Fox Lane Falls to Greeley 6-4 in Boys Lax Quarterfinals

Despite dominating possession and an early lead, Fox Lane fell to Greeley 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the boys lacrosse sectional playoffs on Saturday.

The game was a rematch of a closely contested regular season matchup held just nine days before, in which Fox Lane fell behind early before scoring six unanswered goals to fall just short to Greeley by a score of 7-6.

In Saturday's game it was Fox Lane that grabbed the early lead, however, on a Connor Morris goal with a little over five minutes left in the first quarter. Largely thanks to their goalie Cameron Stephens, who made a number of impressive saves in the opening period, the Foxes carried that one-goal advantage into the second quarter.

Greeley's offense would finally get on track in that second quarter, however, as the Quakers scored three goals in a span of one minute to take a commanding 3-1 lead. Fox Lane actually controlled most of the possession in the quarter, but had little to show for it in terms of shots and never truly threatened the Greeley goal.

Greeley scored one more time in the second period, this time on an improbable out of bounds play with just three seconds left on the clock. The ball hit the net just as the quarter expired, dealing a serious blow to Fox Lane's morale.

"Our intensity level was our biggest problem," said Fox Lane head coach Chris Vazzano. "Sometimes we're our own worst enemy. I really think that when we're playing at our top level we can play with anybody. They capitalized when we were down, which good teams do. And that goal at the end of the first half hurt a little bit."

After both teams traded goals in the third period, Fox Lane managed to cut the deficit to 6-4 with a little under two minutes left in the fourth quarter, but again could not complete the comeback and Greeley held on for a largely deserved win.

"We played solid defense today," said Fox Lane goalie Cameron Stephens. "We just kind of fell apart at times. We tried hard to get back into it, but it just didn't go our way today."

Senior Connor Morris led the Foxes with two goals on the afternoon. Greeley was led by Alex Cohen who netted three goals.

Greeley head coach Vin DeGregorio had nothing but praise for Fox Lane after the game.  Fox Lane narrowly missed completing a late comeback against his Quakers for the second time in less than ten days.

"This Fox Lane team, they're tough kids," he said. "They never take a play off and they're a group of kids that want to win. You know when you come to Fox Lane you're going to have to earn it. They don't give anything away."