Upper Arlington headed back to state tourney
By JARROD ULREY
Sunday May 29, 2016 11:42 AM
The Upper Arlington High School boys lacrosse team is back in familiar territory at the state tournament.
The top-seeded and host Golden Bears beat second-seeded Dublin Coffman 14-10 in the Division I Central Region final May 28 to improve to 18-3. The Bears, who have won 15 state titles, will face Loveland in a state semifinal June 1 at Olentangy Liberty.
The Shamrocks finished 18-3 in their final season under coach Mark Forsythe, who recently announced he was stepping down.
UA, which took a 7-0 lead, got four goals from Ben Baker and three goals each from Danny Logan and Jack Dolan. Coffman cut its deficit to 12-8 with 8 minutes, 50 seconds remaining, but the Bears answered with two goals over the next three minutes to seal the outcome.
“It definitely felt good to come out fast like that,” Logan said. “We wanted to go up early on them. We weathered their run.”
Cam Bowdy led the Shamrocks with four goals.
“If we start fast and get a couple big saves, we (would have won) that game,” Forsythe said.
Cleveland St. Ignatius 6, Olentangy Liberty 4
Johnny Wiseman scored two goals, but second-seeded Liberty could not hold a one-goal lead entering the fourth quarter in a loss at top-seeded St. Ignatius in the Division I Northwest Region final.
“We played well defensively and we were up 3-2 at half and 4-3 going into the fourth,” coach Jason Godwin said. “We lost the lead, but we definitely played well.”
Griffin Hughes and Vincent Ramondelli both added goals for the Patriots, who finished 16-5.
The Wildcats improved to 15-2 and play Hudson in a state semifinal June 1 at Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.
—Scott Hennen
Worthington Kilbourne 14, DeSales 8
Kilbourne was confident its depth was the key factor in wearing down host DeSales in the Division II Central Region final May 28.
After spotting the top-seeded Stallions three goals in the first 5:15, the third-seeded Wolves roared back to tie the game with a three-goal outburst of their own spanning 70 seconds, and scored three consecutive goals early in the second quarter to take the lead for good.
Jared Happ had four goals and four assists and Luke LeVette had three goals and three assists to lead Kilbourne, which improved to 12-10 and advanced to play Cincinnati Summit Country Day in a state semifinal June 1 at Centerville.
The Wolves also defeated DeSales 10-6 on April 12.
“We can run a solid six midfielders. We have four (attackers) who can handle the ball and do their job, so we can get a decent rotation in there and that really helps,” Wolves coach Drew May said. “It helps tremendously. We figured we’d have good depth and we have proven that.”
Nick Musci had five goals, including the first three of the game, for DeSales, which finished 13-4. The Stallions lost in a regional final for the third consecutive year.
“Once (Kilbourne) got settled and got their feet underneath them, I think it came down to them wanting it more and making fewer mistakes,” DeSales coach Matt Triplet said.
—Dave Purpura
