Bailey's Heroics Deliver Title for Langley
Langley goalie Ganey Kuney turned in several outstanding saves, the most important of which came in the first overtime period.
Photo By: Julia Nguyen / Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
Langley's Ethan Bailey served as a hero for Langley as he provided both the game-tying goal in the fourth quarter and then game-winning goal in double overtime.
Photo By: Julia Nguyen / Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
Kas Semancik and the Langley Saxons defense limited the high-powered Robinson offense to just 5 goals in their region championship win.
Photo By: Julia Nguyen / Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
LORTON, VA -- Tied 5-5 in double overtime in the Northern Region championship game, Langley needed a hero. Luckily for the Saxons, they had Ethan Bailey on their side. Just as two minutes expired in the second overtime, Bailey scooped up a groundball that one-hopped into his stick, made a move on his defender, and cranked a shot to the top-left corner to send the Langley sideline into complete jubilation.
The goal from Bailey would deliver Langley their first-ever region title in boys' lacrosse, while also giving them the number one seed in the state tournament which will start on May 30th.
For Robinson, the loss denies them a chance to gain their second region title in three years, as they will be placed as the second seed when the state tournament starts next Saturday.
Langley's winning goal from Bailey was nearly forthcoming just judging from the opening quarter of play. The lone goal scored in the first quarter came off the stick from Bailey, who just like in his overtime goal, scored high after scooping up a groundball.
For over 20 minutes, Bailey's tally stood as the only marker for either team, but soon Robinson got into a little rhythm. With 2:55 left in the second quarter, freshman attack Alex Barber found the back of the net, and just eight seconds later, Robinson took the lead. Off the ensuing face-off, standout midfielder Dan McNulty ignited a fastbreak, which was finished off by attack Connor Ruddy, who made the score 2-1 with 2:48 left to play in the half.
Unsatisfied with losing the lead in a matter of eight seconds, Langley's Joey Byrne would make sure to have the last laugh. With 14 seconds left, Byrne drove in towards the goal, unleashed a shot and put it in the back of the net to tie things up at two apiece heading into halftime.
But McNulty would answer right back for the Rams and take back the lead after a transition goal with 8:19 left to go in the third quarter. One Thurmond Shaw goal later for Robinson, and their lead expanded to two, the biggest lead either team had all night.
However, the lead would not last for long. Just over two minutes later, All-American midfielder Alex Devlin got on the board for Langley, to cut the deficit to one and then the last-second heroics of Byrne would come into play again. With under a minute left to play, Byrne again notched a goal with limited time to play to even up the score at four heading into the final quarter.
Again, it was McNulty responding back to Langley's goal-scoring run, as he broke open a deadlocked score to make the score 5-4 in favor of Robinson.
But with just over 7 minutes, Bailey kicked it into high gear. Shaking off his defender with a beautiful split-dodge, Bailey had a clear path to the goal and put a shot by Robinson goalie Kennan Kevan, that trickled past the goal line.
With neither teams being able to break the 5-5 tie in regulation, the game was sent into overtime, which is when each team's respective goalies would start to steal the spotlight. Both Robinson's Kevan and Langley's Galen Kuney made multiple key saves in the first overtime period, and in turn, forced a second overtime to settle the score.
And it was in the second overtime that Bailey would score his third and most important goal, which would lift Langley to their first-ever region championship.
BEST BUY PLAYER'S OF THE GAME
Robinson: Mike O'Meara- Despite being just a sophomore, there aren't too many longstick middies that are at the same talent level as O'Meara. Creating turnovers, disrupting passes and scooping up numerous groundballs in last night's title game is enough to give O'Meara our vote as Best Buy Player of the Game.
Langley: Ethan Bailey- Scoring three of his team's six goals, including the game-tying and game-winning goal, Bailey is a stone-cold lock for our pick as the Best Buy Player of the Game.
