Ortega Comes Up Big in OT Win for Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- When the Pittsfield boys lacrosse team met with Wahconah on April 22, the Generals fell, 4-5; Thursday afternoon's game was similar in the sense of a one-point game, but this time the loss was on Wahconah's end in an 8-7 overtime win for PHS.
And is was Dante Ortega who provided the heroics; with six and a half seconds to go in regulation the Generals called a timeout with the score tied 7-6 after Wahconah's Quinn Ceasar gave his team the lead with 34:8 seconds remaining.
Ortega threw a behind the back pass to Brendan Leary, who fired one past Wahconah's goalie just before the end of regulation ran out.
"They didn't run it the way I drew it," Pittsfield coach Scott Aitken said about their timeout call. "But for the most part what we were looking to do was feed Brendan off the crease off a double screen and Dante to feed him, but I didn't expect Dante to throw it backwards to him, it was a great shot by Brendan."
Leary's shot sent the game into a four-minute, sudden death overtime; with the end result in Pittsfield's favor.
Ortega's heroics didn't end in regulation; with 2:35 to go in overtime he sent a shot at the net from inside the crease to seal the win.
"I got the ball on the wing and I was stuck, they played good D on me, I had to throw it over my back I had no other choice," Ortega said about the regulation play. "Last time we played them it was raining, we were soaking wet and it was kind of heart breaking when they scored that last goal, but to come back and beat them on our home field it feels great."
Wahconah took a two-goal lead over Pittsfield in the first quarter with goals from Nick Clayton and Mike Wagner; they then put in two more in the beginning of the second from Wagner and Connor Washburn.
With 2:38 on the clock, timeout was called as the Generals trailed 4-1; they came back out and put in two goals to only trail by one at half.
PHS controlled most of the third quarter, taking over the lead, 6-4, with two goals from Zach Czarnecki and Kevin Quinto.
"At half we talked about possessing the ball on offense, taking our time, and finding the open guys," Aitken said. "Defensively we played well all day, and you know Quinn's goal there at the end was pretty amazing."
Wahconah tied it at six in the fourth quarter with six minutes and one second remaining with a goal from Wagner; from there the shots went back and fourth until Caesar's goal to take the 7-6 lead before Leary hit a shot at the buzzer.