8-7 Overtime Victory for Fox Lane Lacrosse Ends Yorktown’s 53-Game Winning Streak

Fox Lane lost a two goal second half lead to the Lacrosse Dynasty in Yorktown on Saturday afternoon. The leveling off must have had Fox Lane and their faithful feeling their hearts in their stomachs as the 47th minute came to a close at Yorktown High School. But Fox Lane Coach Chris Coughlin had his ticker in a much more secure place as the waning moments seemed to spell doom on a valiant effort against the Section One powerhouse.

“It was in Cullen Morgan’s chest,” said Coughlin. This after the junior standout tied the score with 24 seconds left and then the game winner 40 seconds into overtime.

The Back and Forth Begins

Morgan didn’t wait long after stepping off the bus either to give his teammates reason to believe. Taking the opening faceoff, he raced down the field and found the net behind Yorktown goalie Liam Donnelly at 11:53.

Working the offensive zone around some very tough stick play by the hosts, Fox Lane still made the most of the narrow passing lanes. Matt Magnan thread the needle in finding Thomas Tenney in the left crease, where the attacker stuffed the ball past Donnelly for a two goal lead.

No stranger to ball movement, Yorktown got on the board when Justin Cavallo took a pass from Logan Peters and beat Colin Smith at 5:01.

A tripping penalty put Fox Lane on the power play, and while successfully killing the advantage, Yorktown was unable to move play out of their zone. Not letting up, Matt Harrison found Tenney behind the net, and he skipped the ball past Donnelly on the wrap around goal.

Yorktown again got within one on a Michael Dedvukaj goal at 3:18. But Tenney doubled up the Cornhuskers a second time at 2:29. Passing on the finesse that put him point blank on the previous goal, he muscled his way through the stringy Yorktown defense. A little daylight, and Tenney bounced one past Donnelly to close the period.

Second Quarter Follows Suit

But the 4-2 score didn’t stand long. Morgan, slower off gun this time, did a double take on the first period by scoring eight seconds in.

A roughing penalty at 11:00 allowed Yorktown to keep pace on a power play goal by Justin Cavallo, and a shot off the crossbar seemed to have momentum shifting into overdrive for the Cornhuskers. But some nifty stick play by Sean New knocked the ball loose during the onslaught—leaving Yorktown chasing the Foxes down the other end.

Not wasting the opportunity, Matt Leader spun off several reeling Yorktown defenders from behind the goal and regained a three goal lead. Nick Del Bene would keep the game status quo at 5:27 on an assist by Dedvukaj.

All the scoring, though, didn’t mean the goaltenders took the afternoon off. Both Donnelly and Smith, stood tall all afternoon. They snatched numerous shots out of the air and frustrated the offenses with kick and stick saves that thrilled and exasperated the crowd.

A penalty early in the third had the fans on opposite sides also and markedly shifted the game. Magnan was called for a hit to the face, when Fox Lane fans clearly saw the hit going no higher than the chest. Nonetheless, Peters got Yorktown within one at 9:57 and moments later bulled his way in to knot the score at six.

Smith would keep Yorktown at bay for the remainder of the third, but Peter’s body proved too big to contain. Finding position on the goal line, he manhandled the defense and skipped one past the helpless Smith to take the lead with 10:30 remaining.

The Fox Lane crowd screaming, “Warding,” fell on deaf ears.

Overtime Victory

Yorktown now basking, had Donnelly on top of his game, and the Fox Lane crowd seemed resigned to its team’s fate. But a final timeout by the Foxes had Smith moving the ball to midfield, and Morgan eventually swinging right to unleash the tying goal.

The Yorktown crowd stunned, overtime was forced when Smith got lost on a wrap-around that left the net open. Diving back, he made the save, and the final second ticked off.

In the overtime, Morgan took a pass on the left, swung into the middle and did a two-step to lose the defense. Beating Donnelley on the fly, the junior closed the books on Yorktown’s streak, and the writing was for left Coach Coughlin to pen. “This is the biggest win in our program’s history,” he concluded.

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