Wayland pulls off epic comeback
LACROSSE
The win probability for Wayland inched closer to zero, but it wouldn’t give up hope.
Wayland put together comebacks during the regular season, but needed one of superhuman variety when it trailed No. 8 Medfield by three goals with 40 seconds left last night in a Division 2 boys Central/East quarterfinal.
Top-seeded Wayland got the effort it needed in the final seconds, staging an epic comeback with Aiden Chitkara scoring at the buzzer in regulation before Ben Travis won it in overtime to lift Wayland to a miraculous 13-12 victory.
“In a situation like this against a great team like Medfield, it’s like impossible,” said Wayland coach Marcus Craigwell as his Warriors advance to Tuesday’s semifinal against Concord-Carlisle. “But the boys dialed it in, stayed focused and hungry and they got the job done.”
After Wayland (17-2) tallied four straight goals to level the score to start the beginning of a rollercoaster fourth quarter, Medfield (12-8) responded behind a Jack McCordic goal for a 12-9 lead with 2:17 left.
Wayland waited until the final moments to rally with Kyle Camphausen scoring with 38 seconds left before Michael Lambert (four goals) made it a one-goal game with 19 seconds to go.
Wayland then came away with the ball after the faceoff and rushed into the offensive zone when Kyle Miller found Chitkara sandwiched between three defenders, but he still managed to find the back of the net with no time left.
“Aiden is one of the most reliable finishers inside,” Craigwell said.
“If we had an opportunity with the ball in the last couple seconds, we were going to make something happen and it happened.”
Wayland rode the momentum into overtime. After winning the faceoff and calling a timeout to set up a play, Travis (three goals, three assists) got off a low shot with a defender on his back to secure the win 30 seconds into the extra frame.
“I’ve been a part of the varsity lacrosse team for three years and we’ve lost in the quarterfinal every time,” Travis said. “Now that we finally got over — we were calling it the Wayland hump — we can do whatever we want at this point.”
Elsewhere, Jake Antonucci scored four goals and Connor Deehan added three goals and an assist to give No. 2 Westwood (15-4) a 14-1 victory over No. 7 Groton-Dunstable in a Div. 2 Central East quarterfinal.
Colin Bourne scored four goals and Eric LeBlanc added three as No. 5 Oliver Ames (14-6) defeated Plymouth South, 15-11, in a Div. 2 South quarterfinal.
Cole Dwyer scored five goals and added a pair of assists to give top-seeded Hamilton-Wenham (15-2) a 13-5 win over No. 8 Manchester-Essex in a Div. 3 North quarterfinal.
Girls
Jane Hansen scored six times, while Olivia Coveney, Elle Hansen and Molly Greer all recorded hat tricks as No. 2 Cohasset (16-2) rolled to an 18-3 victory over No. 7 Martha’s Vineyard in a Div. 2 South quarterfinal contest.
Lexi Palmisano netted four goals while Courtney Cronin and Kelsey Long added hat tricks to lead No. 4 Woburn (173) to a 14-8 victory over No. 5 Central Catholic in a Div. 1 North quarterfinal matchup . ... Annie Ronan scored a shorthanded goal with 20 seconds left to give No. 2 Marblehead (16-4) a 12-11 win over No. 7 Masconomet. Caroline Driscoll scored five goals for the Magicians.