Western Albemarle’s boys lacrosse team appeared to be in pretty good shape, up by three goals after an Oliver Herndon longstick finish, but Salem responded and eventually knocked off the Warriors in overtime 10-9.
The Spartans fought back to tie the game early in the second half and then fought back again after Western built a 7-5 advantage. Western appeared to have notched the game-winner when Luke Reilly scored his third goal of the game to put the Warriors up 9-8 with 1:44 to play.
But Salem took advantage of an unsettled situation with under 20 seconds on clock when a Western player was forced off the field for an equipment problem out of a timeout. With Western scrambling to get someone back on the field while the referee blew the whistle to start the play, James Mahan finished the play with a quick move down the goal line and tied it at 9-9.
In overtime, Western won the faceoff and got a couple of chances, but couldn’t convert. Salem’s Kevin Cook took a feed from Mahan in front of the goal and scored to end the game and lift the Spartans to the win.
Mahan finished with four goals and two assists for the Spartans while Cook and Tony Migliarese each scored twice. Trent Cheyney had two assists and a goal.
Jake Preston had 13 saves in the cage for the Spartans.
Western got three goals from Reilly and a pair of goals from A.J. Donnovan. Goalie Jackson Sours made 10 saves. Herndon had four ground balls in addition to the longstick goal.
Western will get a week off before they go toe-to-toe with rival Albemarle next Friday.
