Annandale Plays Tough, But Chantilly Moves On
Defending State Champion Chantilly Survived A Scare From A Scrappy Annandale Team, But Eventually Pulled Away To Advance To The Northern Region Final Four 10-7 On Thursday.....
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All-American defenseman Steve Gombos excelled defensively for the Chargers once again as they limited Annandale to just seven goals on the night. With the win, Chantilly will move on to the Northern Region Final Four, the area's biggest showcase event...
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Goalie Matt Perez of Annandale was nothing short of spectacular for his team as he recorded numerous clutch saves. Yet despite the effort, Perez and Annandale fell short of a return trip to the state tournament...
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CHANTILLY, VA -- State title contenders a year ago, both Annandale and Chantilly knew what was at stake. A win would mean advancing to Northern Region's prized showcase event, the Final Four, while a loss would end their season.
For last year's state champion Chantilly Chargers, they would be the ones deciding to move on and try to defend their state title as they defeated the Annandale Atoms by a score of 10-7. Meanwhile for Annandale, the loss would signal the end of their season as they would not be granted the opportunity to advance back to states.
The win for Chantilly means they now have a date with Langley in the region semi-finals, which will be a game between two teams that have combined for an astounding 29-2 record. Both Chantilly and Langley won their respective districts, the Concorde and the Liberty, both of which have been annually regarded as the toughest in the state of Virginia.
Yet advancing to the Northern Region Final Four did not come easy for Chantilly. Up just 7-6 in the fourth quarter, they needed a three goal run in the closing stages of the game to finally put away the Atoms.
For Chantilly, they never allowed Annandale to gain the lead or to be tied with them at any point in the game. Getting an early 1-0 lead off a shot from Kevin Egan, the Chargers never looked back. Yet the problem for Chantilly was in dealing with the pesky Annandale offense which never seemed to quit.
Never down more than two goals, the Atoms seemingly always had an answer ready for Chantilly. Down 2-0 in the first quarter, they got their first response from Nick Lalande on a man-up goal. A Joe Marson goal would give Chantilly 3-1 lead, but again Annandale was ready to respond as a goal in the second quarter put them down just 3-2, which where each team would stand at halftime.
The low scoring affair in the first half was contributed in large part to the goalie play of each respective team. Both Matt Perez of Annandale and Derek Kegerreis of Chantilly made numerous highlight saves to keep their team within shouting distance of each other.
At the start of the second half, it would be Chantilly to get in gear first as a transition goal from Devon Westerman gave his team a 4-2 lead. Yet again Annandale would answer, as they cut the deficit back to one and made the score 4-3.
Finally, however, Chantilly would manage to get on a bit of run. Extending their lead out to a 7-5 advantage, it appeared the Chargers had a bit of breathing room. But that would hardly be the case as Annandale again answered back to draw within one, down just 7-6 with just over nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
But then came Chantilly's three-goal run. Perhaps sensing a bit of urgency in the final quarter, the Chantilly offense proceeded to start their run seconds after Annandale's sixth goal, and would score two more just minutes apart, with the last goal coming at the three minute mark of the fourth quarter.
With a little over a minute left, the Atoms would put one more in the back of the net to draw within three, but it was too little too late as the Chargers would walk off the field with the win in hand.
For Annandale, their season ends at 12-4 while the Chargers improve to 13-1.
BEST BUY PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Annandale: Goalie Matt Perez- Despite the loss, Perez easily prevented his team from losing by a bigger margin. Racking up double-digit save numbers, Perez gets our nod as Annandale's Best Buy Player of the Game.
Chantilly: Goalie Derek Kegerreis- It's tough to overlook Joe Marson's hat-trick, but Kegerreis played near-flawless on defense, providing numerous key saves in important situations. For his solid play, Kegerreis gets named as our Best Buy Player of the Game.
COACH LeCOMTE'S ANALYSIS
It's safe to assume that this isn't the same Chantilly team from last year. With that said, there are some noticeable chinks in the armor of the Chargers, as opposed to last year's bunch who seemed indestructible. In particular, failed clearing attempts led to several goals by Annandale, and turnovers seemed to be a bit of a recurring issue for the Chargers. Yet what will carry the Chargers all the way through is their defense. From defensive midfield on down to goalie, this team is excellent. They can create turnovers and throw offenses out of rhythm, not to mention Kegerreis is good for one or two highlight-reel saves per game. At this point they'll need to rely on their defense to win games, but if Chantilly can tweak their clearing game and turnovers on offense, they'll drastically increase their chances to defend their state title.
As for Annandale, there is about a two-year window that they have to make another state title run. Just about all of their impact players were sophomores, and if not sophomores, they were juniors. They do lose goalie Matt Perez and defenseman Cason Kynes, which will be a huge losses, but this Annandale team will only get stronger and it should be fun to see how they perform in two years.
