West Springfield Boys' Lacrosse Advance To Regional Semi-Finals

West Springfield withstood a fourth quarter surge to beat Yorktown 11-8 at Yorktown High School in regional quarterfinal lacrosse action Thursday evening.

With the win, West Springfield advances to the school’s first-ever regional semifinal appearance next Tuesday against Chantilly.

“It’s huge for our team. It’s the first time in West Springfield boys’ lacrosse history that we’ve advanced to the regional semifinals. It’s something that we wanted to accomplish as a team. We lost a lot of guys last year and this team has really come together and gelled at the right time,” said West Springfield head coach Scott Settar.

Coming into Thursday’s game, Yorktown was dealt a huge blow. The Patriots lost 1^st Team All-District goalie Jim Roberts who suffered a shattered thumb in the 4^th quarter of Tuesday’s game against Herndon.

“It’s tough any time you lose a two-year starter,” said Yorktown head coach Greg Beer.

Without the services of Roberts, the National District Champion Yorktown Patriots turned to senior James Krech.

West Springfield darted out to a quick start, challenging Krech who made his first start of the season at goalie. Jake Flewellyn scored two goals in the game’s opening quarter, to give West Springfield an early 3-1 lead.

The Spartans played physical defense, but that did not stop Yorktown’s sophomore phenom, Joe Crawford, who scored two first quarter goals. Crawford’s goals kept the score tight as West Springfield led 3-2 at the end of the first quarter.

The Spartans continued their aggressive attack on Krech throughout the second quarter. Less than a minute into the quarter, West Springfield scored on a Zach Hart goal. Yorktown’s defense was more aggressive than it had been in the first, but ultimately fell short in the quarter’s final minute. The Spartans scored three goals in the final minute, which gave them a 9-3 halftime lead.

After a passionate halftime speech by Yorktown’s seniors, the Patriots played their best quarter of the game in the third. Krech, who looked overwhelmed at times in the first-half, made several nice blocks, keeping West Springfield from scoring.

Krech’s turnaround resonated well with Beer.

“I think he just settled down. Being a back-up goalie is very hard. When you have someone as established as Roberts as your goalie, James doesn’t really see that much playing time. It took him a little while to get used to it, but he definitely improved. He was one of the reasons we were able to stay in the game,” said Beer.

Yorktown whittled their deficit to five after a Stephen Kang goal off of Michael Crowe’s assist. But Michael Skaff would score with 33 seconds left in the third quarter to put West Springfield up 10-4 as the quarter came to a close.

The Patriots surged offensively in the final quarter playing with an intensity that had been absent up until that point. Rory Devine, Stephen Kang, and Joe Crawford all scored consecutively while Krech prevented West Springfield from scoring. The vocal Yorktown fans started to cheer with more ferocity as their team cut the deficit down to three points.

With the ball on offense once again and threatening to score, Yorktown committed a costly turnover, which saw their hopes of a comeback dashed. West Springfield’s Zach Hart scored with 1:54 remaining in the game to put his team up 11-7. Michael Crowe added one final goal for Yorktown, but it was too late.

“Yorktown showed why they were one of the final eight teams left in the region. They have a lot of talent,” said Settar after the victory.