BY KURT NICOLL
T.J. Cormier vacated the doghouse lickety-split and moved into to the penthouse in a matter of 30 seconds.
The veteran attacker scored the game-winner in W.T. Woodson's 6-5 overtime victory over Chantilly last week, ensuring the Cavaliers a berth in the Group AAA state boys lacrosse quarterfinals against North Stafford.
With just under seven minutes left in the third quarter and the Liberty District champions up by two goals (6-4), Cormier received a 30-second game misconduct for protesting a little too strongly a turnover call by the officials.
Cormier quickly atoned for losing his cool, racing on the field as the penalty expired to set up Robbie Roberson's goal.
"When you come out of the box like that, coach always says, 'go to the ball,'" he commented following Woodson's nail-biting 9-8 victory. "So I was going to the ball and Robbie, Reid [Mayberry] and I have a great connection. As soon as he [Robbie] called my name, I saw him."
Woodson's offensive diversity, coupled with North Stafford's inability to convert on two power-play opportunities and several late-game mistakes proved costly.
"Honestly, I felt like we had it the whole time. We made a couple of big mistakes that hurt us," Wolverine defender Will Parker surmised. They had some good players on offense, but one of the strongest things about that team is the way they ran their offense. Not necessarily individual weapons, they just had a really good team.
"Toward the end it got a little frantic," he added. "If we had settled it down, maybe we would have been OK, but we were trying to get that goal. We had chances; there were good plays, they just didn't pan out for us."
Cavalier goalie Ross Fernandez turned in a solid game, totaling four of his 10 saves in the final quarter as the Wolverines mounted a desperate bid to tie the game and force a possible overtime period.
"Our defense didn't do too well in the beginning, but we stepped it up," said Hernandez, who had played summer lacrosse with several of the North Stafford players in the past. "They were piling a lot of people in the crease and it was difficult to pick up the ball.
"We knew it was a win-or-lose game, so we played our hardest."
The Cavaliers (14-5) are playing with a sense of purpose. Four times they were unofficial state champions before the Virginia High School League made lacrosse a sanctioned sport--now they want to win championship rings of their own.
Woodson coach Jon FitzGerald described Fernandez as the heart-and-soul of his young defense.
North Stafford (17-3) received solid offensive efforts from Brendan Sullivan (three goals and two assists) and sophomore Ned Parker (three goals) but could not keep up with the opposition's high-octane attack.
"We have been down before," Sullivan commented concerning the Wolverines' grit to fight on until the final seconds expired. "Our team knows what to do. We stayed calm.
"We put faith in our offense. We just made one more mistake than they did and the good team is going to convert on it."
Cormier, who had two goals to go along with his critical assist, praised North Stafford as a worthy opponent, but indicated the Wolverine defense was faced a formidable challenge.
"We put six kids on the offensive end who are scorers," he reflected. "It's impossible for the defense to stop us when we're rolling. And we proved that today."
The state tournament resumes tomorrow night with the boys semifinals being played at Robinson High School and the girls semifinals at Westfield.
Saturday's finals are set for 6 and 7:30 p.m. at Westfield.
Although North Stafford is graduating 14 players, Sullivan expressed a belief that the Wolverines can be contenders for another state berth in 2008.
"The underclassmen helped carry the team this year," said the midfielder, who will be attending the Navy Academy's prep school next fall. "I think if they work hard like North Stafford has the tradition of doing, I think they'll be contending next year."
Kurt Nicoll: 540/374-5441| W.T. WOODSON 9 NORTH STAFFORD 8 |