By Michael Wojtychiw
Whitney Young and Lane Tech. Chicago Public League boys lacrosse. The two schools are the only two schools that have won city titles and have played in at least three consecutive city title games.
So when the two faced off again May 10 at Lane Stadium for the city title, not many people were surprised.
When the two met early in he season, the Champions walked away with a 10-3 victory, so they had some confidence coming into the championship game.
That wasn’t the case on this sunny day, however, as the Champions had to hold off the Dolphins and win a tightly-contested 9-8 game for their second consecutive city championship and for the first time ever, winning a city championship on the same day their girls counterparts won one as well.
“This means everything, especially doing it at home,” Lane’s Patrick Wilk said. “We’re such a tight-knit group, a close family. We’ve been workking for this all year. This is the standard now.
“It’s even better now that it’s against Whitney. They played a great game, but we battled through, stayed together and pulled it off.”
“This year is a pretty much a new team, we had 17 seniors last year,” Lane coach Quinn Cashion said. “This year, it’s a smaller group, tight-knot. What’s kept them going is the brotherhood they have with each other. They don’t really feel like they’re coming to practice, it’s more of a feeling that they’re coming to hang out with their friends.
“Creating the culture of being happy with each other allows them to have these type of moments.”
One of the more impressive things about the Champions’ win was the fact it was a group of players who either weren’t on the varsity squad last year and/or players who will be returning next season, looking for another title. The team graduated 17 seniors from last year’s city-winning squad.
One of those players was Wilk, a sophomore attack who was not on the varsity squad last season. Wilk finished with three goals, tying for the team lead with junior Ian Donohoe. Wilk added an assist, while Donohoe had two of his own.
“It’s all about being in the right spots at the right time,” Wilk said. “I’m a big believer in that the hardest worker always comes through and I try working the hardest and getting all the ground balls I could.”
Much like many lacrosse games, this was a game of runs.
After Young took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Thomas Corken, the Champions rattled off three goals in a three-minute span, including goals by Donohoe and Wilk.
A goal by Karsten Ewert with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter, started a 4-0 run that gave the Dolphins a 6-3 lead five minutes into the second quarter. Ewert scored three of the goals, while AJ Mechavich added the other.
A Donohoe goal stopped the bleeding with just over six minutes remaining in the half and another Lane goal by Liam Hub cut it to 6-5 with five-and-a-half minutes remaining in the half. The teams would trade goals (by Corken and Wilk) heading into the half, with the Dolphins up 7-6.
But that’s when the Champions took over.
The Lane defense was outstanding in the third and fourth quarters, forcing seven Young turnovers and allowing the Dolphins to get only two shots off until they scored to make it a one-goal game with 2:30 left, courtesy of another Ewert goal.
But it was too little, too late for Young.
“We were talking to our coach at halftime and he was telling the defense at halftime to stay on their hands more, don’t let them top side and not let them shoot overhand and it ended up working,” Wilk said. “Our goalie, Jackson Van Dyke, made a couple clutch saves.”
“In the first half, we lacked poise and let them play their game,” Cashion said. “We really focused on taking away transition, focusing on half-field sets, not try to create turnovers but have them make them themselves.
“Jackson is a stud. He’s going to be the single-saves leader after this year by about 50 saves. He’s had an amazing year and is that calm presence for us.”
Finley Gutierrez and Wilk were the two goal scorers for Lane in the second half.
Photos by Zoe Davis/OSA
