St. Xavier lacrosse jets off to state tournament

SPRINGFIELD TWP. – After beating Moeller High School 8-7 in sudden-death overtime in the Division I regional semifinals May 28, chants of “We want state” rang from the St. Xavier High School lacrosse locker room.

Those chants rang true May 31 after the Bombers avenged a regular season loss to beat Mason High School 14-10 and advance to the state final four.

“I’m really happy for this team,” coach Nate Sprong said. “These seniors put in a lot of work and now it’s paying off for them.”

The Bombers are scheduled to play Dublin Jerome High School June 4 in the state semifinals at Centerville High School, but St. Xavier’s graduation ceremony is set for the same day, so the exact date of the game remains up in the air.

Mason jumped to an early 3-0 and 5-2 lead before St. X ripped off five straight goals to take a 7-5 lead. The Comets tied it at nine, but the Bombers never relinquished the lead and outscored Mason 5-1 over the final 18 minutes.

“They are a great transition team and got on us early,” Sprong said of the Comets. “It took us a bit to settle down and play our game, but I told the guys relax, play your game and they did just that.”

The Bombers are in search of their first Division I state title after winning the Division II title in 2000.

Their shot at state nearly came to an end against the Crusaders in the regional semifinals. It was a rematch of the 2013 semis that saw Moeller come out on top, but this time was different.

St. X controlled the first half taking a 3-2 lead into halftime, but the Crusaders stormed out of the half scoring two straight goals to steal the lead back 4-3. The Bombers answered immediately with three straight goals, but Moeller managed to fight back and tie the game at seven with 1:41 to play sending the game into overtime.

Less than three minutes in, senior Jack Caudill of Hyde Park netted the game-winner sending the Bombers on to play the Comets.

After failing to beat the Crusaders in over three years, St. X topped the Crusaders twice in 2014.

“These games against Moeller are always great games,” Caudill said still smiling after scoring the game-winner. “Whether you win or lose, it’s always fun.”

This senior class found themselves in the regional semifinals for the third consecutive season, after losing to the Comets in 2012 and Moeller last season. As seniors, falling short of state wasn’t an option.

“I think earlier in the season we had the tendency to panic when we’d get down some goals and we kind of broke that trend (against Moeller),” Caudill said. “I think we’ve shown the rest of the lacrosse world we can play.”