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Chantilly reaches its first state final
In preparation for Thursday night's spring sports awards banquet, Chantilly boys lacrosse coach Kevin Broderick was asked to write a paragraph about the season on Tuesday afternoon. The problem was, the Chargers were scheduled to face Western Albemarle last night in the state semifinals and Broderick was hesitant to pen a season recap when there were still games to be played.
“I really didn't want to do that,” Broderick said with a laugh. “I'm a little superstitious, didn't want to jinx it.”
Broderick eventually acquiesced to the request and wrote about Chantilly's season of firsts. In 2008, the Chargers won their first-ever Concorde District and Northern Region titles, and advanced to the state tournament for the first time. And with a 10-5 win over Western Albemarle Tuesday, they will now have a chance to claim their first state championship Saturday at 7 p.m. at Westfield High School.
“I'm happy,” said senior captain Ian Mills, who had three goals in the win over the Warriors. “We just beat a good team. They've got a bunch of quality kids on that team. I'm just happy for everyone. We moved the ball well, we played good defense. We've just got to get ready for [Saturday].”
Awaiting Chantilly in the state final will be a familiar foe. Oakton defeated Albemarle, 14-3, in Tuesday's other semifinal to advance to the title game.
“Our guys are happy they won, but they also know that the season is all about Saturday,” said Broderick, whose team has beaten the Cougars in all three meetings this year. “They're going to focus on that and bring it. They know they're going to have good competition, they're going to have to play their best game of the year. We didn't play our best lacrosse today. Hopefully we do Saturday.”
Chantilly (19-0) started out slow Tuesday night, watching Western Albemarle take leads of 1-0 and 2-1 late in the first quarter before the Chargers were able to get into a rhythm. Chantilly rebounded to score eight straight goals over the next two-plus quarters, however, to cruise to a comfortable win.
“I don't think we were as patient on offense,” Broderick said. “I think we took some shots that we could've waited for a better look. We could've made an extra pass here or there, an extra cut.
“We had a couple opportunities early and it just didn't come together, but they played their game. We knew we would get our looks and good things would happen.”
Senior Corey Aferiat had three goals and two assists for the Chargers, while senior Kevin O'Neill added two goals and two assists.
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