Cape Henlopen High School sophomore Chris Woodruff scored on an assist by sophomore Daniel Steele with 2:05 left in the Delaware Boys’ Lacrosse State Tournament championship and the Vikings held on to upset Salesianum School, 8-7, May 24 at Dover High School.
Woodruff, a middie, had taken a shot that bounced off Sallies goalie Mark Manos. Steele picked up the ball and passed it to Woodruff.
“I came around the goal and I was in front of the crease. I was wide open,” Woodruff said.
Salesianum middie Daniel Caton and attack Kevin Kilpatrick responded by attempting consecutive shots, but Cape Henlopen goalie Franc Cook made the save each time.
Sallies coach Bob Healy called a timeout with 1:12 left to regroup. But when play resumed, Cape Henlopen defenseman Alex Albanese stole the ball from Salesianum attack Michael Adkins with 45 seconds left. Sallies got the ball back but a last second shot was wide.
Salesianum (17-1) came into the game undefeated, as the defending state champion and as the No. 1 seed. Cape Henlopen (18-1), the No. 2 seed, had lost to Sallies 10-2 in its season opener.
With its win, Cape Henlopen now has five state titles. Sallies has two.
Cape Henlopen coach Mark D’Ambrogi said it was good that the Vikings had not seen the Sals in a long time.
“We were different and that helped us,” D’Ambrogi said. “At the same time, we have worked progressively throughout the season to get to the point where we were a complete team. We weren’t a complete team the first time we played them. As the season got on, we filled roles and our kids got a little bit better.”
Steele scored his third goal in the second quarter and Woodruff added his first goal of the night to give Cape Henlopen a 4-1 lead as the first half drew to a close.
Salesianum’s Adkins scored three goals in the second quarter, the first to put the Sals within 4-3 at the half.
Consecutive goals by middie Joseph O’Brien gave Sallies its first lead of the night at 5-4, to start the third quarter.
But at the 3:18 mark of the quarter, Woodruff and Steele made their first connection when Woodruff scored to tie things up.
Cape Henlopen’s Mark Tappan scored to begin the fourth quarter. But Salesianum’s Caton won the face off and got the ball to Adkins for a goal a few seconds later.
Sallies attack Kevin Kilpatrick, on an assist by Andrew Salvitti, then scored to give Sallies its second lead at the 10:03 mark.
But Cape had an answer 10 seconds later as Ike Fairley assisted on Tappan’s goal for a 7-7 tie.
Sallies coach Bob Healy said his team did not take advantage of its scoring opportunities. But he praised Cape Henlopen.
“They showed a lot of heard and hustle today,” Healy said. “They picked up a lot of loose balls and they capitalized. We did not shoot the ball well today. You’ve got to make the goalie move and we didn’t.
“I’m proud of the guys,” he said. “They played hard all year. It’s tough to go 17-0 and maintain that intensity for a whole year. They came out and ran into a team that was extremely tough today.”
Adkins, who led his team with four goals, said the Sals were not surprised by Cape Henlopen’s effort.
“We knew we had to match their intensity,” he said. “We knew the season didn’t mean that much when the playoffs started. That’s the real season. We started off good. This game, we just didn’t finish it off.”
D’Ambrogi said the fact that Cape Henlopen has more titles than Sallies was not a big factor. The main thing was that the seniors (Cook, Albanese, Fairley, Brozey, Ian Stewart, Rory Rogan, Bo Bartley, Tyler Hefke, Bryan Mack and Blake Woodruff), had experience from Cape’s 2006 state championship team.
Adkins, Kilpatrick, Manos, Covelli and fellow seniors Ryan Kavanagh, Matthew Katzmire, Benjamin Schell and Joseph Slowik accepted the second place trophy on behalf of the Sals.
Cape Henlopen 8, Salesianum 7
Cape Henlopen 1 3 1 x – 8
Salesianum 0 3 2 x – 7
First Quarter – 1, Cape Henlopen, Steele, 7:34.
Second Quarter – 2, Salesianum, Adkins (Kilpatrick), 11:48; 3, Cape Henlopen, Steele, 11:37; 4, Cape Henlopen, Steele (Nelson), 5:18; 5, Cape Henlopen, Woodruff (Brozey), 3:00; 6, Salesianum, Adkins (Tryon), 2:19; 7, Salesianum, Adkins (Groux), 1:26. Penalties – Cape Henlopen (Cook), slash, 8:37, Cape Henlopen (Fairley), trip, 1:17; Cape Henlopen (Voss), unnecessary roughness, 034.
Third Quarter – 8, Salesianum, O’Brien, 10:25; 9, Salesianum, O’Brien (Caton); 9:56; 10, Cape Henlopen, Woodruff (Steele), 3:18. Penalties – Salesianum (Tryon), push, 3:30.
Fourth Quarter – 11, Cape Henlopen, Tappan (Rogan), 11:16; 11, Salesianum, Adkins (Caton), 11:18; 12, Salesianum, Kilpatrick (Salvitti), 10:03; 14, Cape Henlopen, Tappan (Fairley), 9:53; 15, Cape Henlopen, Woodruff (Steele), 2:05. Penalties – Salesianum (K. Kilpatrick), push, 4:12; Salesianum (K. Kilpatrick), offsides, 0:24; Cape Henlopen (Brozey), cross check, 0:06.
Salesianum – 33 shots, 7 saves (Manos). Cape Henlopen – 30 shots, 13 saves (Cook).
Dover, Del. —
