NOVA's Mike McCool (#20) and Andrew Kim (#4) go after a loose ball with two Delaware Tech players in the April 2 game in Herndon. Photo by: Kama Storie.

The Northern Virginia Community College men’s lacrosse team played three home games, beating the County College of Morris (N.J.) 12-8 on March 19 at GMU. Then, on March 23, they tied the Community College of Baltimore County-Catonsville 7-7 in a game suspended after three quarters and which was to be finished later. The third game resulted in a win over Delaware Technical & Community College 8-6 on April 2.

After losing its three games in February, the team has now improved its record to 3-4.

The March 23 night game on a GMU field was played in stormy and wet weather conditions. NOVA held four and three goal leads in, respectively, the second and third periods, but Baltimore County tied the game near the end of the third quarter. The crack of lightning then led to the suspension of play for a second and final time.

NOVA's Andrew Kim (#4) looks downfield with ball in lacrosse stick in front of tall Delaware Tech player with NOV's Ryan Ningard (#2) in background during April 2 game at Herndon.Photo by: Kama Stori.

In the first period, goals by Ricky Sinclair and Mike McCool gave NOVA a 2-0 lead before Baltimore scored near the end of the period to make it 2-1 after one period.

The second period saw two quick goals by NOVA at 13:52 and 13:45 remaining, the second one by Andrew Kim, before lightning suspended play with 11:16 to go. Play resumed after 40 minutes, with a goal by NOVA’s George Pugh making it 5-1. Baltimore managed one goal to make the halftime score 5-2.

In the third period, Baltimore scored two quick goals at 12:16 and 11:48 to bring its deficit down to 5-4. But NOVA finally responded with two quick goals of its own at 9:03 and 8:48 by McCool and Pugh to take the lead back up to 7-4. NOVA, however, was unable to hold onto its big lead as Baltimore went on a tear, scoring first at 6:20, then at 2:34 with NOVA a man down. The teams ended up even at 7-7 on a 30-foot goal with 17.4 seconds left after the NOVA goalie had been drawn from the net. A penalty at 12.8 seconds followed by the return of lightning caused the final suspension, with the game to be finished at the Baltimore County site in April.

NOVA's Lacrosse team play the Community College of Baltimore County - Catonsville at GMU on March 24. NOVA was leading 4 to 1 when the game finished early due to bad weather. Photo by: Kama Storie

NOVA’s next game was played at Redskins Park in Herndon on April 2, a cold, windy, drizzly Saturday afternoon. The game against the Delaware Technical & Community College Hawks turned out to be a close and hotly contested match up.

Neither team had more than a one-goal lead until the final score, although NOVA led at the end of every period. The normal script was for NOVA to score a goal and then for Delaware to come back and tie the score.

NOVA’s first goal was made by Ryan Ningard, his first of three goals for the day, with less than two minutes gone. Delaware came back to tie but NOVA’s Andrew Kim scored with 4:48 left to give NOVA a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.

Delaware scored quickly in the second period at 14:40 to tie the score, but 20 seconds later NOVA’s Kris Burger took a pass from Ningard and scored from just in front of the goal. Delaware took advantage of a NOVA penalty to tie the game with a man up advantage and then upset the normal script by scoring another man up goal to take their lone lead of the day 4-3 at the 7:27 mark.

NOVA came back on goals by Garrett Nealon and Ningard again at 5:14 and 3:44 to take a 5-4 halftime lead.

The third period saw Delaware tie it up in the first two minutes, but NOVA’s Kim scored an unassisted goal at 3:14 from about 20 feet out to give NOVA the lead at the end of the third period, 6-5.

Delaware wasn’t finished though as it tied the score 6-6 at the 10:37 mark of the fourth period. It was NOVA’s turn to score, which Ningard again did on a 40-foot unassisted shot to make it 7-6 at 8:07. NOVA then gained a bigger lead on a pretty goal at 6:53 by Ricky Sinclair from about 15 feet out on a pass from Ningard. NOVA then stopped Delaware from scoring for the rest of the game to take the 8-6 victory.

NOVA goalie Michael Carnahan had 11 saves in the winning effort.

“We came out a little flat. I’m glad we pulled it together in the end. They’re starting to gel the past three weeks. We’re really coming into our own, said Coach Matt Blarney after the game. “It was a nice win. Last year these guys beat us in the last seconds.”

NOVA winds up its season with four more games in April, including the suspended game, with one home game on April 30, at 2 p.m. at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas.

By: Arch Scurlock

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