Submitted by Langley Lacrosse
(April 6, 2010)
Langley resumed its 2010 Liberty District boys lacrosse campaign with a narrow 13-11 home victory over district rival Stone Bridge this past Tuesday evening. Bulldog attack brothers Dylan and Derek Maltz combined for an impressive eight goals — five for freshman Dylan, three for Syracuse-bound senior Derek — but the Saxons, boosted by a hat-trick from senior middie Joey Byrne, were the ones crossing the finish line just noses ahead.
While Stone Bridge (2-1 overall, 1-1 in Liberty District) enjoyed a one-goal lead with less than a minute left in the third quarter — and was on level terms nearly halfway through the final period — the Bulldogs were unable to suppress a late uprising that nudged Langley (4-1 overall, 2-0 in Liberty District) in front when it mattered.
The see-saw battle featured three lead changes and a scoring margin no greater than two goals for all but 80 seconds of game time, much of that coming very late and only then bringing sense of closure to the drawn-out but entertaining duel. A final tally in the dying moments rattled the winners one last time, and perhaps offered the defeated some further consolation that no other opponent had reaped more than 10 goals in any game against the Saxons at Langley since W.T. Woodson prevailed with 11 in April 2005.
Middies A. J. Arth, Matthew Vincent and James Wells had one each for Stone Bridge to go with the Maltzes’ eight for the night. Eight Saxons in all got name and number in the score book — in addition to Byrne, attackers Sean Ahearn, Ethan Bailey and Jack Lundeen netted two each, and attacker Mikey Adams, middies Ryan Miller and Luke Salzer, and defender Thomas Robinson supplied single goals.
Ryan Long and Andrew Spivey again shared goal-line duties and logged four saves each for the home team, while sophomore goalie Jesse Southward provided cover on the opposite end earning a total of 13 saves.
The Bulldogs traveled to Langley with hopes of burnishing their credentials as legitimate district and region contenders capable of unnerving, if not upending, the likes of last year’s state champions. Although on this day the Saxons had the measure of their visitors from Ashburn, the margin of quality was far more razor-thin than past performances would suggest, and a very lively Stone Bridge squad gave good reason to believe its lacrosse aspirations might just be within reach when the season progresses to the knockout phase in May.
The Bulldogs came knocking from the start, storming to a two-goal lead with a pair of early first-quarter strikes from Arth and the younger Maltz. The Stone Bridge junior opened the scoring about four minutes into the contest with a shot from eight yards out off of an assist from junior attacker J. P. Giroux while Maltz doubled the lead a minute later snapping in from four yards.
A three-minute span shortly thereafter featured Langley engineering a vital course correction with a run of four goals and a 4-2 lead. Salzer ignited the comeback with a fine individual effort in front of goal, where the freshman maneuvered and rolled amidst defenders to create an opening for firing in past Southward. A flick-in by Saxon senior Miller, followed by a 12-yard volley by senior Robinson and Byrne’s first of the night from six yards out, staked Langley to its first two-goal lead of the game. Byrne came very close to getting the Saxons to five but his effort was saved well with some help from the goal frame as Southward parried the ball wide of target.
On this night the Bulldogs surely were in no mood for early retreat, and Wells pulled one back out of a nice sequence from the sideline near midfield. Quick passing between Vincent and Giroux then to a wide-open Wells allowed the Stone Bridge senior ample space to negotiate good position for finishing neatly into the lower left side of Long’s net.
The teams alternated a pair of goals each, including unassisted scores by the Maltz brothers replying to Byrne’s second of the night and Ahearn scoring his first off an assist from Lundeen deep into the second quarter. Bailey meanwhile saw the goalpost twice deny close-range cracks at goal he unleashed in quick succession just before Ahearn struck.
Byrne and Lundeen kept Southward busy yet again, forcing the Stone Bridge keeper into repeated blocks with about a minute left in the half, that is until Lundeen slipped one past to forge a 7-5 score-line for the half time intermission.
Langley came into second half play looking the hungrier, and Southward had to be alert to deflect early on-target efforts from Ahearn and Byrne. The deserved reward for stout cage work was another goal at the other end, this unassisted by the senior Maltz, who shrugged off the close attention of Saxon defender Brendan Dwyer to muscle in a shot over the shoulder of goalie Spivey, who had come in to replace Long for second-half net duties.
Byrne then completed his hat-trick on a terrific unassisted effort, running the Bulldog defensive gauntlet and lobbing in while taking a fall from a frantic defender’s hard check.
An undaunted Stone Bridge squad responded with three straight and regained the lead with about two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Dylan Maltz blazed one in from six yards, then received a crisp pass from Wells while cutting in to finish from about five yards out for a second goal about a minute later. Vincent delivered his own for the night, with an assist from senior Colin Moran, to put the Bulldogs on top again at 9-8.
Langley came back one more time with a couple, and the 10-9 lead, before the close of the third period. Bailey dodged in to score from three yards out with only 24 seconds remaining in the quarter. The Saxons then were awarded a man advantage out of the ensuing face-off when, after a foul call against the Stone Bridge face-off middie, the referee ruled delay of game for the middie tossing the ball away from the infraction spot. Adams converted the extra man opportunity shooting in from four yards with only five seconds left in the quarter.
The Bulldogs grabbed a startling equalizer very early in the fourth quarter. The fifth for the younger Maltz was end product of a fierce fast-break counterattack after Southward smartly stopped a pair of Langley scoring bids on the other end just after the face-off. Wells generated a superb clearing effort then fed Maltz, who lashed in with barely a minute gone to set the encounter on a finely-poised course for the remainder.
Under renewed attack, Spivey managed a timely intercept of a menacing Stone Bridge crossing pass intended for a wide-open Bulldog attacker. At other end, Lundeen had his promising shot deflect then ping around the goal mouth everywhere but into the net about 30 seconds later.
Bailey restored the Saxon lead, this time for good, at the midway point of the final quarter, using a slight jump to sling in over the goalie’s right side. Moments later Bailey had his blast blocked, this just before Lundeen deposited an eight-yarder into the lower right of Southward’s goal to get Langley up by two again.
Both sides mounted threatening attacks as the outcome still remained in doubt going into the late stages. Spivey produced a fine reaction save on a point-blank attempt with little more than four minutes to go, and Lundeen hit the goal frame a couple minutes later. Play in unsettled situations grew more physical, with Vincent getting the worse of heavy traffic when the Stone Bridge sophomore was knocked heavily to the ground while embarking on a brave move into attack at midfield against several hostile Saxons. The nicked middie was able to walk off shortly after the referee whistled for injury time out.
It was not until Ahearn supplied his second goal of the evening with little more than a minute remaining — passes from middie Jack Curry to Bailey, then on to Ahearn, created the chance — that Langley had the win in clear sight. Derek Maltz completed his own hat-trick with only 18 seconds left to wrap up matters in a boisterous contest that left the industrious Bulldogs short by only two.
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