Submitted by Langley Lacrosse
May 24, 2010 — The Langley Saxons booked passage to the boys lacrosse Northern Region tournament final — and a return trip to the upcoming state tournament — with their 9-7 triumph this past Monday over a Westfield Bulldogs squad that saw its late-game resurgence at West Springfield High School fall short by only a couple of goals as time expired.
The Saxons (17-1) will defend their region crown against the Robinson Rams (12-4), their opponent in last year’s region final who also advanced on Monday with a narrow, 10-9 win over the W.T. Woodson Cavaliers. The Bulldogs (12-4) will meet the Cavaliers (12-5) in the consolation game on Wednesday to determine the third seed in the state play-offs in early June.
Langley and Robinson, both already qualifying for the state tourney by virtue of their semi-final victories, will face off on Wednesday to determine the Northern Region champion as well as first and second seeds in the state playoffs.
The Saxons got hat-tricks from two attackmen — Sean Ahearn and Ethan Bailey — plus a pair of goals from middie Joey Byrne and a single strike from attacker Jack Sandusky.
Middies Johnny Esposito and Forrest Fischer each delivered a pair of goals while attackers Woody Angle and Ryan O’Sullivan, and middie Gus Coughlin, scored one each for Westfield.
Andrew Spivey and Alex Kawchak, both sophomores, provided goalie duties and were credited with eight saves for Langley and 13 saves for the Bulldogs, respectively.
The Saxons enjoyed the bulk of possession in the early going but the game-opener was furnished quite against the run of play by Westfield. Langley then engineered a smooth run of seven goals, and eventually carried an 8-2 advantage into the fourth quarter for what appeared to be a comfortable lead for getting home and dry with the win.
But the 2009 region and state champs discovered there was more work to be done when a late Bulldog surge within a two-minute span yielded four straight goals to reduce the deficit to two with a half quarter yet to play. An inspired Westfield side pressed its play with growing belief for full recovery only to see Ahearn strike back late, breaking the Bulldogs’ comeback stride just enough to give the Saxons the edge at the finish line.
Langley came out of the starting blocks the brighter as Byrne charged from the opening face-off and unleash the game’s initial volley forcing Kawchak into the early block. The Saxons kept the Westfield keeper busy, with middies Troy Scharfen and Bryan Clubb, and attackman Jack Lundeen, delivering goal-bound attempts soon after although none got through. But it was the initial foray into offense by the Bulldogs that set up the breakthrough score when their rapid buildup caught Langley in an offsides infraction giving Westfield a man advantage.
Esposito promptly delivered with a left-hand bounce shot staking his side to an early 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest.
Saxon Luke Salzer soon sparked a sustained possession for Langley when the freshman middie claimed possession near midfield from Bulldog junior middie Robbie Slover, but promising shots from Lundeen, Byrne, Clubb, Byrne again, then Scharfen sailed just wide or were stopped by the active Kawchak.
The Saxons finally got their first just after the start of a man-advantage situation coming from a slash infraction in the closing minute of the opening quarter. Bailey’s quick pass at the re-start allowed Ahearn to fire in just a couple seconds into the advantage to tie the score. The Langley sophomore than grabbed the lead for his side with less than five seconds remaining in the period on an unassisted strike from eight yards after a long run-around in possession.
Byrne came close to adding a third right out of the ensuing face-off when the senior specialist gathered the rebound from an initial shot although time had expired just as he was setting to shoot.
Sandusky did get the third Saxon goal at the start of the second quarter when the junior managed to adjust well to Lundeen’s low pass from behind the cage then sweep in high over Kawchak for the close-in score. The Westfield netkeeper was kept busy, next by adventurous longstick defenders coming into the attack — first by senior Thomas Robinson out of the following face-off, then by senior Robbie Bennett — but both saw the efforts blocked.
Kawchak could not keep out the following three bids, however, as Bailey supplied a natural hat-trick to double Langley’s scoring output within a three-minute span. The first was end-product of a bold cross-crease pass from Lundeen that allowed Bailey to finish with ease from the doorstep of the crease. The Saxon senior next dodged past his defensive mark, who fell down in the process, to drill in from eight yards, then finished his goal trio using another dodge maneuver to shoot in from close range just past the four-minute mark of the second period.
The action was not all one-way, however, and Spivey needed a quick move and his own goalie mask to thank for deflecting an attempt bound for the upper corner of his net. The Bulldogs then managed sustained ball control in the attack through the middle of the second quarter, getting shots from O’Sullivan, Angle and senior middie Eric Alter, but the efforts either bounced wide or were steered off-target by Spivey.
The Langley keeper saved well again late in the period when he alertly charged from goalmouth to cancel out the shooting options for the advancing Angle, who was unable to collect the loose ball while Spivey was sprawled out a couple yards in front of his crease amidst the scramble for possession.
The Westfield senior finally did get one past Spivey into net from five yards out, with an assist to Fischer, with just under 16 seconds to go in the first half, but not before a snapshot goal from Byrne at the end of a sturdy run through the Bulldog defenses put the Saxons up by six less than four minutes earlier.
Byrne added his second — this rifled in from six yards and the 8-2 score-line — in the closing moments of a third quarter that featured some sustained attack from both sides with solid defending and goalkeeping stifling all scoring chances other than the late-quarter strike.
The Westfield offense got on track again early in the fourth quarter and tested Langley defenses more frequently. O’Sullivan shot wide after getting set up nicely by Coughlin, then Spivey was forced to scramble again in the crease area to recover from a reaction block on a second Bulldog assault on net. Saxon junior defender Brenden Dwyer had to come to the rescue soon after to claim possession on a deflected shot and run clear to relieve some of the mounting Westfield attacking pressure.
O’Sullivan then ignited an energetic comeback bid by the Bulldogs when the sophomore cannoned in low from 12 yards out less than four minutes into the period with Fischer earning his second assist of the evening on the play. A Westfield man-advantage from a tripping infraction by Langley set the stage for a quick second in succession less than 30 seconds after O’Sullivan’s strike, and only ten seconds into the advantage. Coughlin was provider this time, with the Bulldog junior drilling in from just outside the crease.
Lundeen did get some of the action to go the other way shortly after the ensuing face-off but the senior’s hopeful shot, set up by a timely pass from Robinson, trickled just wide of the goalmouth with Fawchak not positioned well for a direct save.
Westfield closed within three goals when Fischer slipped in an unassisted shot from ten yards only 30 seconds later. Fawchak was called upon to keep out a goal-bound volley from Robinson soon after the following face-off, but Fischer was soon at work again in the attack. The Bulldog junior contributed a second less than a minute after his first goal, with this last strike surely unnerving the Saxons, having seen their six-goal margin swiftly dwindle to two with more than six minutes remaining in the final period.
Westfield had one more yet to put by Spivey, but it was not the next goal to be scored. Ahearn had other ideas when he accepted a fine set-up pass from Byrne and netted a three-yarder past Fawchak to grab a vital ninth for Langley that restored its bulwark against further revival of the ambitious Bulldogs.
Esposito produced the final goal of the night — the second of the game for the Westfield junior — but that was not enough to loosen the Saxons’ grip on the game. Sharp passing and aggressive running in possession as time wound down on the Bulldogs kept the door open for Langley in its march to the region final.
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