Cougars Lacrosse Shuts Out Plainedge in the Fourth, But Can't Steal the Win

Kennedy was fresh off a huge win against Elmont coming into these playoffs. They looked pumped and brought what sounded like all of Bellmore-Merrick. The crowd was intense, making it seem as if it were a home game for the visiting Cougars. And they had a lot to cheer for. The game was a nail-biter yesterday until the very end when Plainedge scored in the second overtime to win, 9-8, thus ending the Cougars playoff run.

The game led off with strong defense for the Cougars led by Will Diana, Ross Gerlack, Brett Lampert and Andrew Kruter, who prevented early goals by the Red Devils. The game turned into their favor of the Cougars when Joe Stagliano found the back of the net four minutes into the game. The Cougars held the lead until Plainedge scored two goals in 30 seconds to take a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.

Kennedy coach Craig Papach told his team to dig deep and play hard. The Cougars did just that, scoring three goals by Jared Lerman and Chris Wright in a two minute span that had the crowd going wild.  

The game had been tied with only seconds left in the half when Dillon Engle scored with a tight shot right in front of the goalie to take a 5-4 lead into the half.

The third quarter was all Plainedge, as the Red Devils scored four unanswered goals to take a commanding 8-5 lead. The Cougars were able to claw their way past the defense to score a late goal to bring them within two going into the fourth quarter.

If the first 36 minutes weren't exciting enough, the crowd got even more as the Cougars fought hard and long, using the first 10 minutes to find a way to get through their opponents defense. And with 2:50 seconds left ,Zac Shuldiner broke through and scored a huge goal to bring his team within one. 

Patrick Grillo was phenomenal the whole game, recording 10 saves. He was on point in the fourth as he and his defense shut out the Red Devils, but it seemed that time was running out for the Cougars. No one told Chris Wright that, and with 24 seconds left in the game he took a rocket of a shot to score the tying goal.  

It took two overtimes to tell this whole tale. Twenty-nine seconds into that second OT, Plainedge's Dylan Levings scored his second goal of the game and the winning goal that would put Plainedge ahead of the Cougars.

The game was tough, with tons of hitting and checking. The Cougars took some costly penalties, even if some were miss called by the refs. All in all, the game was one of Kennedy's best of the season and each player played an important role in the game as did their supportive crowd.

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