Submitted by Langley Lacrosse:
May 9, 2011 – The Madison Warhawks battled their way to a berth in the Liberty District boys lacrosse final in a gritty, 8-6 semi-final encounter with the Stone Bridge Bulldogs this past Monday evening at Langley High School.
Coach Rich Hodge’s Warhawks will face off against the Langley Saxons, who were 16-3 winners over the Thomas Jefferson Colonials earlier on Monday at Langley, in the District final this coming Thursday at Marshall High School.
A late third-period goal from senior Steven Dailey and a fourth-quarter strike from freshman Brett Simeck provided the cushion Madison needed to preserve its winning position to the final horn.
The Warhawks appeared to have shifted into a confident cruising gear early in the second half when Kyle Rowe fired in past Bulldog goalie Jesse Southward for a 7-4 lead, but the goal was disallowed, and Stone Bridge awarded a man advantage, when the sophomore middie was cited for an illegal stick violation, and with that a non-releasable, three-minute visit to the box. The Bulldogs’ man-up attack was unable, however, to breach the solid barrier that was the Madison defense when it really mattered, and a couple of late goals by Stone Bridge proved insufficient despite its best efforts.
In addition to Dailey and Simeck, the Warhawks got goals from four attackers – sophomore Nick Gabriel and junior Kellen Schmitz both supplied a pair while sophomore Kyle Mancini and freshman Kevin Tesch delivered one each. Bulldogs Dylan Maltz and Anthony Giachinta scored two goals a piece to go with strikes from attacker J.P. Giroux and middie Matthew Vincent.
Both Southward and his Madison counterpart at the other end, sophomore Matt Hayden, endured a busy night at their respective posts, and both were forced into numerous outstanding stops. Hayden was credited with a dozen saves while Southward was given credit for 16, although the Stone Bridge junior had Brendan Dolan to thank when the Bulldog defender turned back one Warhawk scoring bid during a brief stretch the goalie had been caught well outside his crease with the cage under assault.
Both sides advanced to this semifinal by way of comfortable home victories in the opening phase of the tournament last Friday, Madison (10-6) prevailing 16-7 over the Marshall Statesmen while Stone Bridge (11-4) crafting an 18-9 win against the McLean Highlanders. The regular season meeting for the Liberty foes — a 7-6 result at Madison in mid-April that went in favor of the visiting Stone Bridge — surely gave this most recent skirmish on neutral ground the flavor of stubborn standoff between opponents of near-equal weight.
The early stages brought on give-and-take sparring, with a pair of goals from Gabriel on each side of a Maltz score staking the Warhawks to an early 2-1 lead. Madison was in the mood for more offense, even getting longstick defender Matt Kelliher into the action early on but the senior’s shot went narrowly wide.
A bounce shot from sophomore middie Matthew Arndt soon after was easily saved by Southward, who then embarked on an attack of his own the other way but the goalie’s forward adventure stalled just past the midfield line.
The Bulldog attack then succeeded in getting the tying then go-ahead goals, both furnished by Giachinta, with the junior netting both times at the end of timely assisting passes from attack partner Maltz. The second of the two goals had the sophomore picking out his fellow attacker in ample open space just outside the crease, which allowed Giachinta plenty of time to snap in past Hayden for the 3-2 lead.
Tesch leveled the score at three apiece early in the second quarter with a close-in strike off an assisting pass from senior middie Colin Sekas. The Warhawks continued their assault on Southward’s goal although senior defender Brett Gallahan executed a timely steal and clearing run to deflate for a time the growing pressure on the Stone Bridge defenses.
Senior middie Walter Franks then saw his attempt well saved by the busy Southward a minute later, which turned into another venture forward by the Stone Bridge netminder, this one nearly costing his side dearly when the offense-minded goalie lost possession on the Madison half of the field. Dolan was called upon to guard the cage in the mad scramble to prevent the easy Warhawk score, turning away the one effort on net that Madison was able to muster before Southward recovered his crease.
The Warhawks were awarded a man advantage for a push-with-possession infraction by a Bulldog late in the second period but this resulted in a shorthanded goal by Giroux, with the Stone Bridge senior finishing from just outside the crease off an assist from Maltz at the very end of the man-down situation.
Schmitz replied less than a minute later to level the score once again. The ball caromed around several players at the end of long feed-in pass and fell kindly for the Madison attacker to retrieve and promptly dispatch into Southward’s net from short range.
A left-handed shot from ten yards by Mancini gave the Warhawks a 5-4 lead just before half-time. Southward fared better turning back a pair of promising scoring attempts from Franks and Arndt just before the first half expired.
Mancini set up Schmitz to collect his second of the contest at the start of the third period giving Madison the 6-4 lead. A big turning point in the contest arrived when Rowe broke out of the ensuing face-off and into attack for what looked to be another goal for the Warhawks only to see his quick score negated by a stick violation, which gave the goal-hungry Bulldogs a full three-minute man advantage to exploit.
But the Madison defensive corps had other ideas, and Hayden in goal had Kelliher, Dailey, junior Thomas Brooks, sophomore Jackson Cole, and senior Zac Frederick in front of him to help keep everything Stone Bridge could offer from getting through. Hayden still had to work turning aside scoring bids from senior attacker Spencer Price, then from Vincent, then a pair in quick succession from Maltz and Giroux.
The Warhawk defenders were justly rewarded for their endeavors when one of their own produced a goal almost out of nothing later in the third quarter. Dailey claimed possession during an unsettled situation in his own defensive half, charged out of the scrum and into attack to blast in from eight yards for a vital transition goal and the 7-4 lead for Madison.
Southward boldly moved forward yet again near the end of the third period, this time though electing to pass when arriving at midfield. The decision paid off handsomely when Maltz received the ball and dodged into position to drill in past Hayden reducing the margin to two goals.
Coach Scott Mitchell’s Bulldogs provided fine defending of their own during a one minute man-down situation at the start of fourth quarter, with only one Warhawk shot on goal from a severe angle to worry about during the penalty.
The Madison followers got their nerves jangled just before the midpoint of the final quarter when Giroux set up Vincent to snap in past Hayden from close range pulling Stone Bridge within a goal of the Warhawks.
Southward was quick enough to stop a close-in attempt soon after from Simeck lurking near the Bulldog goalie’s crease, but the Madison attacker connected moments later from nearly the same spot to deliver an insurance goal for his side at the 5:44 mark.
Hayden had to be alert to produce another double save, this time blocking shots from Vincent and Giroux, in the closing stages to help see his Warhawks through safely to securing a spot in the Liberty District final.
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