Wednesday, May 29th–Jesuit men’s lacrosse, currently the number one ranked team in Oregon, is on their way to the state championship after a strong defensive game against number five ranked team, Sunset.
From the face off, the Crusaders offense was quickly shut down by Sunset’s aggressive defense.
On defense, the Saders played aggressive and tight on Sunset. There were multiple shots on goal by both teams, but with 7 minutes left in the first quarter the score remained 0-0.
This no scoring cycle came to an end when Jesuit’s Thatcher Killian, midfielder, broke down Sunset’s defense with an impressive drive to goal, scoring the first goal of the night.
Jesuit’s goal was not enough to stop Sunset’s aggressive offense, and within the next minute Sunset tied the game 1-1.
This goal had some Jesuit fans wondering if the state championship was still within reach. Norah Strickland, a Jesuit student, was in the stands cheering on the Crusaders.
“I think Sunset started the game off really strong and it’s clear they want this win really badly but Jesuit is such a strong and dominant team I know that they will persevere and win this game,” Strickland said.
With 44 seconds left in the first half, Killian had done it again, giving the Crusaders the lead, 2-1.
As a strong leader in what could be considered a shaky first half, Killian shared his motives going into the game.
“We wanted to dominate Sunset in every aspect: on offense, defense, and at the faceoff x. Of course, our main motivation for the game was to get to the state championship,” Killian said.
In the second quarter it became a fast paced game, with the possession seeming fairly equal between the two teams. Jesuit was back on their offensive game, most notably multiple goals were scored by Ryan Jack, Luke Bayne, and Mackie Malkiel. Sunset only being able to get two more goals in this quarter made the score of the game 8-3 Jesuit by the end of the quarter.
After halftime Sunset’s aggressiveness on defense and offense continued as they were able to charge down the field and score, yet Jesuit dominated the game.
Jesuit continued in their success as they got 5 goals within the third quarter.
A prominent player on the field, Deuce Bechtold, closed out the game with the last two goals making the final score 17-4
“It was a good way to cap off the game and to end it on a high note. Knowing that we are going to the championship is an incredible feeling and we worked hard all year to get to this moment so it’s really nice to see your hard work pay off,” Bechtold said.
Jesuit will be playing Lakeridge in the state championship game this Saturday, June 1st.
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Men’s Lacrosse handles Sunset in semifinals 17-4
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Finley Clark, Staff Writer
Finley Clark is currently a junior at Jesuit High School. She has always had an interest in media and journalism and is excited to finally pursue it in Mr. Falkner’s Fundamentals of Media class this year. She was originally drawn to this subject by growing up watching sports with her dad. Though she found the actual games interesting, she found herself intrigued by the commentary of the games and the production of them. However, as years have gone by, though there is still that interest in sports, she wants to explore this topic in a broader view. For example, in recent years Finley has been interested in fashion, so much that she is a leader of Jesuit's very own Fashion Club which she hopes to integrate into her work with Jesuit Media.
Finley was born in Scottsdale Arizona, however, the majority of her early childhood years were spent in Bend, Oregon. In the second grade, she moved to Portland and has been here since. Outside of Jesuit Finley enjoys spending time with her friends and family, skiing, playing sports, discovering and listening to new music, traveling, reading, and hanging out with her pets. Following high school, Finley hopes to attend college pursuing a degree in media and journalism.