Sunday, June 05, 2005
By Dave Rahme
Staff writer
Ithaca – Great save. Great goal. Great game.
That was the story of Saturday’s Class C state high school championship boys lacrosse showdown between LaFayette and Manhasset at Cornell University’s Schoellkopf Field. The Lancers led 9-5 with 9 minutes, 17 seconds to play, endured a furious Manhasset rally that tied the game with 2:43 left, then scored the game-winner on a Tyler Hill shot with 55 seconds to play to win their second state title in three years.
“That was the best game I’ve been involved with my entire life,” said senior attackman Josh Groth, who scored three goals for the victors. “The defense holds them off, the offense gets it back and sticks one in the last minute of the game, and we’re 24-0. Perfect.”
The storybook ending had plenty of tenuous moments, though, especially after offensive MVP Jeremy Thompson’s third goal of the game put LaFayette ahead 9-5 early in the final quarter.
Manhasset (17-3), which had not lost to a Class C foe since the 2003 playoffs, stormed back from there, scoring four times in 5:36. Cornell-bound Chris Finn’s second goal of the run knotted it at 9, and the Indians regained possession shortly after the ensuing faceoff.
“There are six Division I players on that team,” Lancers coach Greg Scott said. “That is the best team on Long Island. For them to go away was something that was not going to happen. They pressed hard.”
The Lancers, who never trailed, never broke, thanks in large part to goaltender Patrick Dwyer, the defensive MVP who saved the best of his 20 saves for the final sequence. Dwyer made an incredible save with his left leg on a 10-yard Finn shot with 1:23 left that was ticketed for the far corner.
“Probably the scariest shot of my life,” Dwyer said. “Somehow I got my leg on it.”
Seconds later Dwyer made an easier chest-high save, and midfielder Josh Amidon went the other way with the ball. As he got going he was leveled by a hard-riding Manhasset player and flung the ball toward midfield, where it was scooped up by Manhasset close defender Greg Boukas.
As Boukas ran parallel to midfield looking for someone to receive a pass, Hill came up from behind, checked the ball out of his stick, picked it up and headed toward the Manhasset goal. He faked a pass to Groth on his right, freezing the defense, then bounced a 10-yard bullet shot past Patrick Judge with 55 seconds to play, giving his team the crown.
“I saw the defense shift over to Groth and knew I had him,” Hill said. “It was awesome.”
Awesome for Hill and nerve-racking for his coach, who knew the sensible call was to ask for a timeout in that situation and set up the last shot.
“I’ll tell you what,” Scott said, “the ‘T’ was in my throat, and then I said, ‘Nah, let’s see what the kid can do.’ That’s what we do. We grip and rip. Why change there. And sure enough, the kid scores the game-winning goal.
“How about that for a story? The kid blows his shoulder out in the first game last year and doesn’t play all season, then comes back as a senior and scores the goal in the final minute to win the state championship.”
The goal allowed LaFayette to overcome a slew of turnovers, some of them caused by Manhasset’s hard-riding style and others caused by careless passes.
Yet, it seemed that the Lancers caused as many turnovers as they committed, thanks to a defensive game plan installed by assistant coach Kevin Gale that kept high-powered Manhasset in check for most of the game.
When the Indians finally solved it, the Lancers answered the way a champion does.
Great save. Great goal. Great game.
The Onondaga Nation is proud of the Redhawks! way to go …
Lee Nanticoke, Jeremy Thompson, Jerome Thompson, Kevin Wilkerson, Tyler Hill, Steve Thomas, Cory Redmond, and Aaron Printup.