Holtsville, NY-- In what many are calling one of the most exciting games in PAL Nor'Easter Lacrosse history, Lily Flanigans' defense holds on to seal an 8-7 victory in the final 1:30 of the game.
It was a display of lacrosse at its finest (no pun attended); clean with great sportsmanship displayed by all players. Two penalties were called the entire game.
The contest featured two teams tied in first place at 2-1 in the standings, with the winner vying for the top spot in the race to the playoffs in this competitive 2nd summer league session.
SCPD drew first blood with an unassisted bounce shot from the top of the restraining box to take the lead within the first 90 seconds of play. Flanigan's scored a minute later on a sweet behind the cage feed from Steve "Braveheart" Maloney (Marist '90) to Scott Ferguson (2g, 2a)of Oswego fame. Ferguson went airborne grabbing the pass in mid air and sailing through the crease to score. SCPD responded minutes later with a transition goal, beating Lily's tired midfielders down field.
Lily's however did respond on the next possession with a goal from Bryan Davis (2g,3a). Scott Ferguson found Davis cutting across the middle of the field through a rare, small seam in a good SCPD defense. The play was perfectly executed from Ferguson's drawing of the defense to Davis' turning and leaping blast.
Lily's scored on their next possession with Scott Ferguson picking the top right corner from a step within the restraining line on an assist from Bryan Davis. But just when you thought Lily's was gaining momentum, SCPD scored when team Captain "Bono" took it down the alley along the right side of the field. He blew right past his defender and found the back of the net with a twelve yard bounce shot.
Lily's came right back and scored on another Ferguson to Davis play. With Davis moving well off ball the entire night, he took the pass and fired low through traffic finding the back of the cage.
SCPD scored another goal with under minute left in the half when their 6'4'' 250 attackmen score unassisted with a bull dodge to the cage. Both teams were tied 4-4 at the half. At this point it was anybody's game for the taking. It would come down to which team, and more importantly which players wanted it more....please queue the "Eye of the Tiger" on your iPods folks...because...
during the second half there was one player who put the weight of his team on his shoulders, the weight of the entire season, 1st place on the line-"Broadway" Brett Jeffares!
Jeffares scored on two unassisted goals when his team needed him the most. With Lily's down 5-4 halfway through the second stanza, "Broadway" took the ball goal line extended to the left of the cage and with the stick in his right hand, powered through the defense, beating two defenders and slammed the ball home tying the game. On the very next offensive possession "Broadway" took the ball from the right wing, and with a right to left split dodge he found the upper right corner of the cage. The sidelines roared! The capacity crowd of 21 spectators began the wave and started chanting, " BROADWAY, BROADWAY!" That goal put Lily's in the lead 6-5.
Flaningan's went on to score two more unanswered goals pushing the lead to 8-5. SCPD might have been down but not out. They managed to pull together in the last 4 minutes scoring on two goals in transition to cut the deficit to 1. Here's where the other half of Lily's stepped up...the defense. With SCPD dominating possession in the last two minutes of the game, they virtually maintained control of the ball during that entire span of time and the fate of the game in their hands. Goalkeeper Brian Buckley(Holy Cross) closed the door on any hope of sending the game to overtime. He made stops with his head, body, and stick keeping the oncoming assault at bay. With SCPD out hustling the Flaingan's team on ground balls and winning the races to the end line they were able to maintain possession several times including an all important last possession with 15 ticks left on the clock. That's when Ed Flood came up huge. Rotating to the top of the box to cover SCPD's top middie . He provided excellent position defense and a takeaway poke check putting the ball on the turf. The subsequent scrum on the turf had the ball roll out of bounds on the far corner of the field as time expired.
Flanigans catapults to 3-1 securing a spot in 1st place. SCPD drops to 2-2 and moves into 2nd place. Despite the loss everyone around the league has a feeling that SCPD will be there at the end when it counts.
Team captain "Broadway" Brett Jeffares chalked the victory up to good chemistry that has developed over the past several weeks with his squad.
The Long Island Lax Blog's Blogworthy Performance award goes to Lily Flanigan's midfielder Chris Koehler who scored his first goal of the season. That was Lily's seventh goal of the contest and was assisted by Bryan Davis. Congratulations to you Chris!
