Everyone wants to win a state title, but what St. Anne’s-Belfield’s boys lacrosse team did in the last week was about something different.
Something more powerful than hunting for a title. Something that can inflame you.
Something primal.
“It was absolutely revenge,” said STAB senior Lee Parkhill. “This was all redemption.”
The Saints’ revenge mission is complete now as No. 6-seeded STAB took apart No. 4 St. Christopher’s 11-1 in the VISAA Division I state title game to win the program’s first title since 2009 and the eighth all-time. That win completed three-straight playoff victories against higher-seeded teams that nipped STAB by a single goal in three different regular seasons.
STAB managed to complete that mission because goalie Eric Buhle was sublime in the win, registering 14 saves while holding one of the Prep League’s best squads to just that single goal. In the second half he blanked St. Chris, which was a direct reason that STAB was able to pull away and eventually blow the game wide open.
“My whole defense, it’s unbelievable how much they help me, just getting a stick on the shooters’ hands, just slows it down by that much and it’ll help you (stop) any shot,” Buhle said.
Buhle started an incredible run of saves in the third quarter when he made a sprawling, hockey-like stop on a one-on-one opportunity. It never got better for St. Christopher’s easy as the STAB keeper, playing on the field he’ll play on next year as a University of Richmond signee, never slowed down.
“Really today was just exceptional,” said STAB coach Bo Perriello. “At some point I turned to one of my coaches in the late third quarter and said ‘there’s no way we’re going to lose this game if he keeps stopping the ball like that.’ He was just phenomenal, he seemed to be seeing everything.”
Even his long-time teammates were impressed by Buhle’s effort, who’s confidence and play took a massive leap as the season went on. Since a rough finish to Paul VI at the end of the regular season, Buhle has been a rock for STAB, but nothing prepared anyone for what he unleashed Saturday.
“I’ve never seen Eric play that well in my entire life and I’ve known Eric for a long time,” Parkhill said. “He was absolutely lights out today.”
On the other end, it was Phillip Robertson, the Saints’ offensive leader, who did the heavy lifting. Robertson was nursing an abdominal injury all week, and he protected himself throughout the Saints’ run to the title game by acting largely as a distributor while his brother Joe Robertson poured in goals throughout the tournament.
“Phillip knew he needed to save himself so that he could be in this game,” Perriello said. “I think he took a little more initiative with the ball, knowing that he could today. He’s been our leader all year.”
Against St. Christopher’s with no other games left to play, Robertson let loose, ringing up five goals in an explosive effort where at times he looked unstoppable.
“We knew they were going to run a zone and this whole week, especially at the beginning of the week for St. Stephen’s, we prepared for the zone,” Robertson said. “And every team we played starting with Cape Henry (opening round) this week ran a zone so we felt pretty comfortable.”
The junior also picked up four ground balls for the Saints, which helped push STAB to a 41-19 advantage on loose balls. Seniors Rob Schotta and Austin Park spearheaded that effort with Schotta snagging a team-high seven ground balls while Park picked up six.
STAB built a 4-1 lead before halftime, holding St. Chris to just one first quarter goal with 2:32 to play in the frame. From there it was all STAB, including a four-goal third quarter that put St. Chris in too deep of a hole to get back into things as the Saints led 8-1 heading into the final quarter.
In seven days, the Saints avenged three one-goal losses to St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes, Paul VI and St. Christopher’s. A little more than 10 days ago, after a 13-7 loss to Collegiate, that didn’t seem particularly possible.
“That’s a tough stretch to go through,” Parkhill said. “I think being able to come back from that made us that much stronger. We learned how to deal with adversity and we learned how to come back from defeats like that.”
They came back from all of them, and the prize for revenge is particularly sweet — a state title.
“I came here freshman year looking to get a good lacrosse experience,” Buhle said. “I never thought I’d get anything like this. It’s just more than I could ask for.”
