The post game talks were getting a little too repetitive, the mood a little too somber for a little too long. The Albemarle boys lacrosse team has had Western Albemarle’s number since last year. Thursday on the road, the Warriors got one last crack at solving the Patriots. In a game that swung back-and-forth in a knee-jerk way, Western was able to pick up that elusive win against its rival thanks to a big spurt to end the third quarter and by simply holding on for dear life in the final minutes of the fourth for a 14-13 victory.
“For a long time playing against Albemarle has been an emotional block but tonight our guys came out and played hard and when we do that we can do a lot of good things,” said Warriors coach Alex Whitten. “Our seniors lost to Albemarle four times last year and then we didn’t play well the first time we saw them this year. I think this was a monkey off our back. We challenged the seniors to try and change the culture here. We believe that we can now.”
Albemarle led by after the first quarter, but things were all tied up at 7-7 at the end of the half. That set up a crazy second half finish.
Trailing by two midway through the third quarter, Western played its best lacrosse of the night in a four-minute stretch to finish off the frame on a 5-0 run to claim a 12-9 advantage with Luke Reilly leading the way.
“We got the big pump-up speech,” Reilly said of the run in the third. “We talked about how tired we were of losing and that all we had to do was just handle the ball and we did.”
The fourth quarter saw Albemarle fight its way back into the contest as the Patriots made it a 1-goal game through the first four minutes of play.
Western responded over the next three minutes to reestablish a 3-goal margin at 14-11 with 4:35 to play. From there the Warriors tried to go to work on the clock and keep Albemarle at bay, something that proved to be exceedingly difficult as a pair of Patriots goals made it 14-13.
“It was tense,” Reilly said. “We had a few chances to hold on to ball late and couldn’t quite go all the way, but eventually we pulled it off.”
The Patriots got one last possession with 47 seconds to play, but were not able to get a clean shot off before turning the ball over thanks the interior of Western’s defense stepping up and clamping down Albemarle’s attempt to cut across in front of the net.
“We threw in some zone at them, more than the first time we played and that gave them some trouble,” Whitten said. “We were able to get some turnovers there, especially at the end in the middle (of the field). Ultimately it came down to individuals stepping up and making really big plays.”
After the Warriors regained possession and called time out, Whitten turned to sophomore Ryan Ingram to get the clear and kill the final 28 seconds left on the clock to preserve the win.
“I think he’s one of the fastest guys in the district and we said ‘Hey, this is a big opportunity, and we know there’s a lot of pressure, but just get it and run,’” Whitten said.
The Patriots out-shot the Warriors 40-31. However, Western help to offset that by drawing six penalties while committing just two.
“We’ve had a lot of success and some big runs but they just played better than us so I don’t think we were ever really able to dig ourselves out of it,” said Albemarle coach Dave King. “Our defense was poor (in the third quarter), we didn’t communicate, but credit Western. They played harder than we did tonight.”
On the night, Reilly finished with five goals for Western. Clark Sipe had a pair of goals and assists. Carter Elliot added a hat trick. Sumner Corbett chipped in two goals and an assist. Goalkeeper Jackson Sours came up with 11 saves.
“This means a lot to the seniors, it’s their last game against Albemarle,” Reilly said. “We talked about how different it felt after the game in the corner. It was huge for us to win this game.”
For Albemarle, Ian Davis led all scorers with his five goals and assist. Justin Moran was close behind with four goals. Andrew Hogg had three goals. Justin Peck had two assists.
