There was an upbeat feeling on the Fieldston sideline despite the fact it trailed by two scores heading into the fourth quarter. The Eagles’ Sean Fosse had just tallied his second goal of the game with 12 seconds left in the third, where they blanked Hackley, so the momentum was in their favor.
“[The Hornets] were arguing with each other. They were lacking some discipline, taking some penalties,” Fieldston coach Keith Bergin said. “I actually thought there was no doubt we were going to come back and win.”
His team appeared well on its way with defender Michael Bernstein chugging up the right sideline and star Zack Brown getting subbed in trying to start transition. Instead Bernstein’s high clearing pass was stolen and it turned into a Hackley goal on the other end that reawakened its confidence.
The third-seeded Eagles’ comeback attempt never built the same steam after that and they fell 8-5 to the second-seeded Hornets in a NYSAISAA boys lacrosse semifinal in Tarrytown Monday. Hackley won both regular-season meetings.
“We couldn’t seem to find that one play that pushed us over the edge,” Brown said. “It didn’t happen. I don’t think anyone is holding their head low.”
That’s because Fieldston trailed 5-0 at the half and were getting outplayed by a fast and more determined Hackley team. The Eagles could have escaped the first quarter down 1-0, but Chris Starr scored his second of three goals with three seconds left on a near-length-of-the-field pass from Mike Curland. Jibran Ahmed had two goals and Austin Pidoriano added a goal and an assist for Hackley (16-4). Chris Fosse tallied two goals and Michael Guba had a goal and an assist for the Eagles (8-10).
“We said this isn’t fun,” Fosse said. “What are we doing? I thought we really came together [at halftime]. We weren’t going to go out, not without trying to give them a scare. That’s not how we roll.”
Guba got things started by feeding a cutting Brown for a goal and Fosse scored twice on low blasts from about 12 yards out to cut the Hackly lead to 5-3 heading into the fourth. Fieldston go within 6-4 with 3:42 left in the game on a man-up goal from Brown off a pass from Guba. It missed another momentum swinging chance 30 seconds before when Brown hit the cross bar on a point blank shot before the penalty went into effect.
“Half an inch lower it is goal,” Brown said. “Half an inch the other way I miss completely.”
The late surge wouldn’t have been possible without the play of sophomore goalie Daniel Locker, who had 15 saves in Sunday’s semifinal win. He had 13 stops, a handful at point blank range, against the Hornets.
“He came in as an inexperienced sophomore goalie to become a highly dependable, highly reliable net minder,” Bergin said.
It was a growth similar to his team’s, which felt it season hit a crossroads during a string of three straight losses to Hackley, Dalton and Collegiate. They didn’t let that stretch define them though as the Eagles won five of their last eight games coming into the semifinals.
“We hit a down point in the middle of the season and the season could have went two ways, down the toilet or up and these guys persevered and kept fighting,” Bergin said.
Just like in thier final game.
