Submitted by Langley Lacrosse
April 19, 2010 — For the second year running the Langley Saxons powered past their McLean-area neighbors Potomac School Panthers in a match-up between the public and private school boys’ lacrosse squads. This season’s edition, an 8-3 victory for Langley this past Monday evening, was less uneven compared to last year’s decisive, 13-3 defeat the Panthers suffered during the Spring Break Invitational tournament at West Springfield.
The non-district, regular season affair unfolded a game of parallel halves. Home-side Langley got the first four goals in opening-half play and Potomac gamely responded with two just before half time. The Saxons then doubled their goal production with another four straight in the second half before Potomac answered with a single strike very late to set the final scoreline.
Six Saxons scored, with defender Thomas Robinson and middie Joey Byrne each chipping in with a pair while attackmen Sean Ahearn, Ethan Bailey and Jack Lundeen and middie Ryan Miller delivered one a piece. Single goals from middies A. D. Hoffman and David Freemyer — and one from attacker Andrew Lee — accounted for Panther goals.
Goalies were busy throughout, and each contributed stellar save-work that kept scoring in check for large parts of the game. Langley’s Ryan Long and Andrew Spivey split cage duties and were credited with six and eight saves, respectively, while Panther Connor Laughlin went the distance in net earning a total of 11 saves.
Offenses in the early going proved less than persuasive each way as both sides lacked a cutting edge in attack. The first four minutes were dominated by the Saxons but they had only a single shot on target — a Lundeen attempt easily parried by Laughlin — to show for their efforts. Even a one-minute man advantage for Langley during this stretch fell well short of anything resembling a credible scoring threat.
The first foray in attack for the visitors produced a Freemyer shot that clicked off the goalpost. The Potomac senior was then gifted lots of space to maneuver toward goalie Long about a minute later but the Saxon junior was sure with his block of the scoring attempt.
Senior defender Cas Semancik ventured into attack just past the half-way point of the opening quarter but the Langley long-pole saw his effort miss wide, followed shortly by freshman middie Luke Salzer rifling a shot past Laughlin’s cage. Panther Nick Shashy then was given too much space by the Saxon defense on the other end but the junior long-stick middie had his shot from 15 yards out saved well by Long.
Langley finally broke the deadlock when Bailey fired in from 12 yards with less than four minutes remaining in the opening period. The Saxons promptly doubled their lead from the ensuing face-off with Ahearn’s efficient finish at the doorstep of Laughlin’s goal. The sophomore’s strike was set up neatly by a precise pass from Bailey after the Langley senior received a crisp transition pass from Robinson, who had gained possession near midfield out of the face-off scrum.
The Saxons were poised for grabbing a third in the closing seconds of the first quarter but a probing crossing pass from Bailey was met with a timely interception by Potomac senior defender Tristan Dellar.
The Panthers were defending again at the very start of second-quarter play due to an illegal stick infringement giving a man advantage to Langley. The situation worsened for Potomac moments after the start with a technical off-side call that gave Langley a two-man advantage for 40 seconds. The Saxons needed only 20 seconds for Byrne to deliver a bounce shot from five yards out putting his side up by three.
Freemyer went back to work in attack but his promising shots either sailed wide or were blocked by Long. Byrne replied with a couple of scoring bids on the other end but the Langley senior got similar results. A 30-second man advantage for the Panthers provided junior attackman Zach Barsness an opening but his attempt was thwarted by a check block from Saxon junior Brendan Dwyer. Hoffman then shot wide of Long’s goal, followed by the Potomac senior’s passing attempt to set up another scoring chance for a Panther teammate but Dwyer again intervened with a timely block.
Langley struck yet again near the half-way point of the second stanza with the first of two goals from Robinson. The Saxon senior produced a mazy run through the Panther defense and shot in past Laughlin from 10 yards out to increase the Saxon lead to four.
Freemyer finally solved Long, after making a long run into a good shooting position from 12 yards out, to open the scoring for Potomac with about two minutes remaining in the opening half. The Panthers struck again a little over a minute later when, after a lengthy possession in attack engineered by Barsness, Freemyer, Hoffman, Lee, and junior middies Forrest Ackerman and Mikey Duffy, the junior Lee struck from eight yards out to reduce the Saxon lead to two.
Potomac’s Duffy unleashed a hopeful shot at target while falling down with only five seconds remaining in the half but this attempt was steered away by Long.
The Panthers came out the brighter side when play resumed after half time. Sophomore middie Matt Carney hit the post about a minute after the face-off and Hoffman’s 10-yard shot forced a good save from Spivey, who had replaced Long in net for Langley at the start of the second half. The Saxons were awarded a man advantage soon after but solid Potomac defending allowed nothing more than a deflected shot by Lundeen that merely trickled in toward goal for the easy save by Laughlin.
Langley continued to show intent for more goals but was hampered at this stage by sharp goaltending from Laughlin. A Bailey bid from five yards out was soon followed by a bounce shot from middie Jack Curry that was parried by the Potomac keeper, who then reacted well to snare a point-blank flick. Laughlin then saved a Robinson shot shortly before Ackerman managed a stick check that caused another strike attempt to dribble past the net.
Duffy generated a brief attack for the visitors just after the half-way point of the quarter but that was followed by Salzer’s low, hard shot on the other end that Laughlin managed to deflect narrowly wide of goal.
The Potomac netminder was unable, however, to keep Miller from netting a fifth for the Saxons with less than five minutes remaining in the quarter. The Langley senior found just enough space near Laughlin’s crease to turn in a quick pass delivered from behind the cage.
A couple crucial saves by Laughlin — on shots from Ahearn and the Byrne — preceded a one-minute man advantage for the Panthers that offered some hope for launching a comeback. But the man-down situation for Langley was well defended by Dwyer, Robinson, Semancik, and senior Robbie Bennett, whose intercept of a set-up pass by the Potomac attack force snuffed out the only real scoring chance mounted during the advantage.
Dwyer’s long clearing toss with a little more than a minute left in the quarter looked to be heading dangerously close to Laughlin’s net area with the Panther goalie out of position, and briefly had many thinking the Saxon defender just might score from long distance with the unintended goal-bound effort, but to Potomac’s relief the ball bounced harmlessly wide of the cage.
Langley edged toward victory early in the last quarter during another one-minute man advantage, which allowed Lundeen to fire low into the net to the right of Laughlin restoring the Saxons’ four-goal margin.
The deficit for the Panthers would increase further but not before Langley was forced into additional defending. Spivey needed to be quick to deny a close-in shot by Shashy that rebounded close outside the crease area to be scooped up by the alert Dwyer before any Potomac attacker could pounce. The Panthers enjoyed another man advantage halfway through the final period but the Saxon sophomore goalie was able to turn away one shot and Dwyer won the groundball in an unsettled situation after a prolonged possession by the Potomac extra-man offense.
Byrne had another attempt blocked with about five minutes remaining in the game, but only moments later he was more successful at the second time of asking when he drilled in from five yards out to put Langley up 7-2. This was quickly followed by Robinson’s second of the game, a left-hand scoring shot from about five yards after the lively defender rolled through his opponent’s slackening defenses.
Hoffman rifled in a left-hand strike from 15 yards for his Panthers with little more than two minutes left in the contest, this after Robinson had blocked a menacing shot from Freemyer and Spivey provided a fine reaction save on a point-blank delivery during the late Potomac assault.
A sustained possession allowed the Saxons — junior attacker Jack Sandusky and senior middie Bryan Clubb joining Ahearn, Bailey, Byrne and Lundeen in the effort — to run remaining time off the game clock to close out proceedings for the evening.
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