McNary’s Noah Unwin gets by a Beaverton defender and advances the ball upfield in the Celtics 9-7 loss on Friday, April 12 (KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings).
The McNary boys lacrosse team got goals from five different players, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics fell to Beaverton 9-7 on Friday, April 12.
McNary lost a pair of face-offs in the first minute of the game, which led to two Beaverton goals before the Celtics even got an offensive possession.
After the Celtics missed three decent looks midway through the period, the Beavers came back with another score to on top 3-0.
But McNary was finally able to respond late in the quarter.
Tim Gross found teammate Jamison Proulx from behind the net and Proulx fired a rocket that one-hopped into the back of the twine to put the Celtics on the board.
Beaverton, however, increased their lead early in the second quarter with two straight goals, putting McNary’s deficit at 5-1.
Fortunately, for McNary, the Celtics were able to clean some things up on the defensive side to give themselves a chance at a comeback.
“We starting putting our long pole on face-off draws to try and slow down their opportunities,” McNary head coach Michael Hochspeier said. “That’s what helped us come back.”
Midway through the second quarter, Cameron Parks got on the board by going coast-to-coast and reversing around the post for an impressive jump-goal. Then, with under 30 seconds remaining in the half, Jesse Proulx got loose up the left side and put a beautiful touch shot into the back of the net to cut the lead to two before the break.
“We tightened up our passes and that allowed us to get better looks,” Jesse Proulx said. “We had to tell some guys to stop taking outside shots.”
Both teams got multiple opportunities to score to begin the second half, but neither squad could get one through the post for the first seven minutes of the third quarter. That is, until Tyler Palanuk’s got a steal on defense, which he turned into a goal on offense to bring the Celtics within one at the 2:16 mark in the third quarter.
Beaverton responded on their next possession with their first score in nearly 20 minutes of game action, but Parks’ second goal of the contest got the deficit back to just one at the end of the third period.
It appeared McNary had the momentum to open the final period as they tied the game 33 seconds into the quarter. Jesse Proulx’s shot-attempt was saved by the Beaverton goalie, but Proctor stole the outlet pass and put one in the back of the net.
“These guys are resilient,” Hochspeier said. “They never give up and they know how to keep fighting, keep playing and keep pushing.”
The Beavers scored moments later to regain the lead. But Jesse Proulx put in his second score with 8:44 remaining in the contest by faking that he was going to reset the offense and then reversing his field to just sneak a shot past the Beaverton keeper.
“We were just looking at getting the top-side shots,” Jesse Proulx said.
However, the McNary offense became stagnant, settling for low-percentage shots, and didn’t score for the remainder of the game.
Beaverton scored to grab an 8-7 advantage with 3:26 remaining. The Celtics had several opportunities to force overtime, but back-to-back turnovers in the final minute doomed McNary down the stretch.
The Beavers got their final goal off a McNary turnover with 13 seconds left in the game.
“When it came down to it, Beaverton was able to get the ball into their key players hands late and they were tough to slow down,” Hochspeier said.
McNary hosts Sisters at 8 p.m. on Friday