Dylan Haas enters the game late in the second quarter of Poolesville's 17-6 win over Wheaton.
Wheaton huddles around coach Oscar Amaguana during a halftime meeting.
By Robert Klemko
Up 9-5 late in the third quarter Monday, Poolesville's boy's lacrosse team watched as an under-manned, exhausted Wheaton team clawed its way back into the game.
Consecutive goals from junior attack Sam Tripoulas had cut the lead to four, the Knights smallest second-half deficit in a winless season.
That came as no surprise to Poolesville assistant coach Donnie Beukema, who had warned the boys about looking past the team that earned its first two wins in eight seasons last year.
"The thing about Wheaton is, they've got so much heart people seem to sleep on them," Beukema said.
Poolesville woke up when senior attack Patrick Moore fired consecutive goals during the final minute of the quarter, sparking a 7-2 Falcon run that sent Wheaton home with its third loss.
The 17-6 decision is Poolesville's second win after beating Watkins Mill 13-1 last Thursday. Junior midfielder Dylan Haas led the Falcon offense, notching six assists and two goals. Senior attack Kyle Corfman scored a team-high six goals and dished out four assists.
"I think we played a pretty good game on offense," Haas said. "Once they came close we just had to kind of break down on defense and slow things down on offense."
Poolesville coach Eddie Zacharek said he was concerned that his team had underestimated the Knights.
"The boys came in tonight over-looking Wheaton, I thought. We had to have a couple pep talks with them," Zacharek said. The whole theme of the night tonight was picking up ground balls, keeping possession and playing solid defense... the team played pretty solid."
Wheaton coach Oscar Amaguana got two goals from Tripoulas and another pair from junior Casey Gedlin. Wheaton plays with a short bench that requires several starters play nearly the entire game.
"We only run two lines so our boys get tired and there's not much we can do about it... I think we just ran out of gas," Amaguana said. "The kids did a good job of staying with this team. They wiped us out early last year and this time we stuck with them for three quarters."
For Poolesville, the season is a chance at redemption for a 4-10 finish and a second-round playoff exit in 2007, uncharacteristic of a program that won three Montgomery 3A⁄2A⁄1A Division titles from 2003-2006.
Haas and the rest of the Falcons are looking forward to Wednesday's home match-up with a Clarksburg team led by coach Curtiss Belcher, who guided Poolesville to its latest division title two years ago.
"Tonight, we were looking forward to the team that stole our coach," Haas said. "That's what was on our minds.
Poolesville 17
Wheaton 6