The Southwest Titans--comprised of high school players from Normandy Park, Burien, even, far out as West Seattle--hung tough, coming back, repeatedly, four times, in fact, against Kennedy Catholic, in a boys lacross game, but, lost, 12-11, to the Lancers, under the night lights, at Moshier Park, in Burien, on Thursday.
Lacrosse in high school is not a WIAA sanctioned high school sport, hence, , the words 'club sport' used, but it still is exciting to watch, dubbed 'the fastest sport on two feet.'
This game was a non-league match of a Metro Division 1 team (Lancers) playing a Metro Division 2 (Titans). For the season, the Lancers improved to 2-1, overall, 1-1 in league, and, the Titans, stayed 2-3 in league while dropping to 2-4, overall.
"A lot of things we did really well in this game," said Titans' coach, Will Dawson, after the game against the Lancers, who coaches this team along with Tom Fernandez and Alec Hanson. "Only a couple things to correct. We had a couple of defensive breakdowns, but we can fix those easily."
Still talking to his team, the team gathered around him, Dawson added, "Easter is coming up, now, and, I know you will find your eggs since you can't find the goal."
The Titans' players all chuckled at that.
And, definitely, Dawson was joking around, and, the players knew it, as, the Titans found the net, quite a lot against the Lancers in this one.
The Titans scored first, with a team captain, Liam Allan, notching a goal with 10:54 left in the first quarter of these lacrosse games that are made up of four, 12-minute quarters, with a halftime after the second quarter. After Allan's quick make, just over a minute into the match, the Lancers' Sebastian Ferarro answered with 4:12 left in the first quarter, knotting it, 1-1.
Then, the Lancers went ahead, 3-1, on back-to-back goals from Riley O'Neil, with 1:01 and 42 seconds left in the first quarter. But, then, Allan, again, on offense, went to work, scoring his second goal, with 16 seconds left in the first quarter, making it, 3-2, Lancers.
"I got a couple," said Allan, afterward, remaining quite humble when his scores were mentioned. 'Humble' because Allan stuck the ball, six times, in the net, with his stick skills, in this competitive match.
So, next, it was the Titans tying the game, 3-3,on an Elliot Trowbridge score, with 11:09 to play in the second quarter. This would be the first of four times that the Titans would come back from a two-goal-down deficit, as, mentioned earlier, to come back against the Lancers, to tie.
Then, the Titans took a 4-3 lead when Ashton Pieris tallied a goal, with 10:48 left in the second quarter.
Then, the Lancers' Lucas Watson scored, so, tied, again, 4-4, before Allan scored his third goal, and, regained his Titans' team the lead, 5-4, with 9:52 left in the second quarter. And, continuing the blistering scoring pace, the Lancers' Ferarro scored with 9:16 left in the second, so, all tied up, again, 5-5. Then, Payton Williams scored for the Lancers, 6-5, and, Ferarro, made it a two-point, Lancers' cushion, for the second time in the game, 7-5, with 2:36 left in the second quarter.
But, showing a steady resolve, Allan knocked a shot in for the Titans, on a nice run from midfield straight into the goal area for a point-blank, ball, flashed past the Lancers' goalie, 7-6. That ended the second quarter scoring.
The third quarter, the Lancers, quickly, with 10:27, left in that period, scored via Ferarro's fourth goal of the game, making it, 8-6.
The Titans' Albert Grupp scored and cut the Lancers' lead to 8-7. Allan tied things up after that, 8-8, with 2:48 left in the third.
A lot of coming back in this game, mostly by the Titans.
"Our offense is relentless," said Allan. It, really, was, just not quite as unrelenting as the Lancers, unfortunately, for them.
And, Ferarro scored again, for the Lancers, making it 9-8, with 2:07 left in the third quarter, making the Titans in the trailing position, again, which is the score the third quarter ended at.
The fourth quarter started off with the Titans' Andrew Pieris getting a goal, 9-9, before Williams helped the Lancers retake the lead, 10-9. Then, it was 11-9, Lancers, from Williams' and Allan brought the Titans within one point, 11-10, with 3:00 left in the fourth.
The Titans took a timeout to listen to their coaches, Fernandez, Dawson, Hanson. That part of the game worked out well.
The Titans scored again,on some good movement of the ball around the goal, even, behind it, as, that's legal in lacrosse, unlike soccer that if the ball goes over the end line, its out of bounds. And, Ashton Pieris, with a minute left scored, making it, an 11-11 game.
"We have good coaching," said Allan.
But, then, the Lancers' Reed Harris scored with 30 seconds left, making it 12-11. The Titans still had one last chance on the face-off, which, incidentally, happens to start each period and, also, happens after every goal. So, the Lances' O'Neil won the face off, getting the ball, in a scrum like situation where the referee puts the ball between the two facing players' sticks. And, then, time ran out on the Titans after that.
"We played real good," said Allan. "We played them (the Lancers) two years ago and we lost, 19-1. We've improved a lot."
Added Dawson, "Very proud of the guys. We are a Division 2 team and they are a Division 1. We played a full game on the field, able to keep it close."
The Titans play next against Overlake Christian on April 16 at 7:30 PM at Moshier Field.