Submitted by Langley Lacrosse
June 4, 2010 — The Spartans of Salem had endured a four-hour, 240-mile road journey to Mclean on Friday to partake in a quarterfinal bout in the 2010 edition of the boys lacrosse Virginia High School League state playoffs. And although the Roanoke-area squad arrived undiminished in its desire and ability to excel against the 2009 state champs, in the end the Langley Saxons on their home ground proved too much for their guests — but only by a sliver.
An ambitious Salem side departed on the wrong end of a pulsating, 13-12 overtime slugfest that concluded a fruitful 14-6 season for the AA Region II Spartans and ushered the Northern Region Saxons (18-2) to a semifinal clash on Wednesday with the W.T. Woodson Cavaliers, quarterfinal winners over Osbourn Park on Saturday.
It was a final strike from sophomore Sean Ahearn — the attacker’s third goal of the game — in the second minute of the first extra period that broke Salem hearts after the visitors had skillfully confined their hosts to chasing the game for nearly the entire evening. The Spartans had claimed the lead just :23 seconds from the opening whistle, were behind only once during regulation time — this for only eight seconds very late in the fourth quarter — and three times through the gut of the contest had forged a three-goal advantage, a deficit the Saxons had not experienced in any game since April of last year, and at home for at least two years.
Salem attacker Lance Thomas shined with five goals to go with four from middie Daniel Dyer, a pair from attacker Ian Robertson and one from middie Josh Davis. At the other end it was nearly all hands on deck and in the scoring column as 10 Saxons netted goals. In addition to Ahearn’s hat-trick, Langley got a pair from attacker Jack Lundeen and one each from middies Joey Byrne, Bryan Clubb, Jack Curry, Ryan Miller and Troy Scharfen, attackers Ethan Bailey and Jack Sandusky, and defender Robbie Bennett.
Spartan senior Matt Robertson played the entire game in goal for Salem making 13 saves. Junior Ryan Long and sophomore Andrew Spivey split keeper duties for the Saxons and were credited with two and seven saves, respectively.
As runner-ups in their respective regions, both teams were eager to prove that the regional finals defeat they each suffered late last month — the Spartans to Western Albemarle by 6-5, the Saxons to Robinson by 11-10 in overtime — was a fluke result to be thoroughly eclipsed by triumphant rebound in the opening stage of the state competition. Salem surely had the more daunting task with several hours of travel prior to taking on the 2009 state titleholders, but both teams were wise to calculate that their opponent’s presence in the state competition was credential enough to expect a tough battle with outcome uncertain. And the fighting Spartans did everything asked of them, and then some, to play their part in staying final judgment until a fifth period of lacrosse.
That finally arrived, with feisty Salem attackers making Spivey work in its early moments, getting off three searching shots that the Langley goalie had to deal with in quick succession. The Saxons gladly turned the action in the other direction, with quick transition leading to a Lundeen pass from behind the cage that allowed Ahearn to fire in from close range for the sudden-death win at the 2:16 mark.
The only other time Langley pushed ahead during the game was on a scoring play that started with a sparkling clearing run by Salem senior Bud Tolliver. The middie spun and dodged his way around and through what seemed the entire Saxon attacking corps to move the ball from his goalie’s crease area to the other side of the midfield line. The lively Spartan was unable to complete the mission, however, and when he lost possession, he could only watch as Langley mounted a swift counterattack leading to Miller dispatching past Robertson for a 12-11 lead.
Salem supplied a quick response, with Thomas creating the goal — his fifth of the night — right from the following face-off. Defender Hunter Thompson, who was a long-stick winger for face-offs and got a well-earned assist on Thomas’ goal, seized possession on the very next face-off and ventured into attack on his own but the Spartan junior saw his effort saved by Spivey.
Bailey and Byrne then launched shots at the other end that went wide, followed by a low shot from freshman middie Luke Salzer that Robertson saved to preserve the tie and force a nervy overtime conclusion.
Salem was at work promptly at the start of the game with Dyer grabbing the game opener at the 11:37 mark for the early lead. Byrne canceled that out less than a minute later when the senior dodged his way in at the other end to equalize with a bounce shot from short range.
Langley continued in its attack although sophomore defender Spencer Hite came up with a crafty steal of a threatening set-up attempt by Curry to ease the early-game pressure on Salem defensives. Robertson was the more active goalie in the early going having to contend with shots from Miller and Bailey, as well from adventurous Saxon defenders like junior Brenden Dwyer, but the Spartan net-minder let nothing past him during this stretch of play.
Thomas collected his first goal of the night near the midpoint of the opening period after receiving an assisting pass from Tolliver, who had set up the Salem senior nicely for the score and the 2-1 lead. Scharfen’s bounce shot from eight yards less than a minute later was guided wide by Robertson keeping the Spartans on top. They came close to their third soon after when attacker Robertson edged past senior defender Thomas Robinson to sling one on goal, but the Salem junior saw his effort bang off the cage pipe and away from danger.
Dyer did get the third — the senior’s second of the game — with a left-hand bounce shot that snuck by Long, staking the Spartans to a 3-1 margin that held into the following quarter. Ahearn managed to get the ball to a close-in Miller with about a minute left but the senior blazed his shot just over the cage. Thompson came back the other way but his bid went narrowly wide of Long’s crease just as time expired in the opening period.
Langley had Robertson busy at the start of the second frame, with shots from Lundeen and Byrne requiring the attention of the Salem keeper, who was unable to keep out Clubb’s bounce shot from 12 yards nearly three minutes into the period. The Langley senior was set up by a timely pass from Lundeen, who contributed four assists in all during the game. Robertson had better success when he denied a point-blank try from Sandusky followed shortly by an on-target attempt from Miller.
Tolliver then spun his way to a good shooting spot only to see his shot carom off the crossbar, this less than ten seconds before Langley snatched a tying goal at the other end, the result of a large slice of good fortune for the Saxons. A Lundeen pass sailing in toward Sandusky near Robertson’s crease somehow drifted outside full control of either the goalie or the Langley attacker and leaked into the net for the score.
The Spartans recovered smartly from the freakish goal, with Robertson the attacker supplying his two for the night within a span of :19 seconds near the halfway point of the second quarter. The first came with an assist from fellow attacker Chad Fisher after the ball had caromed around the Salem attack box to end up with the freshman, who promptly got the ball to Robertson for the sure finish. The second for Robertson was an unassisted effort from seven yards that came quickly out of the ensuing face-off.
Scharfen pulled one back at the end of a methodical build-up by the Saxons, with the junior drilling in after collecting an assisting pass from Byrne. But Thomas replied with his second and third goals of the night, dodging free and unleashing a bounce shot for the first of the pair, then going in alone against Spivey, who had come in to replace Long in goal for Langley, for the second. Thomas feinted to play the Saxon keeper out of position just enough to deposit into the net and cap his hat-trick late in a first half that ended with a deserved 7-4 advantage for the Spartans.
Langley’s turnaround, slow in coming, started to show well after half time when the Saxons outpaced their opponents by two goals to reduce Salem’s advantage to 10-9 at the end of the third period. Third-quarter play started with another rapid assault from the face-off by the energetic Spartans, although Spivey was quick for the save. Ahearn then dispatched from just outside Robertson’s crease, off of an assisting pass from Lundeen, to bring the Saxons to within two, although Dyer pounced from 15 yards about a minute later to recover the three-goal margin for Salem.
The teams next alternated pairs of goals, with Bennett and Ahearn providing for Langley before Davis and Thomas answered with one each just past the midpoint of the third period, followed by single strikes from Saxons Bailey and Curry late in the quarter.
Bennett struck while working as long-stick winger on the face-off following Dyer’s second goal, with the Saxon senior gathering the ground ball out of the center scrum and charging into attack for the bounce-shot score from six yards. Ahearn then slipped one by Robertson from close range less than a minute later at the end of a crisp sequence that started when Dwyer stripped possession from a Spartan attacker deep in the Langley defensive zone, secured the ground ball and executed a tricky pass to Byrne at the midfield line. Byrne instantly got the close attention of two grudging opponents, yet was able to move the ball to an open Lundeen up the sideline in the Saxon attack half from where the senior attacker found ample space to advance and assist on Ahearn’s doorstep finish.
Davis used a left-handed shot high into Spivey’s cage to add a goal scored to the face-off actions of the Salem freshman. Thomas then added some polish to his hat-trick by getting his fourth of the night with less than four minutes remaining in the third period, which restored the three-goal difference.
Langley closed to within one of the Spartans before the close of the quarter when bounce-shots from seniors Bailey and Curry found their way into the net. Both players had chances in between their two goals, with Bailey’s deflecting from the Salem keeper to the goal post then away from goal, and Curry’s drawing a fine reaction save from Robertson. The hosts appeared on the verge of tying matters very late in the period only to see their sustained attack fizzle out when Hite came up with a well-timed intercept of a menacing cross-field pass.
Lundeen needed only a minute of fourth-quarter time to tie the game at 10 when he maneuvered around from behind the cage to flick in from close range. The Saxon nearly got his side in front for the first time only seconds out of the re-start but his attempt was kept out by the goal frame.
An extra-man opportunity for the Spartans arising from a Langley push-with-possession foul provided Thomas the stage for getting his fifth goal of the game and another lead for Salem. And it took all of nine seconds and two brisk passes for the Spartan gunner to convert from 15 yards for the extra-man goal and an 11-10 score-line he hoped his side could carry through to the finish line for the victory.
But Lundeen put the game on level terms again on a close-in shot with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth period, which erased Salem’s final lead of the game. And when late scores from Miller and Thomas kept the battle fully balanced to the final horn, it was left to Ahearn to complete his hat-trick and deliver a sudden-death verdict in overtime.
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