MORGANTOWN — Despite being down, a two-goal deficit to be exact, Mike DeVault thought his West Fairmont boys’ lacrosse team played perhaps its best half all season.
“We felt good,” DeVault, the Polar Bears’ coach, said. “We shut their offense down. We kept the ball out of their end. Our defensive effort was tremendous.
“But we just ran out of gas.”
And host University took advantage. The second-seeded Hawks turned that 3-1 halftime cushion into an 11-1 victory over No. 3 West Saturday afternoon in the West Virginia state lacrosse semifinals.
Numbers-wise at least, the deck was stacked against the Polar Bears from the start.
University had the luxury, much like a hockey team, of multiple lines. West, meanwhile, was forced to rely on a significantly smaller pool of experienced players before clearing its bench late in the contest.
“We’re not a real deep team,” DeVault said. “In the second half, we held the ball and were just a step slower out there. That’s when (University) pounced and started getting a lot of shots. They have a pretty high-powered club.”
Louie Romano had the Polar Bears’ lone goal. David Bonazza assisted on the first-half score.
Tyler Ross added 14 saves in goal for West, which wrapped its season with a 12-7 record, the first winning season in the program’s four-year history.
“There are a lot of underclassmen coming back and there’s a lot of kids ready to try the sport,” DeVault said. “Lacrosse is catching on in West Virginia and at Fairmont Senior. All in all, it was a great season. We’re building a nice program here.”
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Girls Lacrosse
West Fairmont 15, Buckhannon-Upshur 7
FAIRMONT — West Fairmont’s girls’ lacrosse team advanced to the first-ever West Virginia state title game with a convincing semifinal victory Friday night.
The top-seeded Polar Bears (9-7-1) will play the winner of Monday’s University-Morgantown contest at noon next Saturday at East-West Stadium.
Morgan Cain paced West, which led 9-5 at halftime, with six goals.
Hannah Nagowski added three goals. Michelle Wilson and Mackenzie Murdock each scored twice. Jenna Garcia and first-year player Allison Clayton chipped in single goals for the Polar Bears.
Kacci Skinner tallied seven saves and Gabby Jenab had four in the victory.
Local sports
May 11, 2008
West boys lacrosse falls; girls move on
- Local sports
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Christmas fireworks
Fairmont Senior’s boys’ basketball team put on its greatest offensive display in years Tuesday against the visiting Brooke Bruins.
- Conference’s best Fairmont Senior ruled the North Central Athletic Conference in 2009, going through its league schedule unbeaten en route to a 9-1 regular season.
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Future Falcons
Kaitlyn Antolock, Kelsi Wright and Jessica Parsons each had visions of continuing their basketball careers at the collegiate level. The North Marion trio, though, never gave much thought to playing together.
- Hays: Huskies turned the corner in ’09 Daran Hays thinks of himself as a perfectionist. So while part of the North Marion football coach is pleased with his team’s play in 2009, the other half views his first year in the eyes of a skeptic, always wanting a little more.
- Twelve county players named all-NCAC soccer Fairmont Senior’s boys’ soccer team won the North Central Athletic Conference and advanced to the state tournament in 2009.
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Getting revenge
East Fairmont’s volleyball team got a little revenge on Robert C. Byrd when it counted the most.
- Huskies receive dose of bad karma After last year’s loss at Rachel, a defeat that snapped North Marion’s long winless streak, the Huskies figured Elkins would look to exact some revenge Friday night.
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Taken to task
If you somehow aren’t sure of Bridgeport’s offensive philosophy, about what the Indians are all about with a football in their hands, let lineman Zachary Stanley explain.
- Elkins nips North on last-second FG Cory Broughton waited a year to get redemption against North Marion.
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All eyes on Bridgeport
The showdown the state has been waiting to see will take place tonight at Wayne Jaimson Field in Bridgeport.
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