got the second for his Hornets only 36 seconds later on a bounce shot from 10 yards out.
Lundeen then grabbed the first of his three for the evening only 22 seconds later, flicking in from just outside Swisher’s crease area from a sharp angle.This was the spark for a Langley scoring run to come, although warning signs of the brewing Saxon attack continued. Senior Robbie Bennett whistled one just over the net shortly after the ensuing face-off, followed by a similar Bailey effort less than two minutes later. Then a promising Byrne attempt was kept out by the goal frame.
Long did have to react quickly to block a Herndon scoring threat midway through the quarter. Lundeen then got his second less than a minute later, and Miller added the fifth for Langley with less than four minutes left in the half. Kelly posed a credible scoring threat for the Hornets as the half was winding down only to have his eight-yard shot clang off the frame with two seconds remaining.
Any thoughts that the Saxons might be tempted to coast in neutral for the remainder of the game were dispelled only 15 seconds after the second-half face-off whistle. Ahearn produced a calm finish from just outside the crease at the end of a crisp three-pass sequence that emerged when long-stick middie Bennett collected the ground ball out of the face-off scrum at midfield. The Langley senior promptly picked out Bailey, who passed back to the advancing Bennett. Another pass from Bennett this time went to the open Ahearn lurking near the Hornet’s goal area in great position to get his Saxons to six.
Bailey then had a shot of his own strike the goal pipe, but the Langley senior moments later found the way past Herndon substitute goalie Comiskey to up the score line to 7-2 less than four minutes into the second half.
With Hornet defenses under pressure from the Saxons the Herndon threat at the other end was becoming less frequent. The Hornet attack did force a fine block from Langley substitute goalie Spivey, who turned away a point-blank shot with about a minute left in the third quarter. Ahearn then added his second goal, off of an assisting pass from Bailey, with only six seconds remaining in the period.
Lundeen’s third followed by Miller’s second of the game were strikes from short range in quick succession shortly after the start of the fourth quarter, staking the Saxons to a 10-2 lead. Herndon’s attacking game came to life again with Kelly now surging on offense, although Spivey remained equal to the challenge with a neat block near the 8-minute mark of the last period. The mounting Hornet assault finally paid off when Mank slipped one by Spivey from six yards out with more than seven minutes remaining.
Spivey snared a 15-yard blast about three minutes later, but Kelly then zinged in a pair within a 12-second span to reduce the deficit to five goals. The first of the two scores came out of unsettled play in Herndon’s attack half with Kelly the quickest to retrieve the loose ball and fire in past Spivey. The Hornet senior then drilled in the second from 10-yards out just seconds out of the ensuing face-off.
Sandusky settled matters for good with little more than two minutes remaining in the game. The Langley junior provided the end product of a tidy passing sequence, from Bennett to Bailey then on to Sandusky at the doorstep for the game’s final goal.
Next up for Coach Earl Brewer’s Saxons — a Liberty District match-up at home against Stone Bridge on April 6. Herndon Coach Bill Will has his Hornets entertaining the Fairfax Rebels in an inter-district game on April 7.
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