Tornado
gets lift in win
BUTLER TWP — After three quarters, it appeared as though the Butler boys
lacrosse team was headed for its fifth straight loss to open the season.
But looks can be deceiving.
Trailing McDowell 10-3 with 12 minutes to play, the Golden
Tornado mounted a furious comeback, outscoring the Trojans 10-3 in the fourth
period to force overtime.
With 2:48 left in the extra period, Butler's Jamison Smith sent a
shot past Trojan goalie Josh Baronner, earning the Tornado a 14-13 win Friday
night at Art Bernardi Stadium.
It was Smith's second goal of the game.
“We felt we were a better team than McDowell and we were kind of
upset that it got to that point (a seven-goal deficit),” said Butler coach Jim
Vollberg. “Our guys woke up in the fourth period.”
Butler dominated the draw for much of the night and the Tornado
won the all-important one in overtime.
“Chandler Harvey did a great job with face-offs tonight,”
Vollberg said. “We controlled 95 percent of the face-offs in the fourth quarter
and overtime.”
Draws were first and foremost on the mind of McDowell coach Sean
Stutzman following the game.
“Face-offs were a huge issue for us tonight,” he said. “You can't
stop a team if you can't get possession.”
Butler's comeback began when junior attacker Clay Bachman scored
less than a minute into the fourth period, making it 10-4.
Over the next four minutes, Bachman scored two more times and
Kyler Luchkiw had another score to shrink the Trojan lead to 10-7.
Then McDowell seemed to take momentum back by scoring three of
the next four goals.
But Aaron Parry's score with 4:50 left in the game proved to be
the last one McDowell would manage.
Now faced with a 13-8 hole, the Tornado dominated the rest of
regulation.
Luchkiw's score with 34 seconds left tied the game at 13.
“We got a quick score at the start of the fourth period and
momentum carried us the rest of the way,” related Bachman. “Earlier in the
game, we were not playing as a team. We started to communicate more in the
fourth and we just ran the plays the coaches gave us.”
Bachman tallied a game-high six goals.
“I couldn't have done it without the other guys,” he said. “They
kept getting the ball to me.”
“He's big, quick and mentally tough,” Vollberg said of Bachman.
“He doesn't like to lose and he took the team on his shoulders tonight.”
Leading 5-3 at halftime, McDowell owned the third period,
outscoring Butler 8-0 in that span.
Three of those scores came from midfielder August Snyder, who
ended the night with a team-high four goals.
Butler led 1-0 after the first quarter thanks to a goal from Sam
Lex with 4:52 left in the period. Smith assisted the tally.
Luchkiw scored three times for Butler, while Harvey and Jake
Harrison both scored once.
Brandon Martin made seven saves for Butler (1-4) while Baronner
stopped 10 shots for McDowell (1-3), but none in the fourth quarter and
overtime.