Albemarle’s season ends with overtime loss

The Chantilly boys lacrosse team may be getting a little too comfortable in overtime.

The Chargers beat Albemarle 10-9 on Saturday in the state quarterfinals on the strength of junior attackman Brendan Waters’ game-winning shot two and 1/2 minutes into overtime. The junior’s goal was his third overtime tally in as many games for the defending state champions.

Chantilly’s strong second-half performance came after a much less impressive first half in which Albemarle secured a 6-3 lead.

“I think that we just came out flat,” said Chantilly coach Kevin Broderick. “We did better in the second half. Our middies really played outstanding lacrosse on both sides of the field, and the defensive play was fantastic.”

Albemarle (16-4) came into the game strong with a goal from Hunter McCann halfway through the first quarter, which was followed shortly by another from Ryan McCollough. Chantilly responded with a goal from Mike Turpyn with 5:25 left in the first quarter.

Albemarle rolled into the second quarter with an early goal from Bernie Mowbray 24 seconds in after a slashing penalty and another tally from John Chandler shortly after.  Chantilly did not lie down, though, getting a goal from Kevin Egan.

Mowbray added to Albemarle’s lead with another goal, and Chandler scored the last Albemarle goal of the half with 2:30 left. Devon Westerman added one more for Chantilly before the break.

Albemarle scored the first goal of the second half, but Chantilly responded quickly, scoring two goals in fifteen seconds from Maris Gallegos and Turpyn. Reid Bozzone also scored a goal for Chantilly with just under two minutes left, and Joe Marson scored in the last minute of the quarter to tie the score at seven.

“In the second half, [Chantilly] went to the zone, and that slowed us down,” said Albemarle coach Pat McAdams.  “I think that we got some good looks against the zone, though.”

Marson scored again less than a minute into the fourth quarter to give Chantilly its first lead of the game, but McCann scored two straight to put the Patriots back on top.  Westerman forced overtime with a goal with 1:18 remaining.

After a tense two and 1/2 minutes of lacrosse, Waters found his shot and slung it in from in front of the goal for the game-winning shot. 

In a game that came down to the wire, both coaches acknowledged that the game could have gone either way.

“Albemarle’s an outstanding team,” said Broderick.  “We knew that they could play, we just had to be ready.”

McAdams said that as much as he would have liked to be going to the semifinals, he is still happy about his team’s season.

“I am proud as heck of this group,” he said. “There is no other group I would want to be with.”

Chantilly will face the Robinson-Salem winner at Westfield High School at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.