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Oct 21, 2023

BOYS LACROSSE: Thrilling Class D semifinal ends in Penn Yan defeat

DRYDEN — The New York Public High School Athletic Association Class D boys

DRYDEN — The New York Public High School Athletic Association Class D boys lacrosse semifinal between Penn Yan and Marcellus was simply a thrilling game. No other word seems to fit the game that hand fans leaping for joy or on the edge of their seats throughout the entire 48 minutes.

For the Penn Yan Mustangs, their season began on April 4 with a loss to Marcellus and ended on June 9 with a loss to Marcellus, 7-6.

"I’m incredibly proud of these kids," Penn Yan head coach Brian Hobart said. "I just said to my assistant coach, ‘Two and a half weeks ago we were 6-7.’ And a lot of kids and a lot of teams would have doubted themselves and these kids didn't. They won seven games in a row and it could have been eight today.

"They’ve worked so hard and they believe in what we do and I couldn't have asked for more of them," Hobart added.

Down 6-5 with 1:40 to go in the game, Penn Yan long pole Hunter Sheehan gave his time life with a forced turnover that knocked the ball loose with 1:40 to go. Penn Yan took possession and Hobart called timeout.

Penn Yan made its way up the field and the ball found its way into senior Carter Earl's stick on the left side. Throughout the entire contest, the Penn Yan Mustangs had been expertly patient on offense, waiting for any ray of light towards goal. Earl had a defender on him that was part of Marcellus’ umbrella zone. Earl stutter-stepped to the right and after not attacking towards goal, his body language shifted to the right as if to pass. That movement got the Marcellus long pole to bite and take one step too many towards the top of the Penn Yan offense. With just the slightest of openings, Earl quickly fired a shot that found the back of the net to tie the game 6-6 with 1:09 to go.

But, as they had when Penn Yan took the lead earlier in the game at 5-4, the Marcellus Mustangs scored while Penn Yan fans still had their hands in the air.

A clean face-off win from Chris Doshna sprung the Marcellus rush and found Doryn LeClair, who ripped a shot from 12 yards out to put Marcellus back up 7-6 with 1:02 left, just seven seconds after Penn Yan tied the game.

"That was a great lacrosse game," Hobart said. "Back and forth, physical; that was a great lacrosse game to be proud of."

The game had been air-tight all game long. Marcellus caught Penn Yan somewhat asleep in the first two minutes of the game and went up 2-0. That seemed to snap Penn Yan back into the tam that won seven straight coming into the game and they quickly took the game's pace and momentum as their own.

Penn Yan's aggressive defense and ride gave way to more possession and the offense started to groove. Bryant VanHousen opened the scoring for Penn Yan with 3:21 to go in there first after finding the top left corner he had been searching for a few times in the first quarter.

The suffocating and aggressive defense from the likes of Anthony Druker, Wyatt Walters and Sheehan fed the offensive rhythm for Penn Yan, and if it wasn't for Marcellus junior goalkeeper Quenten Polkowski, the Penn Yan Mustangs would have been ahead after the first and probably would have won the game. Polkowski would go on to end with 12 saves. Penn Yan's Will Thompson made five saves.

"We asked them to play hard for 48 minutes and see what shake out at the end," Hobart said. "They certainly did that today. We pushed a really good Marcellus team right to the last second."

The two Mustang teams traded goals for the next two quarters with Frank Ochoa getting Penn Yan to 3-2 and then a masterclass tic-tac-toe finished by from Teagan Fingar to Tukker Fisher made it a 4-3 Marcellus lead at the half.

Penn Yan took a 5-4 lead in the third quarter but in a foreshadowing moment, Marcellus scored nine seconds later to tie the game and then retook the lead with 12 seconds to go in the third quarter.

The two goals in the fourth came in that fateful span of seven seconds and though Will Thompson made clutch kick, stick and body saves and Druker blocked back-to-back shots in the kidneys, the Penn Yan Mustangs were on the unfortunate side of a state semifinal game for the ages, and say goodbye to six seniors.

"Our seniors, we have six of them, and every one of them fully committed to what we were doing," Hobart said. "They were great leaders for us and gave everything they had for us."

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