Peninsula Daily News
AGNEW — The Olympic Mountaineers had few in reserve for Saturday’s non-conference lacrosse showdown with Redmond.
In fact, they had none.
And in the end, that ended up being their undoing.
The Mountaineers lost their final home game of the season 8-6 to Redmond at the rainy Storm King Soccer Fields in Agnew after their ironman unit ran out of gas in the second half.
That’s when they saw a 3-2 halftime lead slip, as Redmond scored five third-quarter goals to surge ahead to a 7-4 advantage that eventually held up.
“Without any subs, it’s hard to play commando lacrosse,” said Mountaineers coach Dave Farrington, whose 10-man team had to play the whole game without substituting. “They got three or four lines of middies, and we got one.
“They got tired. And when they get tired, they lose their focus and they get kind of sloppy.”
The Mountaineers (3-3 in league, 3-10 overall) will play their final game of the regular season at North Kitsap on Tuesday.
If they manage to knock off the Vikings in that contest, they will qualify for the playoffs for the second straight year, according to Farrington.
“We played North really tough at home last time [a 4-2 loss],” Farrington said.
“If we have our full 13, we might have a shot.”
The Mountaineers — made up of athletes from Port Angeles and Sequim — showed signs of competitiveness throughout Saturday’s tilt against Redmond (8-4).
Keegan Gallagher scored three goals and Joey Hall two goals and one assist for Olympic.
In fact, Hall would’ve had a hat trick like Gallagher if he hadn’t had a goal early taken away in the third quarter for using an illegal stick.
That ruling briefly kept the Mountaineers from tying the score at 4-4.
A few minutes later, Gallagher scored the equalizer for his second goal of the game.
“He had a great game today,” Farrington said of the junior. “I asked him to step up for us, and he did.
“But we needed the whole team to step up.”
Redmond answered with three straight scores to close out the quarter, two coming from the game’s leading scorer, Liam Watkins, for a 7-4 edge.
Watkins finished with four goals and one assist.
Olympic rallied back in the fourth after Gallagher and Hall each scored to bring the team within one at 7-6.
But several attempts at a tying goal were either turned away by Redmond goalkeeper Nico Shewey (12 saves) or sailed wide.
Gallagher and Hall each got a look on Redmond’s doorstep during that time only to just miss.
After the latter’s shot was gathered in by Shewey, Redmond quickly advanced the ball up the field on a counter attack and scored to put the game away with five minutes left.
“We had a chance,” Farrington said. “The kids played hard. We always play hard.”
Mountaineers goaltender Julian Walls finished with nine saves.
Redmond 8, Olympic 6
Redmond 1 1 5 1 — 8
Mountaineers 2 1 1 2 — 6
Scoring Summary
First quarter: 1, Redmond, Watkins, 10:49; 1, Olympic, Gallagher, 3:16; 2, Olympic, Hall, 0:11.
Second quarter: 2, Redmond, Stanky (Watkins), 10:51; 3, Olympic, Carpenter (Hall), 8:45.
Third quarter: 3, Redmond, Stanky (Armatrout), 9:47; 4, Redmond, Watkins (Aebi), 8:01; 4, Olympic, Gallagher, 3:45; 5, Redmond, Watkins (Downey), 3:15; 6, Redmond, Watkins, 1:48; 7, Redmond, Stanky, 0:14.
Fourth quarter: 5, Olympic, Gallagher, 9:40; 6, Hall, 8:55; 8, Redmond, Unnamed, 5:29.
