Archive for Sunday, March 15, 2009
Photo by Matt Stensland
Steamboat Springs High School boys lacrosse players, from left, Tyler Samlowski, Garret Ehrick and Drew Ruff walk off the field after Ehrick scored a last-second shot to win Saturday's game against Summit County.
Sailors lacrosse nets last-second win
Steamboat stops Summit, 11-10, with frantic finish
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Steamboat Springs High School junior Jack Spady winds up for a shot during the fourth quarter of Saturday's game against Summit County.
Steamboat Springs Steamboat Springs High School lacrosse coach Bob Hiester wasn't shy about what Saturday's 11-10 win against Summit meant for his team.
Hiester, who has seen the Sailors program grow from its infancy to a powerhouse in the newly formed Mountain League, called the win the biggest in the program's history.
It also might have been the most entertaining.
Tied at 10 as the clock wound down, Summit maintained possession for nearly two straight minutes. The Tigers fired four shots, and each time, Sailors goalie David Mucklow turned them away. On the final shot, Mucklow stoned, he cleared the ball across midfield, where Steamboat called a timeout with 12 seconds remaining.
From there, Sailors junior Garret Ehrick took over.
"I sort of started with a roll, and the shot was there, so I took it," said Ehrick, who scored the game-winner with five seconds left. "I aimed low and ripped it as hard as I could. That was the best feeling of my life."
The two teams met just a week ago, in an 8-5 Steamboat win. Playing for the fourth time outdoors this season, Summit looked like a completely different team. After falling behind, 3-0, after two Steamboat goals from Tyler Samlowski and a tally from Chase Grippa, Summit stormed back.
Shamus O'Neill scored a pair of goals to cut the lead to 3-2. The two teams traded goals in the second quarter, leaving Steamboat with a 5-4 lead.
In the third, after Steamboat's Gus Worden made it 6-4, Summit took its first lead of the year against Steamboat.
O'Neill bookended goals around a Stuart Vanderkool score to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead. Steamboat then scored three straight, on two tallies by Grippa and one by Worden, to go into the final frame up, 9-7.
"They showed some real character out there," said Hiester, whose team trailed for the first time all year in Saturday's game. "They didn't panic. They kept playing as a team."
The Tigers came back and scored three straight goals off the sticks of Rick Dreyer, Sam Dudick and Gutierrez, to take a 10-9 lead with 7:07 remaining in the game.
The Sailors hit three posts in the final eight minutes but got a goal from Samlowski at the 5:19 mark to tie the game up.
Summit had the best chances in the last four minutes, controlling possession for most of the time. The Tigers ripped off six shots in the last three minutes, but each time, Mucklow came up big.
"It was a lot better," Summit coach Mike O'Neill said. "Our kids hung in there. We lack in the discipline area - a lot of penalties and mouthing. At least the kids played hard. That's all I ask for."
Mucklow made a final save with 21 seconds left before clearing the ball to Grippa. Hiester used a timeout and drew up a play to get a short stick on a short stick.
It worked perfectly, and Ehrick ripped a low shot just inside the right post for the win.
"Tensions were definitely running high," Samlowski said. "But David Mucklow got us the stops we needed, we got the clear and Garret Ehrick got us the goal."
Steamboat, 3-0 on the season, continues play at 4 p.m. Monday at Aspen.



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