Broad Run Sweeps Region II Titles

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Each of the last two years, Broad Run and Western Albermarle met in the Region II girls' lacrosse final with the Spartans winning in 2007 and the Warriors getting their revenge in 2008. So when both teams advanced to set up a third straight meeting in Wednesday's region championship game in Ashburn, Spartans Coach Jen Melhuish expected emotions to run high on the field.

What she didn't expect, was the for her team to go completely flat after a strong start to the game and nearly allow the visiting Warriors to steal a game Broad Run had dominated for the first half. The Spartans scored four goals in the opening five minutes and took a comfortable 8-3 lead into the break but were listless for the first 20 minutes after halftime and nearly gave away their lead in a very physical game. But with just enough critical saves from their goalie and one timely goal to stop the onslaught in the final minutes, the Spartans came away with a 10-7 victory and their second Region II title in three seasons.

"From the start, the emotions were just going," Melhuish said. "That was a good coup there that we hung in and won it, but I'm not real happy with our performance, to be brutally honest."

Broad Run, which entered the contest on a 13-game winning streak, raced out to a 4-0 lead on a goal by senior Mary Beth Mitesser just moments after the opening faceoff, followed by back-to-back tallies from senior captain Meredith Rogers and one from junior Kailey Phillips.

But the Warriors – who edged their hosts earlier this season – responded with three unanswered goals of their own to cut the lead to 4-3 with 14:45 left in the opening half. The Spartans (14-3) turned things around with another four-goal run, capped by junior Nina Dunay’s marker to push the lead to 8-3 just before the break.

Photo Gallery

Broad Run Lacrosse Sweeps Region II Finals

Photo: 0/1

« Previous | Next »

Larger Version

The Broad Run Lady Spartans celebrate their Region II tournament championship following a 10-7 victory over Western Albermarle. (Matt Brooks)

Larger Version

Broad Run senior midfielder Tim Sanders starts the attack from his own end in the Region II championship game against Salem. Sanders scored six goals to lead the Spartans to a 16-3 victory. (Matt Brooks)

Larger Version

Broad Run junior Andy Londos makes his move toward the Salem goal during the Spartans' Region II championship matchup with Salem on Wednesday at Broad Run. Londos scored two goals and had two assists in a 16-3 victory for the home team. (Matt Brooks)

Larger Version

The Broad Run Spartans celebrate the Region II tournament championship following a 16-3 rout of Salem on Wednesday night. (Matt Brooks)

View all thumbnails

Western Albermarle came out the aggressors after the break, turning the tide with dominance in the face-off circle and complete control of the ball in their offensive end. The Spartans could not string multiple passes together and lost their tenacity going after groundballs. The few chances they were able to create resulted in shots that bounced harmlessly wide of the goal or over the crossbar.

"I don't know if it was mental breakdowns by the defense," Melhuish said. "We had a lot of trouble getting groundballs – things that we're very good at. So I don't know if there was some fear or if they're were playing it safe, afraid they were going to get burned instead of just knowing that we're going to get it. It's something that we have to figure out."

Meantime, the Warriors chipped away at the lead, cutting it to 8-5 on senior Bridgett Lynn’s second goal at the 18:11 mark and then 8-6 on her third straight tally with just under 14 minutes left in the game. A slew of stellar saves from senior goalie Allison Bogle were just about the only thing that kept Western Albermarle from seizing its first lead of the game.

"I thought she had a little rough start at the beginning of the game, but she turned it on," Melhuish said about Bogle. "The focus came and she stopped anything they were putting in her path pretty much."

Then with eight minutes remaining, senior Sam Lewis broke free and scored to stop the bleeding and five minutes later, Phillips' second of the night sealed the victory for the Spartans.

Both teams move on to the Virginia state tournament which combines teams from the AA and AAA levels. The Spartans will host the runner-up from the Virginia AAA Northwest Region on Saturday, May 30.

"We're not scared of anyone," Rogers said. "We'll see some big teams with some big players, but if we play to the best of our ability, I think we'll do extremely well."

In the first half of the region final doubleheader, the Spartans boys’ team came out firing against Salem and put the game out of reach with a barrage of early goals from several of their key playmakers. Led by a six-goal effort from senior Tim Sanders, Broad Run cruised past the Salem Spartans for a 16-3 win.

Junior Nick Khouri got the scoring started two minutes into the action on a nifty pass from senior Kyle Ward and then it was the Tim Sanders show as the Dulles District Player of the Year struck three times in a two-minute span to push the lead to 4-0 at the midway point of the first quarter.

"The last couple games, guys have been keying on me," Sanders said. "I don't think these guys knew who did what on our team, so I saw a matchup advantage and just took advantage of that. It was a good way to start the game and really seemed to put them down."

Broad Run (15-3) took a 6-2 lead into the first intermission and increased their margin with goals from junior Andy Londos and seniors Austin Forman and Ward to start the second quarter. By halftime, the Spartans from Salem trailed 10-2 and the game was in the bag for the home team.

"We knew that they put up 16 goals against Dominion, so we were more concerned about stopping their high powered offense," Ward said. "But our offense just clicked tonight. Once they realized they needed to help out on Tim, he started working the ball around and everyone else started scoring."

Sanders tallied six goals, sophomore Ryan Madigan had three goals and an assist, Ward finished with two goals and three assists and Londos added two goals and two helpers as the Spartans won their 11th straight overall. Senior goalie Kenny McAdow had eight saves for Broad Run and ran the length of the field at one point, looking to get a point on the offensive end but came up short.

The Spartans will also host the runner-up from the Virginia AAA Northwest Region in their first state tournament game on May 30 at Spartan Stadium. But non-district matchups with the likes of Langley, West Springfield, Bishop Ireton and Stone Bridge have them well prepared for the challenges ahead.

"I know the AAA schools have more backups that we have players on our team," Ward said. "Anyone we face is going to be strong at this point so we've just got to keep working hard and make sure we keep playing the way we have been. But we challenged ourselves early this season against state tournament caliber teams. We played them pretty close and we're ready for another shot at them. Hopefully we'll come out on top this time."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks