High School Lacrosse
REGULAR SEASON
APRIL 3, 2007
NOTES: Three great games - win, lose or draw
By NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Several of the Kentucky Lacrosse Association Division 1 high school games played last week were so closely contested that they deserve another look.
So, with apologies to the coaches who would rather not experience any more of the heart palpitations that these games triggered, this notebook will revisit three that were particularly entertaining for the rest of us.
Lexington Catholic, written off this season in some quarters, took St. Xavier to a second overtime before losing 8-7 on Wednesday.
Ballard’s boys’ team, which has been overlooked even more, pushed Collegiate right to the end of an 11-9 loss on Friday.
And the Ballard girls rallied with three goals in the final two minutes to tie Collegiate in a game that went down as a draw on Tuesday.
St. Xavier 8, Lexington Catholic 7
Coach Terry Justice has admitted that LexCath is rebuilding. Fifteen players - including an All-American - graduated from the team that lost to Trinity in the state final last season, and the Shamrocks dominated the rematch 8-2 on March 21.
But LexCath (1-2) showed some spunk against St. X (3-0), a team that many believe has the best chance to end Trinity’s three-year reign atop Division 1.
After LexCath fell behind 4-1, Justice called a timeout with about three minutes left in the first half. His players responded with two quick goals, pulling within one at halftime. St. X was clinging to a 7-6 lead in the fourth quarter until LexCath’s Layne Pumphrey scored to tie it with 2:20 left.
Neither team scored during the first overtime, but Connor McGetrick fed Winston Arnold for St. X’s game-winning goal during the second overtime.
“This year’s team wants to carry on the tradition and continues to work hard,” Justice said. “They may be small and slow, but they work hard as a team… I’m proud of the way our boys hung with one of the premier programs in the state.”
McGetrick (3 assists) and Charlie Helm (3 goals) each had four points for St. X. Pumphrey (2 goals) and Lee Barrett (2 assists) each had three points for LexCath.
Collegiate 11, Ballard 9
Ballard graduated 14 players, including four who were first-team all-state, after losing to LexCath in the state semifinals last year. And coach Jay Johnson suddenly stepped aside for personal reasons, leaving the team to his assistants.
Ballard (0-4) had been outscored 51-25 in its first three league games but came out firing against Collegiate (3-0), seizing an early 2-0 lead. The Titans fought back to take a 5-4 lead into halftime, and the teams exchanged goals throughout the rest of the game.
“I was impressed with Ballard,” Collegiate coach Tom Windham said. “They really got up for playing us and fought hard from start to finish. They dominated on face-offs and also won a majority of the ground balls.”
Paul Fischer scored three goals for Ballard, and Brett Madigan had two goals and an assist. For Collegiate, Linkon Altman had six points, including five goals; Will Cary had two goals and three assists; Mike Imburgia had three goals and one assist; and Clayton Brown, filling in for all-state goalie Zach Duck, made 12 saves. Brown’s only other varsity start was a win over Ballard last year.
Collegiate 9, Ballard 9
Collegiate led 5-1 at halftime and was ahead 9-6 when Ballard’s coaches pulled their starters with about five minutes left in the game.
It looked like “they just didn’t have it,” Ballard co-coach Dane Brown said.
But he changed his mind, threw them back on the field at the two-minute mark, and let them try to rally. Alex Smith capped the improbable three-goal comeback when she redirected a pass from teammate Julie Tafel and scored her fourth of the game, tying it at 9 with just 0:03 left.
“After watching the starters sit for several minutes, I thought that maybe they had decided they could win this game,” he said. “I told them that no lead is safe in this game, especially with the scorers we have on our team.”
Meredith Fine and Sarah Phelps each scored twice for Ballard. Allison Grant scored two for Collegiate.
KCD makes strides in Atlanta
Kentucky Country Day’s girls’ team traveled south of the (state) border for the second time this season and played three games in the prestigious Dogwood Classic at the Westminster School in Atlanta over the weekend.
The Bearcats lost twice but played well. They beat Atlanta’s Woodward Academy 14-6 in the opener and lost 10-8 to Harpeth Hall, the defending Tennessee state champion that had beaten KCD 12-4 in Nashville on March 9. The Bearcats also lost to eventual tournament champion Westminster 13-6.
"I am proud of how well we competed and the overall improvements we have been making as the season has progressed,” KCD coach Patrick McAnulty said. “We have come a long way since the start of the season. But we still have a good way to go if we are to reach our goal of becoming state champs.”
KCD’s Christena Burell, who had seven goals and an assist in three games, was named to the All-Tournament Team. Hayley Grant had nine goals and one assist, and Michelle Worthington had five goals and five assists. Laura Campbell and Kelly Beam made a total of 20 saves.
Trinity’s Duffy, Edelen pick up slack
Trinity’s top two scorers, Sean Medley and Phil Brehl, did not play in any of the team’s three games against out-of-state foes between Thursday and Sunday. But Mike Duffy and Scott Edelen made those absences much easier on the Shamrocks.
Duffy, who was a first-team all-state midfielder last season and recently was moved to attack, had four points through Trinity’s first four games. But he recorded 14 points in the last three games - a 9-6 loss to Heritage Christian of Indianapolis on Thursday, a 10-4 win over Westerville (Ohio) South on Saturday, and an 11-5 win over South Bend (Ind.) St. Joseph’s on Sunday. He had four goals and three assists against St. Joseph’s.
Edelen missed the first four games with an injury and made his season debut against Heritage Christian. He scored seven goals over the last three games.
Top scorers
In the notebook posted last week, players’ points accumulated during non-league games were included while determining the top scorers in the Kentucky Lacrosse Association. Henceforth, however, only points from league games will be counted.
Based on information available at kylax.org and teams’ own Web sites and submitted to BeyondTheDerby.com, Collegiate’s Imburgia and Kentucky Country Day’s Worthington were the KLA’s top boys’ and girls’ scorers, respectively, through Sunday.
Imburgia has 18 points, including a league-high 14 goals. St. Xavier’s Travis Marcum has 14 points, including 10 goals, and Trinity’s Medley and Tates Creek’s Tanner Bond each have 13 points.
Worthington, who is only a freshman, has a league-high 13 assists among her 17 points. Manual’s Samantha Canary is the only other player in double figures with 10 points, including nine goals. KCD’s Grant and Ballard’s Fine and Smith each have nine points; Grant and Fine have eight goals apiece.
(Editor’s note: Coaches and authorized team representatives are strongly encouraged to submit scores, stats, news items and story ideas to Nathan Chambers. E-mail to nchambers@beyondthederby.com.)