Irvington rallies from 3-goal deficit to record 3-goal win

Dobbs Ferry came out strong and led 6-3 with 4 minutes left in the third period, but the rest of the game belonged to Irvington as the Bulldogs rallied with six-straight goals for a 9-6 victory.

“That fourth quarter we came out and said we have to change this around; we really brought it that fourth quarter,” explained Irvington senior Drew Cortese. “We really wanted it. Dobbs is our rival and we really wanted to win at home and we got it going. Everybody stepped up.”

Cortese did his part, coming up with a big goal with less than 3 minutes left to give the Bulldogs a two-goal lead, but it was a balanced attack that made the difference with six different goal scorers for the Bulldogs.

While they spread it around on offense, the big reason for the turnaround was that the Bulldogs started to come up with the ground balls to get possession.

“We just told them trust your teammates and hang in there — a three-goal lead in lacrosse can be made up with some composure and courage and hustle,” Irvington coach Mike Schaefer said. “The fourth quarter was impressive, and the first three quarters not so impressive for us. Both our goalies did a good job for us, and they did a nice job clearing the ball. We lost the ground-ball battle, certainly for the first half, and then managed to turn that around in the second half.”

A perfect example of that hustle came on what proved to be the winning goal for Irvington. With the score tied up 6-6, there was a big scrum near midfield for a ground ball as neither team could come up with possession.

Finally, Irvington’s Xavier Canfin managed to push the ball out of the pack and flick it ahead to Nick Grados, who was wide open in front of Dobbs Ferry goalie Owen Fischer. Grados buried the shot to give the Bulldogs the lead for good at 7-6 with 6:09 left to play.

“Xavier does so much that does not show up in the score book,” Schaefer remarked. “This is his first year playing lacrosse and nobody can keep up with him running the field. Ground balls — that’s the courage plays that can help win games.”

The first half the two teams traded goals until Brandon Jandoo was able to score to give Dobbs Ferry a 4-3 lead at the half.

The Eagles built on that lead in the start of the second half. Eli Amantia continued to win face-offs to give Dobbs Ferry possession, and Mateus Hertz-Bird and Andrew Deakins each scored a goal about a minute apart to give the Eagles a 6-3 lead.

Irvington needed a spark to get the momentum back, and Will Tuckett provided it as he scored a goal with about 4 minutes left in the third to cut the lead down to 6-4 and fire the Bulldogs up for the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs opened the quarter with a goal by Grados, and just 20 seconds later Finn Cleary scored to even it up at 6-6.

That set the stage for the last-minute heroics as Grados scored off the assist from Canfin followed by the goal from Cortese, and Grados scored again with 2 minutes left off an assist from Colin Callahan to make the final score 9-6.

Grados led the Bulldogs with the hat trick as he finished with three goals and an assist. Cortese scored two goals and added an assist. Callahan scored a goal and had two assists, while both Cleary and Tuckett scored a goal and had one assist. Justin Shapiro also scored for the Bulldogs.

Sebastian Rafferty and Michael Sollecito each played a half in goal for the Bulldogs and finished with a combined 11 saves.

For Dobbs Ferry, Hertz-Bird led the way with a hat trick, scoring three goals. Dann finished with a goal and an assist, while Jandoo and Deakins each scored a goal. Amantia had an assist for the Eagles. Fischer was credited with eight saves in goal.

“We played hard, just couldn’t put it together for four quarters,” Dobbs Ferry coach Keith Galante commented. “Eli did really well on face-offs for three quarters, and the fourth quarter we kind of let him down and couldn’t come up with the ground balls. We just couldn’t close it out.”

Galante was hoping his team could bounce back on Monday, May 8, for their Senior Day game against New Rochelle, and they did with a 10-7 victory. The Eagles emerged from a 6-3 deficit and stormed back for a 7-1 run to close out the game.

Hertz-Bird had a huge game as he led Dobbs Ferry to the win with six goals. Jackson Kearns scored a pair of goals for the Eagles, while Deakins had three assists, and Amantia dominated on face-offs.