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After Wheaton Academy sophomore midfielder Aidan Weisenborn’s goal had broken a tie with just under six minutes remaining in the boys lacrosse state tournament third-place match to give his team the lead, his York sophomore counterpart Lance McCann sought to provide his teammates an instant spark.
“When they scored I just told my boys, ‘Hey keep your heads up. Keep grinding. It’s only one goal. We’re still in this game.’”
In less than 90 seconds, McCann would provide critical support to both the game-tying and the eventual game-winning scores that gave the Dukes (20-2) the third-place trophy as the held off a late Warriors rally to emerge victorious 7-6 Saturday at the Forest View Educational Center in Arlington Heights.
“Came back out on the field (and) just did what I did and got two goals on the board for my team.” McCann said afterward of his back-to-back assists that turned the tables in York’s favor.
His first successful feed found senior co-captain Chase McNeill with 5:18 left tying the contest at 5-5.
Less than a minute later at the 4:33 mark he found freshman Blake Rieger that gave the Dukes a lead that it wouldn’t relinquish at 6-5.
McCann’s fellow sophomore Thomas Kowalski rang up his second score with 2:14 to play off an assist from McNeill that gave them a 7-5 cushion.
Wheaton Academy (16-5) began its last attempt at a comeback on sophomore middie Gavin Pedone’s third goal with 79 seconds left to make it 7-6. The Warriors then gained a final possession of the ball in the game’s waning seconds finding Pedone once again. His final attempt with four seconds left went high over the York goal.
Pedone, who had an assist on sophomore attacker A.J. Serna’s third-period goal, added some perspective on the program’s most successful season in its young history finishing fourth.
“I’m really grateful to have my team and all of my coaches. I love all these guys,” Pedone said. “It feels great. Our hard work has led to this moment. We are very proud of the way we came out on the season, but we are always striving to get better.”
York coach Don Canfield praised his team’s resiliency after a tough semifinal loss to Lake Forest on Thursday.
“To come out today with the energy we had was just awesome,” Canfield said. It was great to send these (13) seniors off to college and leave building blocks for all the guys that come next.”