SECTION IV BOYS LACROSSE: OWEGO DROPS 9-8 BATTLE WITH NOTRE DAME (2024-04-22)

Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — When Owego met Elmira Notre Dame early in the season, the Crusaders rolled to a 16-8 win. They would hold the River Hawks to eight goals again this time, but were forced to work a lot harder to earn a 9-8 Section IV boys lacrosse victory.

ND controlled the action early, jumping out to a 3-0 advantage in the first 7 ½ minutes of play as Finn Schweizer wrapped a pair of goals around one by Landon English.

Noah Heath would put Owego on the scoreboard with an assist from Sawyer Prentiss at 2:11 of the first quarter.

Prentiss would get his first goal of the contest on a pass from Atlas Boland at 8:46 of the second period. Prentiss and Brendan Schofield tallied at 6:28 and 5:11, respectively to tie the game at four. Boland and Prentiss registered assists on the plays.

Following another goal by Schweizer, Prentiss picked up a hat trick goal with Schofield assisting, knotting the score at 5-5 with 1:29 remaining in the half.

Notre Dame would score twice in the final 72 seconds of the half to take a 7-5 lead into the break.

Boland scored on a feed from Schofield in the first minute of the second half, but the Crusaders countered with goals at 8:46 and 8:32 to make it a 9-6 gap.

Schofield trimmed the margin to 9-7 at 5:32 of the third period with an assist going to Caleb Cole.

With about 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Schofield put a one-hop shot past the goalie to make it an apparent one-goal game, but the score was waved off due to an offsides call.

With the clock ticking down near the 1 ½-minute mark, Schofield found Prentiss open with a pass and he took it to the other end for a goal at 1:25.

The River Hawks would knock the ball free near their own goal with 22 seconds to play. They would get the ball to Boland with six seconds left, but he was unable to get a good angle with a shot at the buzzer.

Prentiss finished the game with four goals and two assists and Schofield contributed two goals and three assists. Boland added a goal and two assists; Noah Heath tacked on a goal and Cole had an assist.

Noah Heath scooped up six ground balls while Boland, Schofield and Evan Ward recorded five apiece. Cole collected three; Prentiss, Mason Wold and Antoni Talarico had two each; and Gavin Heath, Garret Phelps and Shay Pidcoe had one each.

Aiden Rhodes made 13 saves and had three ground balls.

Owego (3-7) hosts Union-Endicott (3-5) Wednesday at 6 p.m.

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IN PHOTO 1: Owego’s Atlas Boland. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.