The Varsity Lacrosse Bombers traveled to Columbus on Friday night to meet Cleveland St. Ignatius halfway at Fortress Obetz Stadium, home of the Ohio Machine Lacrosse team. St. Xavier entered the evening with a four game win streak after beating Moeller on Wednesday night by a score of 14-10 to improve their record to 7-1. The Wildcats entered the night with an 8-3 record and also with a four game win streak after a Wednesday win over Shaker Heights by a score of 17-1. The Bombers looked to keep their number 1 ranking in the LaxPower Ohio RPI rankings while St. Ignatius was looking to improve on their number 8 ranking.
The Wildcats opened the scoring by getting on the board with a goal just 46 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead. Senior Duke Alf scored for the Bombers with 7:39 left in the opening quarter to even the game at 1. St. Xavier could not convert on the immediate man advantage after the Alf goal but did score with 3:33 left in the first when senior Jack Kilfoil scored his first goal of the night on an assist from classmate Johnny Marrocco. The Bombers survived a sloppy first quarter of play with the 2-1 lead.
St. Ignatius opened the 2nd quarter just the way they did the 1st quarter with a quick goal to tie the game at 2. This time the goal came just 18 seconds into the quarter. Kilfoil scored his second goal of the game just over a minute later to give the Bombers the lead back at 3-2. Marrocco assisted him once again. St. Ignatius scored the next two goals to take a 4-3 lead before Kilfoil recorded his hat trick to tie it back up at 4-4 with 3:55 left in the half. Alf assisted Kilfoil on the goal. About a minute later, Marrocco recorded a goal of his own to give St. Xavier the 5-4 lead with 2:54 left in the 1st half. St. Xavier added one more goal before halftime when Alf hit a cutting Marrocco with a pass and Marrocco found the back of the cage to make it a 6-4 lead at the break.
Senior Donny Stock won the opening face-off of the second half and Kilfoil scored his fourth goal of the game to make it 7-4 with 10:58 left in the 3rd quarter. Alf recorded the assist once again. Just under a minute later, Marrocco made another nice pass, this time to junior Trevor Gilmore who put it past the St. Ignatius goalkeeper to make it an 8-4 lead for the Bombers. It looked as though St. Xavier might run away with the game but the Wildcats scored three unanswered goals to make it 8-7 with 3:39 left in the 3rd quarter. St. Xavier finally responded with a goal to make it 9-7 when senior John Holcomb fired a laser shot into the back of the cage on an assist from Holcomb.
The fourth quarter started with three straight St. Ignatius goals as they took a 10-9 lead with 7:21 left in regulation. The Bombers responded with a goal just over two minutes later when Kilfoil scored yet again on another assist from Alf to tie the game at 10. The Wildcats took the lead back with another goal with 3:24 left in regulation. The Bombers tied it with 2:01 left when Kilfoil scored his sixth goal of the night to tie the game at 11. The game ended in a tie and needed overtime to determine a winner.
In overtime, St. Xavier won the opening face-off and called timeout to retain possession. The Bombers could not capitalize on the offensive end and St. Ignatius called timeout when they came up with a ground ball. Senior goalie Ross Wiseman made a big save for the Bombers on a Wildcat shot to get the ball back. After a long offensive possession, Alf moved across the top of the offensive box and found Marrocco wide open on the left side who fired a laser shot into the back of the cage to give St. Xavier the 12-11 win.
The win moves St. Xavier to 8-1 on the season and maintains their #1 ranking in the LaxPower RPI rating in the State of Ohio. The Bombers welcome Everest Academy from Canada to St. Xavier Stadium on Wednesday, April 25 with opening face-off scheduled for 7:30 pm.