It has been a long ride for the seniors on Covenant’s boys lacrosse team, a group that has won two straight state titles and Friday fell a game short of playing for another one in a 6-4 loss to North Cross at Randolph Macon College.
“We didn’t want to go out like this,” said Covenant senior Michael Colberg. “But we lost so many people from last year, nobody thought we had really anything this year. To go through it with Clark (Gathright) and Tobin and Goalie (Austin Hall) and we got some new guys in Josh (Klein) and Steven (Wilder), I think, we just exceeded everyone’s expectations. I don’t think anyone thought we’d be here.”
The Eagles went into a funk at the worst possible time this week, barely squeaking out a win over Hampton Roads Academy in the state quarterfinals before falling to the Raiders in the semifinals, a squad they beat two other times this year including a week ago in the VIC semifinals.
“We’re a senior-heavy team, it was a good run with those guys, I’m going to miss those guys a lot,” said Covenant coach Clay Tharrington. “North Cross, give them all the credit, they played a great game.”
It was North Cross’ keeper Will Perry who stood tall as the senior captain made 13 saves while fighting off some serious sickness. Perry was vomiting and generally struggling but wanted to play and was quarantined from the squad by riding with his parents to the tournament site in Ashland.
“He missed some of practice yesterday and his dad called me last night at 10:30 and I was like oh no what’s this about,” said North Cross coach Chris Pollock. “We let him sleep in, he’s been ill all last night and this morning. He’s not eaten in two days but he wouldn’t miss the game.”
That gutsy performance helped the Raiders prevail in a low scoring game that was a major departure from the 14-11 finish between the two squads in the VIC tournament.
“I was definitely seeing the ball really well but my defense was also forcing outside shots that I can handle, I have to give a lot of credit to them,” Perry said. “To bounce back from giving up 13 to Covenant in the VIC semifinal to only give up four today, it was an incredible effort by our defense.”
The loss ended the season for a squad that spent the year trying to overcome the graduation of last year’s contingent of seniors that was led by 2015 Scrimmage Play lacrosse player of the year Drew Gaffney. They managed to earn a No. 2 ranking in Division II and a spot in the final four despite low expectations coming into the year and a lot of holes to fill.
“It seemed when I took over everybody thought the team left last year after (former coach) Mike (Gardiner) left,” Tharrington said. “It was refreshing to come in and see there was a lot of talent, a lot of strong personalities. A lot of guys that wanted to prove those people wrong and wanted to succeed this year. In my opinion they accomplished that.”
North Cross held a 2-1 lead at the break as both teams struggled with turnovers while Covenant also had to battle a series of penalties including an illegal stick to start the second quarter that the Eagles safely killed. After the half, Savraj Moore scored early in the third and Covenant appeared to have some momentum, but the Eagles couldn’t string anything together and eventually entered the fourth quarter down 3-2.
Again the Eagles struck quickly, with Quinn Garland scoring just 31 seconds into the fourth to tie the game at 3-3. The Raiders didn’t panic though, with Massey Semler and Brandon Campbell scoring to put North Cross up 5-3 before Grant Pollock notched another to make it 6-3 with under four minutes to play.
The Eagles appeared to get new life again when Craig Van Dyke forced a turnover on the ride, scooped up the ball and fed Moore for his second goal of the game with 2:50 to play. But again Covenant couldn’t get the momentum rolling and North Cross held on for the win.
“Going into Wednesday’s game nothing worked out for us and today it was just kind of the same, our offense wasn’t clicking,” Colberg said. “Defense played great, (Hall) played great but our shots weren’t falling.”
Colberg had the Eagles’ lone first half goal. Covenant goalie Hall finished with 13 saves on the night, equaling Perry’s effort on the other end.
Campbell and Pollock each scored twice and had an assist for the Raiders. North Cross will face Virginia Episcopal, now coached by Covenant’s former head man Mike Gardiner, in the state final Saturday.
