Submitted by Langley Lacrosse
May 26, 2010 — Thurmond Shaw hoisted his Robinson Rams the last step to the Northern Region boys lacrosse summit on Wednesday with a dramatic overtime game-winner to defeat the Langley Saxons in the 2010 regional final at South County High School. The senior attackman struck from ten yards with :25 seconds remaining in the first extra period to seal the 11-10 victory, and complete an inspired comeback that saw Rams middie Thomas Petrocci erase a two-goal deficit to the 2009 region champs with a pair of goals in the last two minutes of regulation.
The sudden-death win for Robinson surely settles any lingering memories the victors still might harbor of the 2009 final between these same two teams that went Langley’s way in a double-overtime, 6-5 thriller at South County a year ago.
The overtime goal for Shaw was his third of the game, yet Petrocci carried the heavier scoring load with an impressive five goals for the night. Attacker Jason Stein supplied a pair while attacker Connor Ruddy, who provided a key assist for Shaw’s powerful game-decider, got one goal for the Rams (13-4).
Senior attacker Sean Ahearn delivered a hat-trick for the Saxons (17-2) to go with a pair of goals from both attacker Jack Sandusky and middie Ryan Miller, and single goals from defender Thomas Robinson, middie Luke Salzer and attacker Jack Lundeen.
Senior Keenan Kevan guarded the cage for Robinson and was credited with eight saves while sophomore Andrew Spivey made seven for Langley. Despite save totals low relative to total goals scored, both keepers managed to block a number of quality shots on net throughout the contest.
The two sides remained eyeball-to-eyeball at the end of the first half, third quarter and regulation, with the teams on level terms with five, seven and 10 a piece at each break and at the final horn, respectively. Each enjoyed a lead at times, with Langley getting a two-goal advantage twice during the first half and late in the fourth quarter, and Robinson edging ahead by a goal for two brief stretches during third-quarter play, and then at the very end when it mattered most.
The winning strike was end-product of a crisp fast break just after the Saxons had faltered in their own assault on Kevan’s goal during overtime. Senior defender Mike O’Meara mounted a counterattack with a run into the offensive zone and passed to Ruddy stationed behind Spivey’s goal. Ruddy then picked out the open Shaw, who promptly fired in to ignite jubilant celebration among the Rams and their many supporters.
Langley had chances in the extra period but all came up just short. Senior defender Robbie Bennett grabbed possession for the Saxons right out of the opening face-off and set up a Lundeen shot from five yards that Kevan blocked. Senior middie Jack Curry tried his luck about a minute later but his effort did not get past the Robinson goalie, and though the ball ricocheted directly out to middie Troy Scharfen, the Langley junior saw his follow-up shot skip wide of goal. Lundeen got a second look with a little over a minute left in the initial overtime period but the senior sliced his shot narrowly off-target.
The need for extra time arose from Petrocci’s clutch goal-scoring deep into the fourth quarter. The senior in fact produced the last four goals in regulation time for his Rams, with the first — a flick-in after a deft run through Saxons defenses — giving Robinson a brief 7-6 advantage early in the third period. Petrocci delivered again at the 8:23 mark of the final quarter, snapping in to tie the game at 8.
Then, looking up at a two-goal hurdle with only two minutes left in regulation, the Rams sharpshooter deployed a left-hand bounce shot to cut the margin to one giving his side some real hope for full recovery. That arrived shortly after Shaw sailed one over Spivey’s cage, when Petrocci’s fifth of the game — an unassisted strike with less than :14 seconds remaining — set the stage for Shaw’s later heroics.
The energetic Petrocci launched the game’s first shot on, this in the first minute of play that Saxon junior Brendan Dwyer deflected from danger when the defender waved his longstick in the path of the attacker’s flighted ball just at the right time.
The game-opening goal came at the other end, however, when Sandusky provided the final touch on a sequence that started when Dwyer collected a groundball in an unsettled situation near midfield. Dwyer passed to fellow defender Robinson, who in turn got the ball to Sandusky for the eight-yard strike just over two minutes into the contest.
Salzer doubled the early lead for Langley a couple minutes later when the freshman’s six-yard shot appeared to sneak between Kevan’s legs and into the net.
But the industrious Robinson squad was in no mood for letting the Saxons get any further from its reach. Petrocci came through with his first of the game less than a minute after Salzer’s goal with a light fling of the ball over Spivey, who had moved out from the goalmouth area in an attempt to reduce the shooting angle for the approaching attacker. The ball trickled rather meekly behind the Langley netminder and into net, although for Petrocci and his Rams it was a resounding breakthrough effort.
Ruddy then tied the game at 2 just past the eight-minute mark of the first period. Robinson attacker Alex Barber had pirated possession during a Saxon clearing attempt near midfield, with the Rams sophomore quickly feeding the ball to fellow sophomore attacker Clarke Pietruszka sparking a fast break in the other direction. Pietruszka found himself and Ruddy up against a lone Spivey, with Ruddy nailing the finish from close range after a precise set-up pass from his teammate.
Miller restored the lead for Langley with about three minutes left in the opening quarter following a 12-yard blast from by Curry. Although Kevan blocked the Curry shot, he was unable to pocket the loose ball, which spilled nicely to Miller prowling near the crease and positioned well for an easy chip into goal.
Sandusky then benefited from an assisting pass from Ahearn to get his second goal of the game, with the Saxon junior whipping in a low shot to restore the two-goal lead for Langley with just over a minute left in the first period.
Stein slipped one low between Spivey’s feet and into net less than two minutes into the second quarter just after Byrne produced a low bounce shot at the other end that Kevan saved. A heavy scrum developed shortly after when Bennett was caught in possession amidst three Rams when embarking on a clearing attempt along the sideline near midfield. But Saxon defender Cas Semancik came to the rescue just in time with a fine, one-handed move to gather the ground ball in full stride in tight space between his opponents and the sideline to relieve the pressure and then initiate an attack.
The aggressive move by the Langley senior paid off less than a minute later when Miller got his second goal of the game, this from close range putting his side up by two again.
Stein was soon on the hunt for a second goal but his effort was tipped high and over the crossbar by the alert Spivey, who then made a partial save on the next shot on his goal. The ball got past him into the cage although a Robinson attacker was called for a crease violation so the apparent goal was ruled out.
Stein did get his second of the game just past the halfway point of the second period. The junior drilled high to Spivey’s left after dodging in toward goal, with Shaw earning an assist on the play. Shaw then tied the game at 5 a minute later when he latched on to a pass from Petrocci, whirling around to blaze in from seven yards at the 4:33 mark.
The Rams continued to apply offensive pressure late in the first half, and enjoyed a lengthy stretch of possession in attack until freshman defender Robbie Byrne was quickest in the middle of unsettled play in the Saxon defensive area to claim the a loose ball and remove the danger for Langley.
Then, in the late moments of the first half, Robbie’s older brother Joey Byrne managed a good look at goal but his rifled shot was turned away by Kevan. The ball caromed a good distance back to midfield, from where the Rams mounted another assault on goal leading to a Ruddy attempt that was saved by Spivey.
Robinson seized its first lead with Shaw’s second goal of the game coming less than a minute into second-half play, with the overtime hero pulling away just enough from the check of defender Robinson to shoot in past the Saxon goalie. The Rams’ lead was short-lived, though, as Ahearn returned at the other end a little more than a minute later to get an equalizer. Langley senior Bryan Clubb had unleashed a shot from distance, but the middie’s effort traveled just wide of Kevan’s cage directly to the awaiting Ahearn, who was in good position just outside the crease to grab Clubb’s incoming volley and snap in past the Robinson goalie.
Petrocci’s second goal restored the lead for the Rams, but this was soon canceled out by Ahearn’s second of the night at the midpoint of the third quarter, with an assist from Scharfen.
Ruddy then furnished a quick shot right out of the ensuing face-off, after two quick passes set him up nicely, but the senior sent the ball sailing over Spivey’s goal. Lundeen finally had his first real chance of the game emerge when he broke free from close marking to deliver a shot on goal that Kevan saved well. The Saxons then had the firing range active near the end of the third period when Miller then Salzer let fly but both shots bounced narrowly past Kevan’s crease area leaving the encounter finely poised at 7-7 going into the final period.
Langley’s Robinson undid the tie right from the starting face-off for the fourth quarter, with the senior longpole collecting the groundball and promptly venturing into productive attack to score with barely :11 seconds off the clock. The Rams offense got back to work quickly after the next center-spot re-start, with a promising build-up leading to a shot attempt from Pietruszka that Dwyer disrupted just enough to get the ball to swerve off-target.
Petrocci then registered his third goal of the night to level the score yet again, but not before his team’s defenses were put to a prolonged test under sustained Saxon attack, with shots from Semancik, Lundeen, Byrne and Curry keeping Kevan, O’Meara, senior defender Jeff Kondracki and sophomore defender Brady George laboring for a couple minutes of game time.
And only :20 seconds after Petrocci had equalized, Lundeen popped out from behind the net area with possession, turned and fired in past Kevan from close range giving Langley the lead for the fourth time four minutes into the last quarter. The Robinson attacking corps were given fewer shooting opportunities through the middle of the final period, and when Ruddy’s effort was kept out by the frame of Spivey’s goal with only five minutes remaining, and Ahearn supplied his third of the game shortly after to reinstate their two-goal lead, one would have believed the Saxons had the firmest of grips on victory and region top honors for a second year in a row.
The 2009 region champs enjoyed the majority of possession for the next few minutes, until the prolific Petrocci conjured yet another two wonder goals within a span of two minutes, which should have served as ample warning that the Rams were cued from a different script on this night.
With the win and the 2010 Northern Region title in hand, Robinson goes into the state tournament as top seed from the region to host the Northwest Region’s Brooke Point Blackhawks (18-1) of Stafford on Friday June 4. Brooke Point defeated the Patrick Henry Patriots (9-8) on Saturday in Roanoke to capture the third seed berth from the Northwest Region.
Langley enters as second seed from the Northern Region and will similarly host the Salem Spartans (14-5) Friday at Langley. The Roanoke-area Spartans had to settle for the AA Region II second-seed berth when they lost to 2010 Region II champions Western Albemarle on Friday in Charlottesville.
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