By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
In a first round play-off game on May 27 the Fluco boys lacrosse team hosted the Hornets from Orange County. It was a highly competitive game featuring scoring runs by both teams. The Flucos trailed by three goals with 5:30 left in the final quarter. Two quick Fluco scores reduced the Hornets lead to one goal at 10-11. But the Flucos could not manage a tying goal in the final three minutes as the Hornets managed to run down the clock.
The game opened with Orange scoring two early goals. Fluvanna bounced back with three scores in the later half of the first quarter. Fluco junior attackman Maddox Beaulieu scored the first goal for the Flucos on a wrap-around shot, with 8:21 left in the quarter. The second Fluco goal came a minute and a half later as Braddock McCauley scored on a hard low shot. At 3:58, Beaulieu scored again on a long low bouncing shot. The score gave the Flucos a 3-2 lead, the only lead they would have. In the final two minutes of the first quarter, the Hornets fired in thee goals to lead 5-3 after one period.
Early in the second quarter, the Flucos managed to tie the score at 5-5. With 10:45 left in the quarter, The Fluco scored a goal from blank range after nice pass from outside the box. A minute later, Fluco junior goalie and team co-captain, Colton Ball made an impressive save to keep the Flucos with in one. With 8:04 on the clock, junior midfielder and team co-captain Javier Campos scooped up the ball at the Hornets net and dashed the length of the field, dodging defenders along the way to score the tying goal. Each team scored again as the half wound down for a 6-6 half-time score.
Unfortunately for the Flucos, the Hornets scored the first three goals of the third quarter to take 6-9 lead. With a mere 1:24 left in the third quarter, junior midfielder Solomon Eckert scored for the Flucos from in close, so the Flucos went into the final quarter down by two goals.
The Hornets scored first in the final quarter to go back up by three. A minute after the Orange goal, The Flucos scored from in close to make it 8-10. After five minutes of back and forth play with opportunities for both sides, but with the goalies prevailing, Orange scored its final goal from in close to again lead by three goals. With five minutes left, the Flucos got their ninth goal as Eckert scored again from in close on a great pass. The Flucos final goal came with 3:16 remaining but the Hornets managed to turn the Flucos away and run down the clock for the win.
Eckert had an outstanding night for the Flucos, scoring four times. Beaulieu and Braddock McCauley both scored twice. Junior Jack Jeffries, another Co-Captain, scored once and won an impressive 17 0f 25 face-offs. Ball recorded 14 saves.
This loss ended the Flucos season, but they were in the play-offs for the second year in a row and the prospects for the Don Wyant coached team are positive. He had only three seniors on this year’s roster and the Fluco JV team had an outstanding season.
