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05/28/2014 12:00 AMIt may have been Guilford boys' lacrosse's home regular-season finale on May 20 when it hosted New Fairfield, but the matchup carried the weight of a playoff contest with both teams jockeying for positioning in the Class M State Tournament.
Coming in, Guilford (winners of four straight) sat at ninth in the M rankings for the tournament in which the top eight clubs get a home game in the first round, while New Fairfield (taking five consecutive decisions) was 13th and two behind the Indians in the loss column. It was the Rebels that grabbed the key win by an 8-5 final to end the Indians' winning streak.
"We've gotten by with things the last few games where we make mistakes and the other teams don't capitalize, and I think we've kind of coasted off of that," said Head Coach Brian White. "And it's either by luck or competition with whoever we are playing, and I think that tonight, playing a well-coached team with some ability, they're going to capitalize on mistakes that you make."
While both squads matched even in shots with 20, New Fairfield was able to consistently respond after each of Guilford's first three tallies-scoring one after the Indians' first, three straight after Guilford's second score, and one more after the third.
"I wish I had an answer for that; if I knew how to stop it, then I would, but obviously I think it was a simple matter of that we would score and either take a little bit off or just a mental break," said White. "They would then come right down the field because they are a good team and score."
Guilford (8-6) sophomore netminder James Bright (12 saves) faced some early pressure and was able to withstand it until the 7:07 mark of the first quarter when the Rebels (9-7) sent a low rifle to the right side of the net home. The Indians then answered with several shots at the cage, but they couldn't center the ball in, as the first ended with a 1-0 Guilford deficit.
In the second, New Fairfield took a 3-0 command after scores during the 9:26 and 4:17 junctures on strikes in front, although 21 seconds later, Guilford got on the board thanks to a beautiful pass by sophomore midfielder Stephen Page to an open senior tri-captain and attacker in K.C. Horton, who slammed it into the back of the goal to cut the deficit to a pair before the visitors got one back with 2:58 to play and took a 4-1 edge at halftime.
The Indians came out in the third and wasted little time trying to get back into the game when junior midfielder Frank Ranfone scored on a quick shot around the box 1:55 into the second half. Unfortunately for Guilford, the Rebels got right back into the evening with three consecutive scores between 9:36 remaining for the third frame and 10:45 left in the final quarter.
Junior attacker John Altieri tried to keep his squad in the matchup with a goal off another assist from Page to cut it to 7-3 as 5:57 was left, yet again, New Fairfield tallied a score nine ticks later to go ahead by five. Horton (cleaning up a strong shot from senior midfielder Eric Zergiebel at 3:24) and sophomore attacker Will Dacey (with 2:34 remaining) tried to ignite a late Guilford rally, but it wasn't enough for the home side.
White's team faced North Haven in the SCC Tournament semis earlier this week. A win there would put Guilford in the SCC championship game for the second straight spring on Thursday, May 29 at West Haven. White knows that at this time of the year, winning takes care of everything.
"For us, the SCCs have already started; we have to beat Xavier to get in. There's some mathematical way that we could get into SCCs without beating them, but to me there's only one sure way, and that's to beat the next team," said White, whose team also begins the Class M State Tournament on Wednesday, June 4.