By Luke Nadkarni / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
The Albemarle boys lacrosse team’s state title defense came to an end at the hands of visiting Douglas Freeman in a 10-8 decision in the 5A South Region semifinals Tuesday night.
The Rebels, who never trailed after jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, got four goals and three assists from John Woolley and a pair of tallies each from Ford Hendrix and Evan Tyler in the win. After both teams took several minutes to get find their bearings, Hendrix opened the scoring by grounding a shot past Albemarle senior goalie Kyle Seago after Seago’s ill-advised pass landed in the possession of a Freeman attacker.
“[Our start] was extremely helpful,” Freeman coach Jimmy Hovis said. “The past few games we’ve gotten ourselves into trouble with our starts, getting down early and having to fight back. These guys are a good team and we knew that would be important.
A minute later, Woolley made it 2-0 and Hendrix got his second goal with 2:17 on the clock. The Patriots finally got on the board with 15 seconds left in the quarter when Justin Moran beat Rebels goalie Adam Wagner, breathing some life into his team after a slow start.
That goal ignited a 4-1 Albemarle run punctuated by Justin Peck’s goal with 3:39 left before halftime which knotted the score at 4-4. But the Rebels quickly began a run of their own, beginning with a goal from Andrew Ryan, who took a pass from Hendrix after Hendrix had been knocked to the ground by two Albemarle defenders. Hendrix managed to keep possession and found Ryan, who easily beat Seago to give the Rebels a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Freeman got goals from Woolley and Tyler, both coming with under a minute to play in the half, to take a 7-4 lead at the break.
“[Freeman] did what they do, and it was tough to stop them,” AHS head coach Dave King said. “Today wasn’t our day and Douglas Freeman played well.”
Albemarle responded by scoring the first two goals of the third quarter. Ian Davis found the back of the net for the second of his three goals with 10:07 left, then Justin Moran, who also had a hat trick, cranked in a hard shot on an extra-man opportunity with 5:57 to go in the third to cut the lead to one.
Woolley came back with a goal 32 seconds later to give the Rebels a little more breathing room, but Davis opened the fourth quarter with a breakaway goal off a Freeman turnover, making it a one-score game once again. But Woolley and Tyler rattled off consecutive goals to push the lead back to three, and despite an Andrew Hogg goal with 4:33 remaining, the Patriots could generate no more offense and watched the Rebels advance to the state semifinals, where they will meet Atlee, a 17-7 winner over Brooke Point.
“We both know each other so well, so there’s not going to be a lot of gimmicks,” Hovis said. “They’re a great team and we know we have to play well. Tonight, we didn’t do a great job of finishing in the last four minutes, we made a lot of mistakes and penalties. We’re going to have to clean that up.”
Seago registered 10 saves in his final game, compared to five for Wagner on the other end. The Rebels dominated in ground balls, picking up 35 to Albemarle’s 14, and also won the faceoff battle by a 14-6 margin.
