Dayton Subdues St. John's in Overtime
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
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| Although he was on the losing end, Stuart Van Ess was
sensational for St. John's in goal, stopping 19 Dayton shots in the
overtime loss for the Johnnies. © Cecil Copeland |
DENVER - As Ryan Arling was loading up his shot midway through
overtime, it just felt right.
Standing all alone 15 yards from the cage after taking a feed from
his Dayton teammate, Alex Walter, with just the goalie standing
between the Flyers and a date in the MCLA Division II championship
game, Arling just relied on muscle memory.
"That's the shot we work all the time in practice," said Arling
after deposting the ball in the upper lefthand corner of the St.
John's net for the 9-8 triumph. "It was always there during the
regular season, but it clicked right there."
"It didn't work exactly the way we wanted it," added Walter, who
finished with four assists. "When we work that play, the bottom
usually opens up, but the pole cut it off and Ryan was open."
"It was an Air Force play in honor of how the Air Force runs their
cuts off the crease," said Dayton coach Charlie Mark, a Navy man
himself.
Arling earned the right to be at the bottom of the pile after the
Dayton players charged the field, but the top-seeded Flyers came
this close to not advancing to the finals.
The man that Arling beat for the goal, Johnnies netminder Stuart
Van Ess, was the story of the game up until that point. Stoning the
high-powered Dayton offense on numerous point blank shots and
seemingly easy transition goals, Van Ess kept St. John's in the
contest the entire way.
"Oh my God. He was great," said Mark of Van Ess. "We were
frustrated because he was stuffing us when we were shooting five
feet away. He was not only making saves, but he was getting in our
head."
"It doesn't come down to the last play; you have to play great on
every play," said Van Ess, who finished with 19 saves. "We had to
play our best, and we did. It just fell short."
It appeared that the Johnnies wouldn't fall short when the second
half started.
Tied at five apiece at the break, St. John's opened up an 8-5 lead
in third quarter, capped by a Brian Strauss goal with 3:23 left.
Dayton responded by scoring goals 26 apart with under a minute
remaining in the third.
Walter took a feed from Christian Furbay with 52 ticks on the
scoreboard and the Flyers were awarded the ball and a one minute
EMO after the Johnnies were tagged with a late hit. With 26.8
seconds remaining, Furbay found Walter to trim the margin to
8-7.
Walter would take another feed early in the fourth to tie the
game.
The two teams traded goals over the remainder of the final frame,
setting up Arling's game-winner in overtime.
"They are an offensive-minded team and we're a defensive-minded
team," said Van Ess. "When you put that together, you know you are
going to get a good game."
The first half was just as solid, with the two teams matching runs
in the first half. Unlike the second half, it was Dayton initiating
and St. John's answering.
The Flyers started the game by taking a 2-0 lead in the first 2:51.
Alex Urban opened the scoring 36 seconds in off a dish from Furbay
before Sean Hartnett notched an unassisted marker.
Brandon Brinkman put the Johnnies on the board midway through the
first quarter before Mark Erickson bounced a shot past Ben
Domyancic - a converted attackmen who took over in the Flyers goal
when the starting goal went down earlier this season -
with 58 seconds to knot the affair at deuces after one period.
Dayton again put together another skein, this time the three-goal
variety for a 5-2 edge with 9:29 remaining in the half. Patrick
Weinandy, Zach Burke and Urban each tallied unassisted goals in the
Flyers run.
With the game nearly getting away from St. John's they
answered the bell again. Brian Strauss converted of an inside roll
with 6:29 left in the half before Pete McGrath struck 55 ticks
later to trim the margin to 5-4.
With 20.9 seconds left before the buzzer, Brinkman capped the
Johnnies' response heading into the break.
Dayton will now meet St. Thomas in the finals, a match-up of the
two top seeds in the tournament.
