By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area
** Click the links to the left to access a full photo gallery and video highlights — including all 12 goals scored — from Thursday’s game!
When the first half came to a close Thursday night at Westfield, Chantilly Coach Kevin Broderick gathered his players together toward the far end of the field and asked their opinion on how the first half had gone.
One of his senior leaders spoke up, announcing it was the worst half of lacrosse they’d played all season.
Broderick readily agreed.
And then he helped the Chargers fix it.
By getting back to the basics, Chantilly rallied from a four-goal, half time deficit to defeat rival Westfield, 7-5, and improve to 7-1 overall this season, 5-0 in Concorde District play. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, fell to 3-5 overall and 3-2 in the league.
“I told the players that we needed to go the old-fashioned route by taking it one goal at a time, out-hustling them on the ground balls and playing good defense,” Broderick said. “The stats didn’t show it, but if you watched the first half you could see that they were winning in those areas for sure. I just complimented their coach on that. They came out fired up and played well and with a lot of enthusiasm.
“And our guys, I don’t know if they were taken aback or were a bit nervous … but this was a big night for us, a big rivalry and a big district game.”
Westfield was indeed hot early, jumping to a 5-1 half time lead on the strength of a pair of goals by senior middie Woody Angle and one each by junior middie Austin Fallon, senior middie A.V. Lawless and sophomore attack Ryan O’Sullivan.
Chantilly’s lone first-half goal came with just :13.2 seconds left in the second quarter on an unassisted score by junior attack Kevin Egan that was sandwiched between two Westfield scores. The two teams combined to net three goals in the final :21.2 seconds of the half.
But then came the break — and the huge momentum change.
Chantilly exploded for four, third-quarter goals — two by sophomore attackman Devon Westerman and one each by Egan and junior middie Joey Marson — to knot the score at 5 headed into the final 12 minutes of play. In addition to such aggressive offense, the Chargers buckled down defensively and seemed to beat the Bulldogs to every ground ball. As a result, nearly the entire second half was played in front of Westfield goalie Alex Kawchak, who totaled a game-high nine saves.
But in the fourth quarter the Chargers snuck past two more goals Kawchak — securing hat-tricks for both Egan and Westerman — to seal the hard-fought victory.
“Our defense is very strong, the heart-and-soul of our team,” Broderick said. “And they showed that in the second half. They played a lot better, and a lot of that started with our goalie, Derek Kegerreis. He had a rough first half but he played a great second half. He not only made the saves but he’d clear it going the other way to take the pressure off of us.
“And once we got the ball over midfield, good things happened.”
Chantilly 0 1 4 2 — 7
Westfield 2 3 0 0 — 5
Goals — Chantilly 7 (Eagen 3, Westerman 3, Marson); Westfield 5 (Angle 2, Fallon, Lawless, O’Sullivan). Assists — Chantilly 4 (Fitzgerald, Gallegos, Turpyn, Westerman); Westfield 2 (Angle, Coughlin). Shots — Chantilly 22; Westfield 13. Saves — Chantilly’s Derek Kegerreis 4; Westfield’s Alex Kawchak 9. Ground balls — Chantilly 32; Westfield 23. Faceoffs — Chantilly 6; Westfield 5.
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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