With the dynamic 1-2 punch of Avdey and Joseph showing the way from the get-go, Coach Pat McManamon's team responds to a 2-1 deficit with 9:20 remaining in the first half by scoring six unanswered goals and moving to a 7-2 lead with just 48 seconds gone in the second half.
The Wildcats treat Saturday's Senior Parents Night crowd at Wasmer Field to the first one-loss regular season since 1995. The 1995 team finished fourth in the state, the same ranking the current 'Cats hold. Saint Ignatius will enter the OHSLA playoffs on an eight-game winning streak. The official playoff draw is Sunday.
*Congratulations also go out to the Wildcats' Junior Varsity Gold Lacrosse team, which completed an undefeated season by defeating St. Edward, 13-2, on Saturday night.
HERE IS THE STORY ON THE VARSITY LAX'S IMPRESSIVE TRIUMPH OVER ST. EDWARD.
On what was a picture-perfect Saturday night in Ohio City, the Saint Ignatius Varsity Lacrosse team had a few stretches when it wasn't perfect. But the key word is few.
With St. Edward's challenging-at-times zone defense keeping the Wildcats a bit off balance, the concerns from the Saint Ignatius faithful were that the 'Cats might fail to score in the first quarter for the first time all season.
Right on cue, Mike Avdey, Saint Ignatius' outstanding feeder, found Garrett Joseph, the Wildcats' prolific scorer, and the home team took a 1-0 lead with just 46 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
But wait a minute. A few more concerns from the 'Cats' fans were about to surface as St. Edward, which entered the game with a sub-.500 record, took a 2-1 lead with 9 minutes and 20 seconds left in the first half. Alex Birchfield and Collin Mitchell did the honors for the Eagles, with Birchfield scoring off a nice feed from Jack Dowling.
What's that saying, something about when the going gets tough the tough get going?
Well, Coach Pat McManamon's Wildcats are certainly more than tough enough - both mentality and physically. Just ask anyone among the standing-room crowd in Wasmer Field that took in another chapter of Ohio's storied rivalry known as Saint Ignatius versus St. Edward.
Grabbing the momentum away from their West Side rival faster than an Eagle can soar, Coach McManamon's 'Cats put on a display of lacrosse that one expects from the state's 14-1 fourth-ranked team.
With Joseph responding with his second goal of the night on an authoritative high side shot to the right corner and football standouts Bryan Fisher (goal) and Mike Vitale (assist) combining on the score that put Saint Ignatius ahead to stay, the Wildcats would end up scoring six unanswered goals and taking a 7-2 lead with the second half not a minute old. The end result was a 13-6 victory that sent a Seniors' Parents Night contingent home smiling.
"We seemed to be kind of lethargic at the beginning and not really use to their zone," said Avdey, whose exceptional vision and passing fuels one of Ohio's premier offenses. "Once we figured it out, we found the seams and got the passes in for shots at the top."
Joseph, who plays with endless passion, concurred with his teammate and emphasized that there wasn't a second when Saint Ignatius became discouraged.
"We knew we would take over the game when we had to," Joseph said. "Once they started running with us, we knew we could control the possessions."
A Joseph hat-trick goal, a score by junior Jake Maruna off an assist by Avdey, a goal by Vitale off yet another dish from Avdey and an unassisted goal by the versatile and tireless Danny Hennessy completed the Wildcats' take-charge 6-0 run.
Neither team was lacking in spirit in the third quarter.
In what was a flurry of goal exchanges, St. Edward's Pat Flannery made it a 7-3 game by going high-to-high. Maruna, a name you will hear about this coming football season, answered Flannery's effort.
After the Eagles' Alex Hildenbrandt made it a four-goal deficit for the Eagles, Maruna struck again off an assist from Saint Ignatius' standout junior football wide receiver Mike Siragusa and Joseph tallied his team's 10th goal on a highlight-reel underhand and unassisted effort.
St. Edward stayed in the game by closing out the third quarter with goals by Hildenbrandt and the Mitchell-to-Flannery combination.
The night belonged to Cleveland's Jesuit Preparatory School, however, as the Wildcats settled the issue over the final 12 minutes on a goal by Vitale in transition, another Maruna-Siragusa 1-2 punch and a no-doubter by Hennessy off an assist from Fisher. Fisher had little time to savor the victory as he had a date for the St. Joseph Academy Prom.
"Tonight was a bit of a struggle, but that's all right, a win is a win," said Coach McManamon '96, who is doing an outstanding job with the 'Cats' lacrosse program. "Their zone is pretty tough, they really clog up the middle. Early, we were doing too many one-on-one dodges, we had no off-ball movement and we weren't moving the ball.
"As the game went on, we started making the two and three passes and all of a sudden everything opens up," Coach McManamon continued. "We knew this game was going to be a struggle early. We didn't have a great week of practice and just with the emotion of the game itself and with all of these people here. They're high school kids. Once we start loosening up and Garrett (Joseph) opens up and starts getting those shots, it's over after that."
A TRUE HANDLE ON THE GAME: This old-timer would like to express how impressed he was with the savvy and astute knowledge sophomore Mike Berry put on display as an analyst for the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network on Saturday night. Mike's comments were as good or better than any I heard while watching the Yale-Syracuse lacrosse game on ESPN Saturday afternoon.
Little did I know that Mike knows lacrosse as well as he knows high school basketball and football.