Bishops force overtime, fall moments later

By Ted Allen

Published: May 10, 2008

A minute into sudden-death overtime, in the championship game of the Virginia Independent Conference boys lacrosse tournament, Covenant’s Alex Keuhler was trapped in the crease, sacked like a quarterback in the pocket by two or three Virginia Episcopal School defenders.
But as he was falling down 10 feet outside the Bishops’ cage, Keuhler flung a perfectly placed pass out to Andy Colberg on the perimeter where he rifled the game-winning shot past VES goalie Morrow Boggs.
Moments after the Bishops had forced overtime on a goal by Jake Winston with 19 seconds left in regulation off an assist from Wil Roe from behind the cage, the Eagles erupted in celebration after clinching their 11-10 victory on VES’ home field.
“That was an unbelievable play (by Keuhler) to get it out of there,” Covenant coach Dave Breslin said. “Considering the quality of the goalie, knowing (Boggs) is the best goalkeeper in the state, we feel pretty good about scoring 11 goals off of him.”
Covenant (13-4), which had won nine VIC titles in a row before VES captured its first last spring, took its 10th championship in dramatic fashion, ending the Bishops’ 15-game winning streak.
“They wanted to regain their trophy (and) they definitely earned it,” VES first-year coach Stephen Alexander said.
The game was a showdown between two future Old Dominion Athletic Conference goalies as Boggs, who made nine saves and won several possessions by sprinting to the back line first after shots flew past him, will play at Hampden-Sydney next year and Covenant’s Joe Malazita, who saved six shots, will go to Virginia Wesleyan.
“We build our defense around our goalkeeper,” Alexander said of Boggs. “We have all the confidence in the world in him. They just got good shots in good places.”
VES (15-2), ranked No. 2 in last week’s Virginia Independent Schools Division II state poll, and Covenant, ranked No. 3, will host VIS Div. II state quarterfinal games on Tuesday with a potential rematch in Thursday’s semifinals.
On Saturday, the Eagles scored the first two goals of the first period and the first three goals of the second half, tying the game at 6, before netting the only goal in overtime. Keuhler, who tied the game at 7 midway through the third quarter and again at 8 two minutes into the fourth, finished with three goals and the game-winning assist while Luke Heinsohn tallied three of each.
“We challenged the guys at halftime,” Breslin said. “We said, ‘You’ve got 24 minutes to do something special against an excellent team’ and they dug really deep.”
The Eagles dominated possession in the third quarter and tied the game with three goals in the opening three and a half minutes of the third quarter.
“We knew we needed to hang onto the ball because they have a very good methodical offense,” Breslin said.
Matt Devoy, the Bishops’ leading scorer from Perth, Australia, netted a game-high five goals and fellow junior attack Wil Roe added three goals and three assists.
“Our offense was scoring most of the times that we had the ball, but we just didn’t have the ball (enough),“ Alexander added. “They crushed us on ground ball (pickups) and that was definitely the difference in the game.”