The featured Texas high school lacrosse game of the week, which was live streamed on the THSLL web site, took place this past Saturday at 12 Noon at Dragon Stadium in Southlake. Both teams needed the win to keep their hopes alive of grabbing the final available playoff spot in Division 1 North District.
It was a tightly contested game throughout, with plenty of exciting plays and swings in momentum. Southlake opened the scoring with one of their two first quarter goals. The early offense for Coppell came from a couple of common contributors, with team scoring leader Reese Walker making a great steal, scoop and open-net score, followed by two unassisted goals from Senior Ben Goyne, to give Coppell a 3-2 lead after one quarter of play.
In the second quarter, the defenses tightened up and it looked like the half would end with that same score, when Coppell’s Ben Goyne got possession behind the net with under five seconds remaining, fired a pass to Reese Walker, who buried a laser shot into the back of the net as time expired, giving Coppell a 4-2 advantage at the half.
Southlake controlled the action for much of the 3rd quarter, scoring twice and holding Coppell scoreless, to make it a 4-4 tie game going into the final quarter. But that is when Coppell had a couple of players step up and deliver clutch goals at just the right time. First, Sophomore Ethan Bivens, who had been playing heavy shifts as a defensive short stick middie all day, dodged down the right alley and fired a perfectly placed shot over the Southlake goalie to give Coppell the lead once again. A few minutes later, Junior Zach Eckley, who just looked faster than his opponents all day, took the ball behind the net, crossed up his defender, then sprinted to the front of the net for a critical insurance goal, and also drew a dead-ball penalty that allowed Coppell to take even more time off the clock after that.
The defense for Coppell featured some great individual and team efforts, fueled by defensemen Harper DeLoach, Dylan Thompson and Ryan Gordon, LSM Connor Choate, and short-stick defenders Ethan Bivens, Tommy Donaldson, and Joe Fex, among others. Goalie Hayden MacArthur was strong with 7 saves and 3 ground balls on the game. Senior Ryan Gordon was key to the defensive team effort, as he drew the assignment of covering Southlake’s top offensive player on the year, and held him to no goals and no assists.
Despite Southlake cutting the lead to one goal in the final minutes, and some tense moments running out the final seconds of the game, Coppell came away with a 6-5 win and their playoff hopes still in tact. They will now prepare for their final regular season game on Tuesday, April 25, against Allen, where a win should gain them a post-season spot.
The strong play by Coppell continued as the JV teams squared off in the afternoon match. Coppell was able to get out to a quick lead with Peyton Barron hitting Daniel Gonzalez for the first goal of the game. Coppell was able to control possession for much of the game and worked some long offensive possessions to keep Southlake from getting any type of momentum. Ethan Bivens and Peyton Barron each scored unassisted goals to give Coppell a 3-1 lead at the half.
The defensive effort was led by goalie Lee Martin, who had 7 saves and 3 ground balls while allowing only 3 goals scored, while Luke Bivens and Reed Robbins each grabbed 3 ground balls.
The second half featured more of the same, with Marc Webb adding an unassisted goal. That was followed by a great catch of a fast break pass by Griffen Hess, who was able to flip the ball back for an assist to Daniel Gonzalez for his 2nd goal of the game, allowing Coppell a comfortable three-goal lead. The Cowboys were able to melt the remaining time off the clock and come away with the 5-3 win. The Coppell JV team will play their final game of the season on Tuesday night as well.