Submitted by Langley Lacrosse:
May 18, 2011: Well, this is not a discussion of the ways and means of feisty, later-in-life women on the move at some nightclub scene, rather a brief account of the Oakton-based lacrosse squad that plies its trade in Northern Region, and its occasional clashes with Saxons. The Oakton Cougars (9-8) have earned a trip to Langley (and hopes are that foul weather will not intervene to force a venue change to some plastic turf yonder) in the quarterfinal round of this year’s regional tourney by virtue of their 10-7 road victory last night over the National District’s second seed Edison Eagles (10-5). The Saxons (14-2) fulfilled their part of the script on the same evening with a tidy, 16-0 win at West Springfield High School against the Patriot District fourth seed T. C. Williams Titans (7-9), a team that Langley had not faced since at least 1998.
What to expect from this next contest? Langley’s final game at the end of this year’s regular season was a pre-playoff warm-up at Oakton, and the Saxons departed on the right end of a 15-4 score-line. Is that any indication of what might unfold in the re-match ahead? The Cougars did not have the services of their first-choice goalie, who reportedly was coping with a hand injury at the time of the early May encounter. Could his presence in front of goal that night have made any difference in the outcome, even considering how porous the Langley attack was able to render the Oakton defenses throughout that evening? One can never really know. The Cougar field players may perform much differently this next time round, the Oakton longpoles may find themselves working much better, more efficiently no matter which goalie is guarding the cage. The next game is one of advance or go home for the season, and the Cougars will surely not be in the mood just yet for any endeavor other than competitive lacrosse (oh well, there are upcoming final exams and, for some, prom night to think about).
A brief look back in time may interest. Ahearn, Andersen, Dwyer, Long and Sandusky may very well recall that dark and rainy night at Langley when the Cougars prowled the soggy Saxon pitch in another pre-playoff contest, in 2009, when the good news was that Langley finally was able to score a pair of third quarter goals, and that was enough for the shutout win. Alex Devlin and Charlie Scharfen were the providers, and goalie Galen Kuney earned his second clean sheet of the season that murky night. The weather conditions were certainly a factor in the low score, but perhaps not as big as the dramatic events only one night before when the Saxons had fallen at Madison, suddenly in overtime, a closing act of a 10-9 loss in which foul weather had forced the game to be played on two nights eight days apart, when middie Gordon Bailey and his fighting Warhawks left their mark on what eventually would become six seconds from perfection in a 21-1 championship season for Langley.
Bentz and Spivey could join the five named above in reminiscing a bit on the follow-on battle between Cougars and Saxons that same year, this in the first round of the region play-offs. The Cougars arrived under much drier conditions, but the result in effect was no different. Langley prevailed 6-3, with Kuney working on a shutout until the final quarter, when a 4-0 margin slowly evolved into a 6-1 advantage for the Saxons, and only two late goals in the final minutes made the final result a more respectable 6-3 loss for the visitors. Oakton was nudged from the regional tourney and did not qualify for the State play-offs, not quite one year after losing to Chantilly in the 2008 final at Westfield.
The past two seasons Langley has trekked out Route 123 into Vienna then on to Country Creek Road to engage in some serious preparation lacrosse at Oakton. In each instance a win for the Saxons, 14-7 in 2010 and 15-4 only two weeks ago. Not much more to say about those episodes.
Going back further, no one team has ended Langley’s season as often as the Cougars have since 1999, a full four times starting in 2004. A 13-10 loss at Oakton in a Region quarterfinal in 2004, an 11-6 loss at Oakton in the Region final in 2005, then a 7-5 loss at Westfield in the Region third place game in 2006, the first year of the current VHSL state play-off qualification format.
Which leads to yet another contest, one just over three years ago, in 2008 at Langley. A region quarterfinal, a true home game for the Saxons after the Liberty first seed was forced to travel to West Springfield for a first-round “home” game because heavy wet weather made the Langley surface unplayable. But little troubled, as the Saxons dealt easily with the Patriot District fourth seed that year (West Springfield), and with the 11-2 triumph advanced to the quarterfinal against — Who else? — the Oakton Cougars. Sounds eerily familiar.
What the current Saxons have yet to experience is the abrupt ending of a season, the end of the road playing competitive varsity lacrosse for some, when a loss during a very promising campaign is suffered at the second stage of the region tourney. Chances are one Langley player might remember that an older brother Bentz had delivered an early fourth-quarter goal in the game. A second has an older Spivey sibling that played as well.
May 15, 2008 is the date, and Nick Stevens was the Cougar middie, a junior at the time, whose left-hand shot slotted low past Kuney into the net with 1:19 left in the game gave Oakton a 6-5 lead that bounced the Saxons from the play-offs. A crushing outcome, especially for seniors no longer with pleasing lacrosse duties to look forward to in the near term — only the clean-out of the locker, return of equipment, some early good-byes. The post-game fence-line told the story, student athlete face-to-face with parents and friends on opposite side, there were some tears, little conversation, scarcely a smile for a time, for many the last walk along the track and through the gate drenched in game-grime and perspiration.
It so happens that is the last time to date Langley has lost a game on home soil. Also, it is the last time to date that the Saxons have been defeated in regulation time anywhere in the Old Dominion State. Langley has played 60 games since that night, 59 in Virginia, 58 against Virginia schools, public or private. Not to boast, just seems rather awesome. A track record that would be nice to see preserved, protected, extended.
The Cougars have notable entries in their team resume this year: Road wins over Westfield, West Springfield and Herndon, a pair of one-goal losses to Chantilly (one at Chantilly, a second at a neutral site), a one-goal loss to Robinson, decisive wins over Madison and Brooke Point, and now a vital road win over Edison to keep their season alive. No doubt Oakton will arrive prepared, ready for play, drilled to win. And, just about any of its players could turn out to be a Nick Stevens. For those attired in the “Forest Green and Old Gold,” it should be the time to be prepared, ready and alert – the Cougars are coming.
Might it also be time for Saxon “white-out” and cowbells ringing?
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