The first half that Western Albemarle’s offense struggled through against Briar Woods was potentially the unit’s worst all season. The Warriors stumbled out of the gate, dropping pass after pass as a usually electric squad struggled to find any kind of rhythm.
“It’s a little bit muddy and everything was slow,” said Western coach Brad Haws. “We were making the easy or lazy plays—we were shooting from 15 yards, we were turning the ball over and not moving off the ball.”
All the while though, the Warriors’ defense and goalie Ben Carew held strong, and the offense woke up enough in the second half to grab an 8-5 victory and push Western into the Region II semifinals.
The Western defense killed several extra-man opportunities for Briar Woods as the Warriors struggled with penalties at times, particularly in the first half. Carew was a stalwart in net with seven saves before the break, and Western’s defenders led by Sam Dupont, Reid Brannock and Christian Pierce closed in on the Falcons whenever they got within striking distance.
“We had a lot of good communication and that kind of helped out,” said Western long-stick midfielder Stephen Schuler. “As the game went on we started talking more and more and it made easier and easier to play good defense.”
The defensive performance secured a 1-1 tie at halftime, setting the table for an explosive third quarter for the offense. The Warriors won several key faceoffs early in the third, allowing them to build a 3-1 lead on Abbot Wallenborn and Christophe Drapanas goals. A couple of minutes later, Owen Wangensteen put together back-to-back goals, the second of them on an impressive interception during the offensive ride by Drapanas, who pushed the ball back up field quickly and found Wangensteen on the doorstep.
Western focused on shooting low in the second against Briar Woods goalie Matt Bukovac, who had a monster first half with several stops on point blank shots by the Warriors. Once Western started putting the ball on the ground though, things turned around in a big way.
The ground ball wins off the faceoff were also a gamechanger for the Warriors.
“On the wings, Sam and I really worked hard to make sure that if they did win the face, we’d make sure we got in there and make it hard for them to pick it up,” Schuler said.
Briar Woods didn’t go away easily though. Senior attackers James O’Neill and Andy Luhmann, who finished with two goals each, put together back-to-back goals to close the gap to 5-4 late in the third before Drapanas found Turner Whitworth for a 6-4 lead in the closing seconds of the frame.
Wallenborn, who finished with two goals was dominant in the fourth quarter, scoring midway through the frame on a quick move from behind the cage and he hit Wangensteen on a laser pass to push the advantage to 8-5 with 2:47 to play. From there, Western created two big defensive turnovers and killed the clock to close out the win.
Wallenborn finished with two goals and an assist, while Drapanas and Whitworth had a goal and two assists each. Wangensteen finished with a hat trick and Reid White had the lone goal in the first half.
Sophomore Nick Vial had a solid game on ground balls and played a critical role on clears. Western completed 31 of 35 clears while Briar Woods struggled to advance the ball, completing just 12 of
Western will hold home-field advantage all the way through the region tournament if they keep winning after E.C. Glass knocked off Broad Run in the quarterfinals. The Warriors face off against Dominion Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Crozet.
