Lew-Port stickmen rally past Medina in OT in sectional opener

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Brett Pecoraro puts a shot on the Lew-Port goal during the Mustangs sectional loss to the host Lancers this evening.

Unable to hold as much as a six goal lead in the second half, No. 9 seed Medina dropped a narrow 13-12 overtime decision to host No. 8 Lew-Port this evening in the prequarterfinal round of the Section VI Class C lacrosse playoffs.

Trailing by six, 11-5, with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter Lew-Port rattled off seven straight unanswered goals to get right back in the game. That decisive turnover aided rally saw the Lancers score the last three goals of the third period to cut the deficit to 11-8 and then the first four of the fourth quarter to rally into a 12-11 lead.

Medina did retie the contest at 12-12 on a goal by Kyle Barna with 40 seconds to go setting up the overtime period but the Mustangs could not regain the lead.

Medina then get several scoring opportunities in the overtime period before the last of a costly rash of missed ground balls and turnovers resulted in Lew-Port netting the game winning goal with 1:38 to go in the first overtime.

“The ground balls just killed us. That’s what lost us the game,” said Medina Coach Gordy Luthart.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Kyle Barna drives to the goal for Medina.

Medina had jumped out to a 4-2 first quarter lead on goals by Barna, Brett Pecoraro, Nick Dipidova and Greg Husung.

The Mustangs upped the lead a bit to 8-5 at the half as Pecoraro netted two goals in the second period and Husung and Tyler Valley one each.

The Medina lead soared to 11-5 midway through the third period after a burst of three goals within a span of just a minute and a half on tallies by Barna, Valley and Pecoraro.

Pecoraro finished with a total of four goals, Barna three and Husung and Valley two each.

However, Medina could not hold the advantage as a series of missed ground balls and turnovers proved disastrous with Lew-Port capitalizing on those bonus possessions to key the decisive seven goal scoring barrage.

“The fourth quarter was definitely the difference in the game,” said Luthart. “You have to give Lew-Port credit for the way they came back. I’m proud of the season we had though. We had a very young team so seven wins is a good accomplishment for a young group like that.”

The rally vaults Lew-Port into a quarterfinal matchup at top seeded Salamanca on Tuesday.

Medina, which split a pair of regular season meetings with Lew-Port ends the campaign with a 7-10 overall record.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Charlie Enderby leads a rush up field.