Cougars Rally Falls Short in Quarterfinal Loss to Langley

The Langley Saxons hit their first snag in their quest for a third straight Virginia AAA title, but even a sloppy stretch in the second and third quarters that included a nearly 13-minute scoring drought wasn’t enough to stop them from advancing to the Northern Region semifinals with an 11-7 win over Oakton. Seven different players scored for Langley, and Andrew Spivey’s late game heroics helped seal the result.

After the Saxons shut out the Cougars in the first quarter and built a 6-0 lead, their play began to deteriorate. That allowed Oakton to claw its way back with a 4-0 run during which Sean Schweiker scored three of his game-high four goals. One of those came with seven seconds left in the first half, and another with one second remaining in the third quarter when he beat one-on-one coverage on a curl from X.

“It looked like we were panicking a little bit,” Langley head coach Earl Brewer said. “We’re a veteran team, but we made some silly errors. I was a little disappointed, but we made some great plays in the fourth quarter.”

Many of those plays were made by Spivey, who finished with eight saves, including a stop on a wide open Jack Harris with 7:19 remaining and the Saxons holding on to a 9-6 lead. Five Oakton penalties in the fourth quarter also helped derail the rally, and Langley was able to maintain possession for much of the final period.

First-team all-region goalie Connor Anderson made 13 saves for Oakton, drawing high praise from Brewer, who paused to offer an extended congratulations after the game.

“I stopped him [after the game] and just said ‘Connor, you were amazing,’” Brewer said. “One guy doesn’t win a game, but he kept them in the game for sure.”

Twice the Cougars pulled within two, but the Saxons balanced attack was always there to respond. Sean Ahearn, Jack Sandusky, Mike Adams and Hunter Bentz each scored two goals. Spivey, who took over the starting job last year as a sophomore and shouldered the workload during the Saxons’ run to the state title, said his team knew what was at stake and was able to regroup to close out the game.

“Fourth quarter we knew we had to step it up,” he said. “They got within two goals, that was kind of scary, but we did what we had to do to win.”

In the semifinals, Patriot District champions Annandale, who advanced with a 9-8 win over Robinson, awaits. The Atoms feature one of the top offenses in the region and sophomore goalie Joe Bermingham, who allowed the second fewest goals in the region during the regular season. Spivey at first offered a diplomatic response when asked to preview the match up, but soon shifted to a more confident approach.

“We’re going to have to shut them down. Our defense is good enough to do anything,” he said.

Brewer, meanwhile, waxed philosophic about the nature of playoff lacrosse.

“There are no style points in the playoffs. It’s survive and advance. Everybody left is good.”

Oakton plays host to the semis and Robinson will host the finals. Langley and Annandale will meet in the late semifinal game next Tuesday at 7 p.m. West Springfield and Chantilly play at 5 p.m., and the winners of those games will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 26.