Overtime can be as cruel as it can be kind. Just ask the Shenendehowa boys lacrosse team.
Three days after beating Bethlehem in overtime to win the Section II Class A title, the Plainsmen (18-3) suffered a 10-9 regional loss to Section I champion Lakeland-Panas in extra time.
Shen forced overtime on a Nick Vincent fourth-quarter goal before Lakeland-Panas won it on a Chris Monteferante goal early in the first overtime period.
Monteferante recorded a hat trick, while Robert Caffrey and Connor Prunty each added two goals and an assist for the Rebels. Connor Arnold led Shen with three goals, and Michael Jenkins contributed a goal and three assists.
The Plainsmen needed some late-game heroics to win their first Sectional title in six years. Connors got the game-tying goal with 3:04 left in the fourth quarter and then won it midway through the second overtime period to deny Bethlehem its first Class A crown.
Michael Jenkins it was all him [on the final goal],` said Connors. `He saw me open on the backside and dropped it for me. I just got it in [the goal].`
Bethlehem (12-7) led throughout much of the game, but Shen steadily took control in the second half. The Plainsmen maintained possession of the ball for large chunks of the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t get the tying goal until Connors blistered a shot past Eagles goal-tender Theo Ferguson.
`We were happy that we were getting shots near Theo [Ferguson],` said Shen coach Chuck Holohan. `That meant we were getting close.`
The game would have been more high scoring had both goaltenders not been sharp. Ferguson made 19 saves, 14 of which came in the second half and overtime, while Shen netminder Bobby Wardwell had 15 saves including several point-blank stops.
`I was pretty nervous when it went into overtime, but it was a game of spurts and our spurt was in the fourth quarter and overtime,` said Wardwell, a junior who has started at the varsity level for four years.
`Bob did a great job all day,` said Holohan. `I thought he let a couple in that were un-Bob-like, but he played very well.`
Brian Powell contributed two goals for Shen, which had last won a Sectional title in 2004.“