Camden Hills’ Kieran McGrath, center, gets leveled between Oak Hill’s Gabe Bergeron, right, and Bryce Harlow during the Windjammers’ win in Wales on Wednesday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)
WALES — Offensive possession eluded Oak Hill for much of Wednesday’s interclass boys’ lacrosse matchup with Camden Hills, but the Raiders had the ball at the end of regulation with a chance to send the game to overtime.
Two good looks at a game-tying goal went just wide, and the Windjammers hung on for a 7-6 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams.
“It came down to the wire,” Camden Hills coach Harrison Rogers said. “Last 20 seconds, they had possession, their best guy, and our defense came up huge.”
Nate Marcotte finished off a pass from Gabe Bergeron with 18.2 seconds left to cut the deficit to one, and both Riley Worth and Xavier Michaud had shots after the Raiders (9-3) got the ball off the final faceoff. Worth missed wide left with six seconds to play, and Michaud’s shot with one second left hit the backside of the net.
“Just not enough shots on goal,” Oak Hill coach Joey Hinkley said.
The Class C Raiders opened the scoring four minutes in when Michaud scored off an assist from Marcotte. That was the first and only goal of the first half for Oak Hill, which had only two more shots on goal before halftime. The Class B Windjammers (8-4) never let them hold onto the ball for extended amounts of time in the attacking zone.
“It’s really just positional defense, and just not trying to over-commit, and not necessarily take it away but have them pressured with a few poke checks and lifts, and really shutting off the adjacents to make it hard making that next pass,” Rogers said.
Camden Hills tied the game and took a 2-1 lead with goals from Owen Rokus and Kieran McGrath 31 seconds apart midway through the first quarter.
Matt Nickerson scored four minutes into the second to give the Windjammers a 3-1 halftime lead. Camden Hills’ Thomas Griebel and Oak Hill’s Worth both hit posts with shots that could have either made it a three-goal game or one-goal difference.
Oak Hill did tie the game up early in the second half. Marcotte scored 1:49 in, and Bergeron added the equalizer 42 seconds later.
“Just had to work for it. Had to run our offense,” Hinkley said. “In the third quarter, we kind of ran our offense a little better than usual, and they finally got a few goals out of it.”
Griebel scored a pair of goals midway through the period to regain the two-goal lead for the Windjammers.
Michaud scored with 1:29 remaining in the quarter to make it a 5-4 game heading into the fourth.
Camden Hills tried to deal a knockout blow in the fourth. Rokus scored less than three minutes in for another two-goal advantage, then Griebel completed his hat trick with 4:11 left.
The Raiders took back momentum with an answer from Michaud — completing his own hat trick — 34 seconds later to make it 7-5.
The Windjammers had a chance to run out the clock, but they made a mistake by stepping out of the restraining box with 1:34 to play, giving the ball back to the Raiders and setting up a nearly complete comeback.
“I probably should have called timeout, but they usually do pretty well in that tight situation,” Hinkley said.
Brandon Glover stopped 10 of 17 shots in goal for Oak Hill. Hinkley said he’s “a key factor in every game.”
James Lynch had four saves for Camden Hills.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Camden Hills’ Elliot Matlack, right, tries to prevent Oak Hill’s Riley Worth from getting to the goal during the Windjammers’ win in Wales on Wednesday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Camden Hills’ Charlie Giebel (10) shoots the ball past Oak Hill goalie Brandon Glover but off target during the Windjammers’ win in Wales on Wednesday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Oak Hill’s Xavier Michaud loads up for a shot that went for a goal while Camden Hills’ Owen Rokus tries to defend during the Windjammers’ win in Wales on Wednesday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)Camden Hills’ Daniel Lydon gets the inside track to a ground ball ahead of Oak Hill’s Adam Lapointe (10) and Bailey Drouin (23) during the Windjammers’ win in Wales on Wednesday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal)
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