Submitted by Langley Lacrosse
June 10, 2010 — The Langley Saxons edged past the W.T. Woodson Cavaliers in a 7-5 semifinal clash on Thursday evening at Westfield High School to advance to the Virginia High School League state final in boys’ lacrosse this Saturday, with chance to defend their 2009 title against this year’s opponent, the Loudoun Valley Vikings (18-3).
The Vikings earned a berth in the state championship game with an 18-8 victory over Brooke Point Blackhawks (19-2) in the other semi-final earlier on Thursday at Westfield.
The Saxons (19-2) conceded the game’s first goal, then proceeded to build a 5-1 advantage by the fourth minute of the second quarter. Woodson chipped away at the four-goal lead but narrowed the difference to only a 6-3 margin by half time.
Solid defending by both teams during the second half kept the score-line frozen until Langley added an insurance goal midway through the final quarter.
The Cavaliers (14-6) did collect a pair to shrink the deficit to two with about three minutes left, but from there on the Saxon back line, with the help of sharp goalkeeping from sophomore Andrew Spivey, held firm for the win over Langley’s former Liberty District rival.
Middie Joey Byrne paced the Saxons with a hat-trick, in addition to single goals from middies Jack Curry and Ryan Miller, and from attackers Sean Ahern and Mikey Adams.
Woodson attackman Clayton Wainer supplied a pair of goals to go with solo strikes from two middies — Tyler Stellwag and Scotty Williams — and from senior attacker Davis Mayberry.
Spivey went the distance in goal for Langley and made a number of key saves during the game, including four in succession coming with less than a minute remaining in the contest. Senior Brian Beatson guarded the net for the Cavaliers and provided several fine saves, among them stellar blocks of point-blank shots throughout the game.
Mayberry provided the game opener striking at the end of transition play less than three minutes from the start. The Saxons responded just past the halfway mark of the first quarter when Curry found lots of room to maneuver allowing the senior to unload a bounce shot from 12 yards.
Langley’s wires got charged from the Curry equalizer, as the Saxons grabbed the next four goals to open up a lead they would never relinquish. Byrne delivered the first of his three for the evening about a minute later when the senior fired in left-handed from five yards after dodging to a spot at the left of Beatson’s cage.
Stellwag embarked on an attack in the other direction out of the ensuing face-off but the Cavalier senior lost possession to lively Langley defender Robbie Bennett. The turnover by the Saxon senior eventually led to a second Byrne goal less than a minute after his first, with the attacker generating a mirror-image version of his first by going to the right of the goal this time to deposit right-handed from similar distance.
Miller then added the fourth for Langley in the last minute of the first period when the senior unleashed a one-handed bounce shot after fighting off the defensive check to gain a close-in launch point just outside Beatson’s cage staking the Saxons to an early three-goal lead.
Defender Thomas Robinson mounted another break toward Beatson right out of the ensuing face-off but the Langley senior was quickly dispossessed by a Cavalier defender determined to hold the line on the bullish Saxons, who enjoyed a 4-1 advantage at the close of the first period.
Beatson was sharp enough to deploy a fine point-blank save on a Byrne attempt during a man-advantage situation for Langley early in the second period, but could not keep out a bid from Adams shortly after. The Saxon sophomore snapped in nicely into the upper left-hand corner of Beatson’s net from short range after taking an assisting pass from Ahearn.
Stellwag pulled one back for the Cavaliers less than :20 seconds later with an unassisted, left-hand strike from eight yards after making a good run through some Langley defensive traffic to shoot in past Spivey. Ahearn came close to canceling out Stellwag’s goal almost four minutes later when the sophomore picked out a good channel to shoot easily past Beatson for the bargain goal but his close-in attempt only grazed off the crossbar and clear behind the cage much to the Woodson keeper’s relief.
Saxon freshman middie Luke Salzer then got to work getting off a couple of shots late in the first half only to see the first sail high past the cage, and the second from 12 yards hit the pipe after a partial block from Beatson. Robinson tried his luck with a left-handed shot from 12 yards but Beatson again was equal to the challenge from the long-stick assault on his cage.
Ahearn finally supplied the sixth for Langley with about two minutes remaining in the first half, with senior attacker Ethan Bailey providing the assisting pass from behind the goal. But Wainer flicked low and to the left past Spivey before the end of the half to set the 6-3 score-line for half time. The Cavaliers had been awarded a man advantage due to a push-with-possession infraction by the Saxons very late in the half, which set the stage for the junior’s unassisted strike.
Defenses for both sides remained firm, and no further scoring occurred, until deep into the final quarter. Woodson managed some sustained possession in attack early in the second half but defender Brenden Dwyer thwarted a promising build-up with the Langley junior’s timely intercept of pass headed to the front of Spivey’s crease. Senior defender Steven Montgomery then provided some solid defensive checking on Bailey prowling in the danger area at the other end, which forced the Saxon attack to proceed through senior Bryan Clubb but the middie’s outside shot went just wide of net.
The Cavaliers soon shifted momentum in the other direction when a long-stick defender was looking to venture into attack but Curry stripped ball and stick from his opponent at midfield to stall the effort.
Woodson enjoyed sustained possession in attack just past midpoint of the third period with promising shot from sophomore middie Marcus Berry that Spivey parried wide, then from Stellwag, whose bid went narrowly wide of target. Several more shots in quick succession kept Spivey busy until a block and follow-up shot on a rebound that went wide with a Langley defender claiming possession on the re-start with a hustling back-up of the play.
Robinson then had to mark Mayberry close enough to limit the attacker’s options on another attack towards Spivey’s goal, in the end forcing the Cavalier senior into a soft lob shot over the top of Robinson and Spivey. The ball settled at the goalie’s feet just outside the crease unnoticed for a few moments until Spivey found and claimed it before any Woodson attacker could pounce for the easy scraps.
Defender Sean Meacham was quick to disrupt a potentially productive exchange between Bailey and senior Saxon attackman Jack Lundeen early in the fourth quarter, with the Cavalier senior making the interception just outside his side’s goal crease. Langley senior defender Cas Semancik contributed a fine clearing run effort in the fourth minute of the final quarter after the Woodson attack corps had started asking more questions of the Saxon defenses.
Beatson then was back at work making key saves on shots from Salzer and Bailey with about seven minutes left in the game, and soon after with Langley enjoying a man advantage, taking a close-in shot off his helmet to keep out the Saxon bid for a late score to cushion the lead. Although the ball caromed far from the goal area, possession still remained with Langley, and soon after the man-advantage had expired Byrne had secured the seventh goal for his side using an assisting pass from Adams to drill in high past Beatson from five yards out.
The Cavaliers had the last word with the scoring as sophomore Williams snapped in from four yards after receiving a nice assisting pass from Stellwag just past the half-way point of the final quarter, followed by Wainer’s second of the game with about three minutes left in the contest. Spivey resorted to a kick save to keep out a threatening Woodson shot just after Williams’ goal, then had to fend off several late shots as the Cavaliers pressed to close the deficit in the hope of forcing an overtime conclusion.
But Saxon defenses and Spivey’s sure goalkeeping squeezed the remainder of life out of the encounter with the 2009 titleholders in front by a pair and bound for a return trip to a state final.
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