Landon Lacrosse 7 SSSA 5

The annual contest between the Saints (9-1, #4 in the WaPo rankings, 7 seniors listed in LaxPower.com recruits) is always a challenge, because Coach Taibl  always has his team ready for Landon (last year’s SSSA 4 o/t win is a bad memory for his tactical skill). In a very tight contest, the Bears came out on top with a 7-5 victory.

The visitors took a lead in the 1^st Q when Drennan Greene beat his defender and the SSSA goalie @6:37.  Errant passes and poor shot selection marked much of this twelve minutes.

END OF 1^ST QUARTER BEARS 1 SAINTS 0

The Alexandria team responded in full measure when their top scorers tallied back-to-back goals at 10:16 and then 6:14.

John Geppert used his speed to force the Saints’ D to slide; Joey Epstein used that to his advantage, caught the pass and buried it past the opposing goalie @5:30. The referees called a penalty against SSSA and the Bears’ EMO faltered and game up the ball. Possession at the other end of the field was interrupted; good Landon transition back to their O zone resulted in a pass by Griffin Brown to Joey for a laser shot/goal @3:09.

HALFTIME BEARS 3 SAINTS 2

After the intermission, the #3 SSSA scorer zeroed the margin at 9:51.

Colin O’Brien circled behind goal and made an exceptional feed to Drennan who unleashed a rocket for a goal @7:52. The Bears’ 5^th score was another scorcher from about 10 yards @ 5:25 ; this tally was by Griffin B.

END OF 3^rd QUARTER BEARS 5 SAINTS 3

Justin Shockey, or Instant Offense, further reinforced his nickname by beating the SSSA FOGO, sprinting down the field, passing to Joey who deposited the ball in the back of the nets @11:53– that’s right 0:07 seconds after the referee started the period.

The Saints responded with scores at 8:01 and 5:45.

The first of those critical goals saw a shot hit Shane Corcoran. Then an opposing player got the rebound and shot point blank. No one could fault the Bear goalie—such a “dunk” is impossible to stop. After the SSSA 5^th goal, the home team recreated the 4^th goal scenario—shot, rebound, Saint recovers and shoots for a certain goal—WRONG, Shane made a brilliant point blank stop.

On the next Landon possession, the margin returned to +2. Zach Johnson moved the ball to Colin O’Brien who buried @ 4:01.

The remaining 240 seconds were nerve-wracking. Landon took possession, but a timer-on call led to a turnover. The Saints took a time-out at 1:23, set up a play, the Bear D played well and the last shot was smothered by Shane.

FINAL SCORE BEARS 7 SAINTS 5

KHARI BATEN “THAT’S A BEAR’ AWARD

Shane Corcoran

SSSA 32 Shots, 18 SOGs and 13 Saves

BEAT THE PURPLE EAGLES