Just one day removed from facing a gifted Avon Old Farms team, Woodberry Forest was looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season against Blue Ridge and on the road. What the Tigers got was a battle, a true back-and-forth affair from the first quarter until late in the fourth. Thanks to its patience on offense, a constant source of possession from face off specialist Wylie Mendicino and a strong finish to the fourth quarter, Woodberry was able to walk away with a hard fought 12-9 victory as it continues to build after bringing in 18 new players different from last year’s squad.
“You look at where we are right now in the season and this really is a new Woodberry team,” said coach Brian Hemming. “We played the number seven team in the country yesterday and then had to come here, and we responded. This is a lot of lacrosse in a short period of time. The effort and the work from the guys here, it’s to be commended. Nobody wavered. Blue Ridge is a good team and they always make things interesting.”
Up 8-7 heading into the fourth, it was there that Woodberry played its best lacrosse starting with Mendicino who found a way to consistently dominate the face off circle where he gave the Tigers possessions after their goals and also after Blue Ridge’s. Two minutes into the frame Patrick Shea made it a 9-7 game. The Barons, as they did for so much of the contest answered right back with Andrew Link getting things back to a 1-goal game. But back-to-back goals from Harry Ware and then Shea on assist from Lindell Stone gave the Tigers their first 3-goal lead of the game. While Blue Ridge was able to cut the deficit to 11-9 with 2:16 to, another Mendicino win off the draw set up Woodberry with the last piece of insurance it needed, a goal from Ware to put the game out of reach.
“It was a little difficult because we’re so used to playing on field turf,” Mendicino said of his success off of face offs. “The coaches told us to make sure we played with two hands on the stick since we were playing on grass and to stay focused on the ground balls, just to be secure. Anytime you can get possession in the fourth quarter when a game’s close, it’s big. Every possession mattered.”
In the first quarter neither team was able to create much separation. Woodberry went up 1-0 after a Jack Whitworth score, but saw Blue Ridge quickly take a 2-1 advantage on back-to-back strikes from Colin DiSesa who was masterful working from behind the net. The Tigers knotted things up going into the second quarter thanks to a Tiger Ripley goal.
“We came into this knowing we wanted to pass because they’d be good on the first slide (defensively),” Shea said. “So if we could just make the passes to make another slide we’d get a good look and really we just had to can our shots and we were able to do that today.”
The second quarter started out with Shea connecting on a shot off a pass from Stone and then Ware scoring off another Stone assist to make it 4-2. Two quick goals from DiSesa evened the game at 4-4 midway through the frame. Woodberry once again took a two-goal lead with goals from Ware and Shea, but in the final minute before the break Mathew Cameron answered for Blue Ridge to keep it close at 6-5.
“I thought we did a really good job in the third three quarters of keeping up defensively with their cuts (on offense),” said Blue Ridge coach John Hetzel. “The problem was I think we got run down a bit in the fourth.”
Coming out of the half, it was a defensive battle with Blue Ridge tying the game up on Disesa’s fifth goal on the game. Woodberry responded with a Keen Griffin goal and then once again went up by two with Ware finding the back of the net. Just like at the end of the second quarter, the Barons finished out on a high note with Link rifling home a shot off a DiSesa pass to make it 8-7 going into the pivotal fourth.
“I thought we had an edge of offense so I just wish we had been able to posses the ball more,” Hetzel said. “I wish we had been able to hold the ball a bit better but then also, (Mendicino) killed us today in the faceoffs. I can’t remember if we won a single one.”
On the day for Woodberry, Shea and Ware both finished with four goals. Stone finished with three assists. Ripley had a goal and an assist.
For Blue Ridge, DiSesa lead all scorers with five goals and an assist. Link had two goals and assist while Cameron had a one of each.
Woodberry travels to Potomac on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. while Blue Ridge hosts Collegiate on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
