U11 Boys Win Youth Lacrosse Championship
This past weekend, the U11 boys battled the heat and three teams to win the U11B Northern Virginia Youth Lacrosse Championship. Falls Church went into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed behind previously undefeated and No. 1 seed Fort Hunt. After beating Stafford, 9-1, and Prince William, 5-2, on Saturday, Falls Church met Fort Hunt in the Championship game on Sunday where the Mustangs shot out to a commanding four-goal lead before winning 6-2.
Eriksen Johansen opened the scoring with a point blank shot from a feed from Brandon Ward. Ward followed with a one-on-one move from behind the net to put the Mustangs up two goals. Johansen then got another feed from Ward and avoided three Fort Hunt defenders to score, finishing the first quarter up 3-0. Ward scored in the second quarter from a feed from Myles Cobb to go into halftime up 4-0. Fort Hunt tallied twice in the third quarter before Falls Church pulled away in the fourth behind goals from Jackson Cogar and Connar Mulcahy.
On a scorching hot morning, the Falls Church midfield outhustled Fort Hunt to numerous groundballs, while the Mustang defense prevented Fort Hunt from mounting a strong offense. Goalie Dan Dusenberry was outstanding, stopping 12 of 14 shots. His strong play was a major reason for Falls Church’s victory.
Throughout the playoff weekend, the U11s got significant contributions from many players. Ward and Johansen combined for 13 of the team’s 20 goals, followed by four from Mulcahy and one apiece from Cogar, Andrew Trauth and Jacob Litton. Johansen, Ward and Cobb also had three assists with two from Trauth. Litton and Alexander Pelaez added one apiece. Trauth and Sean Fitzgerald combined for 21 of the teams 67 groundballs, followed by nine from Cobb and Hayden Sausville, eight from Cogar and seven from Spencer Hayes. Dusenberry stopped 27 of 32 shots for an amazing 84-percent save percentage.
The U13 Boys also entered the playoffs as the fifth seed and won a first round game before loosing in the quarterfinals to fourth seeded Annandale on Saturday. The team won the first-round game against Springfield by the score of 6-2. CJ Tyeryar and Keenan Glahn led the scoring with two goals apiece, followed by goals by Austin Nooter and Aidan Thayer. Glahn also assisted on Nooter’s and Thayer’s goals. The Mustang defense was strong all day as they limited Springfield’s shots for goalie Nathaniel Schwarz. On Saturday, the U13s battled the heat as well against Annandale and after playing at a 0-0 tie through one and a half quarters, Annandale was able to score two quick goals before halftime. Falls Church tallied a goal in the third quarter by Nick Zavala, but the U13s were not able to hold back this strong Annandale team losing 5-1.
