Landon Lacrosse bears up in overtime to beat Malvern Prep 8-7

Landon Lacrosse bears up in overtime to beat Malvern Prep 8-7

The Friars of Malvern Prep from the tough Philadelphia InterAc League came to Bethesda to battle the Bears. MP was undefeated coming into the game and their roster includes, according to LaxPower, at least 10 college recruits (according to one of the Friar dads, there are multiple commits in the 2012 class). To a tough competitor with a dozen future college players add the fact that the visitors brought with the HS Federation rules (which apparently allow a stick that the IAC/NCAA rules ban as an illegal advantage in face offs) and put the home team down by a three goal margin (in the 3^rd Q). The Landon  players demonstrated that they are true Bears by meeting those challenges and winning in overtime, 8-7.

The Bears have played teams from CT and Philly and will play teams from IL and CA—tough national schedule.

In the first quarter, the home and visitor teams tested each other, adjusting to O and D sets, assessing their relative strengths, but no scoring for almost 3 minutes. Junior Middie Charlie Schnider got the first tally at 9:23, Bears 1 Friars 0.  The MP team responded with three quick goals—Keith Dreyer (USAFA bound) scored unassisted at 2:01, then Mike Dougherty (St. Josephs recruit) at 1:33 and then with seconds left (after Coach Metzbower [the longtime Princeton offensive genius] called a time out and set up a play) a great pass from Jake Glancy to Dreyer with seconds left. MP 3 LANDON 1 AT THE END OF THE 1^ST Q

Senior Co Captain, Attackman Pat Keena (like several Friars a future USNA Middie [not the position, the job!] put a second Bear tally on the scoreboard early in the 3^rd Q (11:13). MP3 L2. The blue/gray uniformed team (looking eerily like the RP team) scored at 7:02 (#48, not on their internet roster). But Kenna fed senior A Tommy Minkler to make it HP 4 L2. Friar soph midfielder Chris Hilburn scored at 1:00 MP 5 L3 at the end of the 2^nd  Q.

Keith Dreyer received a nice pass from Russ Atkinson for the only tally of the 3^rd Q MP 6- L3

Bear JuniorM Hank Brown dramaticallychanged the momentum by scoring twice early in the 4^th Q, scoring unassisted goals at 11:07 and then again 10:13, MP6 L5. The home team equaled the visitors score on a great feed from Pat Kenna  to Tommy Minkler (his 2^nd goal) at 8:16 L6 MP 6. The Friars did not fold as PJ Finley scored at 5:13 MP7 L6. With a mere 4:00 remaining on the clock, the Laco brothers worked fraternal magic with soph A Peter feeding senior M Will to tie it up with a nice goal. Coach Bordley and Coach Metzbower took time outs to set up plays once their players got possessions. Freshman G Jack Prutting  made a spectacular save or two and his buddies with the long poles caused some key turnovers. At 1:39 of the 4^th Q, the referees called a one minute penalty on one of the Friars. With seconds left, the Bears took a shot, but did not score as the clock went to 0:00. L7 MP 7 at the end of the 4^th Q

The visitors had possession of the ball at the beginning of overtime, but the Bear attack did a great job stopping the Friar clear. The penalty clock still had 8 seconds remaining, the Bears step up their EMO play, the ball moved to junior A Matt Opsahl who made a nice cross field pass to Peter Laco who put the ball in the back of the net as the penalty expired. SUDDEN DEATH WIN LANDON 8 MALVERN PREP 7

TODAY’S  KHARI BATEN “THAT’S A BEAR” AWARD GOES TO HANK BROWN. www.helpkhari.com

BEARS NEXT GAME IS HOME 3/28 VERSUS OAKTON AT 4:30. Next week Landon has a total of three games—3/30 vs. New Trier HS (IL) and 4/1 DeMatha both at home (4:30 and 4:15pm respectively)