Bay Port lacrosse player Bryce Van Hemelryk (18) keeps the ball away from an Appleton United defender May 22 (Rich Palzewic photo). 

BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT

SUAMICO – The Bay Valley Conference lacrosse championship came down to one game May 22 at Bay Port High School.

Appleton United pulled away late to post a 12-7 victory over the Pirates in a game that pitted two undefeated teams in conference play against one another.

“It was a very hard-fought game that got a little chippy there,” said Bay Port head coach Logan Hoffman. “I’m really proud of how my guys played. Sometimes things just don’t go the way you want them to … it was a closer game than the score shows.”

After Austin Bailie had pulled the Pirates (11-2 overall) to within one at 8-7 halfway through the third quarter, Appleton closed the game by scoring the last four goals to win going away.

“We just weren’t able to get the ball into transition offensively,” Hoffman said about the scoring problems later in the game. “With an experienced team like Appleton, they held the ball for as long as they could. When we got the ball on offense we kind of panicked a little bit.”

Another key sequence came with the score tied at one towards the end of the first quarter.

Bay Port’s Finn Maloney put the Pirates up 2-1 with 40 seconds left, but Appleton scored nine seconds later to tie the score.

To make matters worse, United scored two quick goals in the first 36 seconds of the second quarter to make it 4-2 – they never trailed again.

“Anytime you can get a late goal – in the last minute – to end a quarter, it shifts the possession like crazy,” Hoffman added. “You have to regroup and understand there will be runs.”

The Pirates had taken a 1-0 lead just minutes into the contest on a Zack Knuth goal. It stayed that way until United scored with under four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

Cam Steward and Bailie tallied goals in the second quarter for Bay Port, who trailed 7-4 at the half.

Maloney and Aaron Ribar (along with Bailie) added scores in the third quarter to end the Pirates’ night.

Maloney and Masen Powless had assists.

According to Hoffman, Bay Port is hoping to host a playoff game. The seeding meeting and discussions on that will take place soon.