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rmink@digitalsports.com
Bethesda-Chevy Chase boy’s lacrosse goalie Jon Goldberg is a four-year varsity starter. But although he has an abundance of varsity experience, Goldberg still stood nervously between the pipes Saturday against Whitman.
That’s because Goldberg doesn’t have a terrible amount of playoff experience. In fact, Bethesda-Chevy Chase had never won a playoff game during Goldberg’s four years.
That changed Saturday as the Barons rolled over Whitman, 14-7, in their 4A/3A West Region quarterfinal game. B-CC will now face Churchill in the regional semifinals.
“For us, you know, playing as many games as we can is just great,” Goldberg said. “It’s great doing well. I think we can do something this year.”
Last year B-CC went 7-6 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Walter Johnson, 4-3. Before making the move from 3A/2A/1A to 4A/3A last year, Bethesda Chevy-Chase fell in the playoffs to Urbana three years in a row.
The Barons posted the best season in B-CC history this year, going 12-2 during the regular season. The Barons’ only Montgomery County loss came against defending region champion Wootton on April 11, 12-8. Besides that, B-CC only lost to St. John’s of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase, who has five players with more than 20 goals, set three other milestones this year, beating Churchill, Whitman and Walter Johnson all for the first time in program history, something Goldberg certainly takes pride in.
“I think we have a lot of younger players and they don’t realize it as much that we’ve never done this before,” Goldberg said. “But the seniors on this team realize what this means to the school and the program of B-CC.”
“I know he cares more than anybody on this team,” B-CC Coach Alan Pohoryles said of Goldberg. “I’m happy for him. I’m happy for all the guys. They’ve earned it.”
Bethesda-Chevy Chase jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by juniors Chris Pappalardo and Gus Vita. But Whitman (7-6) won the share of faceoffs and ground balls during the first quarter and came back to make the score 2-1 on a goal by Pat Slawta. Goldberg held Whitman in check, however, posting 16 saves.
Pappalardo quickly put a stop to any chances Whitman had, winning the first faceoff of the second quarter cleanly and feeding John Tschiderer for a goal just six seconds into the quarter. The Barons scored exactly a minute later on a goal by Jake Sandler and closed the half with two straight goals to take a 6-2 halftime lead.
The Barons opened the second half with seven of the half’s first eight goals, taking a 13-3 lead with seven minutes, 26 seconds left in the game. Junior Thomas Krogh lead the Barons in goals with four, Vita had three goals and Tschiderer had two goals and four assists.
“This is like a new team, a new start for us and it’s real exciting,” Krogh said. “I think it adds a little more pressure but I think it’s better because I think it makes us hungrier to get farther in the playoffs.”
