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Fourth quarter not enough for Warriors

Loudoun Valley simply made the most of its possessions. When the Vikings had the ball, they rarely turned it over before unleashing at least a handful of shots first. The problem for Western Albemarle was that Loudoun had way too many of those possessions.

And despite a fourth quarter rally by the Warriors, Loudoun Valley closed things out behind a pair of scores from Denis Ratcliffe, dashing the Warriors’ comeback hopes, handing Western a season-ending 7-5 defeat.

“They’ve got a great faceoff guy (in Chris Daddio) whos headed to Syracuse,” said Western coach Brad Haws. “But it wasn’t just the faceoffs. We had a hard time clearing or transitioning the ball and maintaining possession. It’s hard to win playing that much defense.”

Chris Rabung and Dylan Zook scored early in the first quarter to put the Vikings up 2-0, but Western was able to answer back when Christian Pierce set up a goal for Owen Wangensteen and Tyler Ward knotted the game up in a tie on a score in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

The game quickly became a defensive struggle, with the Vikings dominating the time of possession, but Western’s senior long poles and sophomore goalkeeper, Ben Carew, kept things from getting out of hand. Both Rabung and Zook scored midway through the second frame, and a goal from Brandon Bruce in the last seconds of the third had Western in dire straits.

“I actually thought that we were rushing a little too much on offense – trying to score on every play,” said Vikings coach Jeff Lewandowski.

The Warriors looked like a different team offensively in the fourth quarter. With the pressure on, Wangensteen cut the Loudoun lead to two off of a pass from Ward with 10:17 to play. A little under two minutes later, Christophe Drapanas connected on another Ward set up, and suddenly the deficit was just one goal.

However, that would be about it from that point forward for the Warriors as Ratcliffe shut the door. Abbot Wallenborn cut the lead back down to two, but the Vikings were able to run out the clock shortly there after.

“State quarterfinals seem to be a road bump for Western,” Pierce said. “But I think we’ll be able look back at this remember what a great season it really was.”

Daddio and teammate Gavin Sullivan owned the faceoff circle, winning virtually every single showdown.

“Chris is very talented and he works so very hard,” Lewandowski said. “But we’ve got two guys that are really good at it. Having those possessions really makes a big difference in the game.”

Carew played beyond his years in net as he finished the game with 20 saves.

The loss ends some storied multi-sport high school careers as several members of this team drove a playoff run in football and Pierce guided the Warriors to a Group AA tournament quarterfinal appearance in basketball.

“They played all sports,” Haws said. “They’re going to be hard to replace, not only because there are a lot of them, but because they were so outstanding.”

Haws hopes that while he graduates 12 players, those remaining have learned a thing or two from the team leaders.

“That’s the question we asked the players after the game,” Haws said. “Can they step up and take the example (the seniors) left for them?”

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