The Saint Ignatius lacrosse team suffered a pair of losses this weekend, but there's no shame in defeat for the Wildcats.
The Lax Cats took one of the best teams in the state to overtime on Friday, falling to Upper Arlington, 8-7. Then on a quick turnaround, the Wildcats were defeated on the road by one of the top teams in the area, University School, 6-5.
Having dropped three in a row, the Wildcats now stand at 6-5 on the year. However, optimism abounds for the Lax Cats. The young squad has performed well this season, even after losing some of its top players to graduation last year.
The Wildcats certainly gave the Golden Bears all they could handle on Friday at Wasmer Field.
The hosts fell behind to Upper Arlington early on Friday, but came out firing with an Anthony Ameo goal. The senior won a faceoff and galloped down the field before burying a goal in the bottom portion of the net.
The Golden Bears led 2-1 heading into the second, but Kyle Katigbak tied the contest following a nice feed from Michael Boehm. The visitors responded with a tally, leading by one heading into the break.
Each team tallied two goals in the third. Multisport phenoms Bain Kurtz and Gray Gerard found the back of the net for the Wildcats, just as they did many times for the Ice Cats this season.
The Golden Bears held a narrow 5-4 advantage heading into the third, but the Wildcats came out of the fourth with authority.
Michael Boehm stepped up, as he has all season. The freshman scored a pair of critical goals, granting the Wildcats the lead. Connor McGowan added to the lead with a tally of his own, a big insurance marker.
However, while the Wildcats stayed aggressive on offense with five minutes left, the Golden Bears scored two to tie it up heading into overtime. The Wildcats nearly scored a goal in the waning minutes, but the ball bounced off the pipe, cheating the hosts of a goal.
In overtime, fate shorted the Wildcats again, as another shot rang off the post. The Golden Bears managed to sneak a goal into the net with eight seconds remaining in overtime, squeaking by the Wildcats with an 8-7 win.
Ameo put forth a great performance for the hosts, notching 11 ground balls, and helping the squad win 16-of-18 faceoffs. Carter Blossey also notched 9 saves in net.
Just 20 hours later, the Wildcats faced off with the University School Preppers.
The quick turnaround led to a tough start, as the Preppers flew out to a 2-0 lead. Before the end of the first, though, the Wildcats stormed back. Gerard and Nate Conry each notched goals, tying up the contest.
Noah Catanzarite then struck twice for the Wildcats, giving the visitors a solid, 4-2 lead. The Preppers managed to find the twine twice before the end of the period, though, leaving the score tied at 4 at halftime.
Eatly on in the third, Boehm scored his third goal in three days, giving the Wildcats the lead back. The Preppers stormed back, however, scoring three unanswered goals. Brent Chernosky whittled the deficit to 7-6 with 2:12 remaining on the man up, but the Wildcats could not tie the game in the final minutes.
With these games in the rearview mirror, the Wildcats will face Massillon Jackson on Tuesday. Then the Lax Cats will return home to play Solon on Thursday, the final regular season home contest of the season.