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Chantilly boys win first region title
Chantilly senior Kevin O'Neill does not try to be a flashy lacrosse player. But when he received a pass from Mike Quigq in front of the Oakton net during the fourth quarter of Wednesday's Northern Region championship game, there was only one way O'Neill could shoot the ball – over his shoulder.
O'Neill's circus shot found the back of the net with 4:40 to play and gave the Chargers their first lead of the night at 7-6.
“I just try to throw it in every now and then when it's necessary,” O'Neill joked about his spectacular goal.
Chantilly added another tally just less than three minutes later and defeated the Cougars, 8-6, to win the first region title in team history.
“It's exactly what you'd think it would be,” said senior Ian Mills. “I'm extremely happy for everyone that was involved in this. It's one of our goals. It feels good to achieve a goal, but we're not done yet.”
Wednesday's win was anything but easy for the Chargers (17-0), who trailed for most of the game. Oakton came out flying on offense, recording 16 first-half shots and taking a 2-1 lead into halftime. The teams traded goals in the third quarter, and a Rob Koster score with 39 seconds on the clock gave the Cougars a 5-4 advantage heading into the final 12 minutes.
The Chargers tied the score at 5-5 and 6-6 on goals by Joe Fratter and Brendan Waters before O'Neill's heroics put them ahead for good.
“Our guys finally settled down in the last quarter and started to play strong and smart team ball,” Chantilly coach Kevin Broderick said. “They got challenged tonight, they rose to that challenge and they were fortunate to come away with a win. It's going to give us a lot of momentum going into states.”
Chantilly hopes to have senior Tyler Ott back for the state tournament, which begins May 31. Ott missed his second straight game Wednesday with a mild concussion suffered last Thursday against Woodson. According to Broderick, Ott is scheduled to see a neurologist on Friday.
“He's done well on his tests, but we just have to play it by ear,” Broderick said. “That's one of the challenges right now. We did okay last game and this game it was a little harder getting guys to step up for him to take his role. He's a dynamic scorer, he's a playmaker.”
With or without Ott, the Concorde District and Northern Region champion Chargers are determined to add a state title to their trophy case.
“We have to take it one game at a time and we'll see how it turns out,” said senior Jake Nolan. “We have to come out strong, not like tonight.”
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