By Phil Murphy
Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
**After enjoying the story, check below for game clips. Full video highlights are posted, re-live the game in 13 minutes below.**In Tuesday's Concorde District lacrosse tournament semifinal, unbeaten Chantilly held Westfield without a shot for more than a quarter.
Problem was, the Chargers still trailed by a goal the entire time.
But after 19 unanswered shots at Bulldog goalkeeper
Ross Lavin – and an unaltered scoreboard – the Chargers broke through on senior
Corey Aferiat's second of four goals to spark a 6-4 home win.
Chantilly (12-0) will face Oakton (8-5) for the Concorde District Championship at 8 p.m. Friday at Robinson.
"This feels unbelievable," said Aferiat, who has committed to play at Muhlenburg College (Allentown, Pa.) next season. "We have never heard that [we were in the District final], at least since I was a freshman. I don't know about before that, but we just want to keep pushing it.
"We have great senior leadership, a couple guys –
Kevin O'Neill,
Ian Mills – our captains, they really push us. And our coaches ... they push us to do us best every time and we can't give anything less."
The final score on Tuesday was clearly dissimilar to the 13-2 Charger victory from April 17, but the flow of play was quite comparable -- Chantilly held a decided 38-9 advantage in shots-on-goal. The difference on Tuesday, however, was the debut of Westfield's zone defense.
"Defensively, we came out with a different game plan this time, coming out with a zone," said Bulldog Coach
Gary Malm, who has led Westfield to the past two Virginia AAA state title games. "We figured it would mix them up a little bit, make them think a little bit. Not that it didn't work, our offense never showed up today, all four quarters.
"We held this team to six goals – four goals, really, going into end of the fourth quarter. But I don't think we had five shots in the second half, partly because they played us well defensively ... and we just couldn't get it going."
Trailing 3-2 at the end of the first quarter, the Chargers out-shot the Bulldogs, 14-0, in the second period but failed to score. Westfield clogged the goal mouth with well-placed defenders and Lavin, a senior, recorded 12 saves.
"We thought that, if we had to go to overtime, we had patience, we were going to put it together and put it in the back of the net," said Chantilly Coach
Kevin Broderick, whose roster features 16 seniors. "We thought if we play our game, eventually it would come around. There was a lot of talk about us -- with the long layoff – whether we'd have our A-game or not today.
"Would we rise up and have the composure with a challenge that was there? We thought that we could do that if we just took our time."
At the 8:33 mark of the third quarter, the Chantilly finally found a necessary, extra gear. Aferiat received a precise pass from Mills in an offensive set, turned and equalized on a low shot that bounced into the back of the net.
Aferiat would add the go-ahead goal just over five minutes later and the game-clinching transition goal from a string of passes from senior
Tyler Ott with 3:06 left in regulation.
"Coach
[Bob] Waters and Coach
[Kevin] O'Connor pulled me aside before the game and told me to shoot low," he said. "That's what I was trying to do: If I did shoot high, to look low. They were like, 'He's a really good goalie.'
"I know him from summer leagues and such. I know his tendencies. I did my best to stick it, that's really all I could hope for. And just hope it goes in."
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
1 2 3 4 FWestfield 3 0 0 1 - 4
Chantilly 2 0 2 2 - 6Goals:1st - CH - Jake Nolan (10:09)
1st - WF - Patrick Knowlan (6:27)
1st - WF - Eric Alter (4:26)
1st - CH - Corey Aferiat (2:49)
1st - WF - Patrick Knowlan (0:04)
3rd - CH - Corey Aferiat (8:33)
3rd - CH - Corey Aferiat (3:02)
4th - WF - Eric Alter (10:57)
4th - CH - Joe Fratter (6:33)
4th - CH - Corey Aferiat (3:06)