Timberlane boys lacrosse comeback falls just short against Windham (video)

WINDHAM - The Timberlane Regional High School boys lacrosse team was rolling, on the verge of the kind of comeback that can define a season.

And then, all of a sudden, it disappeared, or rather, the ball did.

After cutting Windham's lead to one with more than nine minutes left in Tuesday's game, the Owls struggled to get possession away from the Jaguars, who did just enough in the second half to escape with an 8-7 win in a Division II game.

Down 7-2 at halftime, Timberlane (4-6, ARV in the NHHSS Coaches Poll) scored four straight goals to get back into the game and shut down Windham's offense by making a few adjustments.

"I’m very proud of them," Timberlane coach Ken Blaszka said. "They work hard and they fight hard. We didn’t start off well. We spotted them a few goals. We switched some things around a little bit and played some tough defense. It wasn’t like things weren’t there and that’s the problem. We have to settle down a little bit, learn to trust each other and do what we need to do."

The biggest move for the Owls was bumping senior Bill Savage up to defend Windham's Nate Levine, who had three goals and an assist in the first half, but none in the second.

The Jaguars (6-5, ARV) also got three goals from Alex Ryan while Sawyer Hall and Drew Denton also had goals. Stan Jozokos made nine saves in the first half while Jackson Milano had five saves in the second half.

Ryan Freeman and Cam Noyes each had a pair of goals for Timberlane, while Jack Noyes, Ethan Gerry and Savage also scored. Brady Marston made 11 saves for the Owls.

Savage's goal came midway through the third quarter, when he picked off an errant Windham pass and raced down field, bouncing a shot past Milano, which made it a 7-4 game.

"I think (Savage) is underrated quite a bit," Blaszka said. "Our second-half adjustments did a bunch to neutralize them. We put our guy on (Levine). When that happened, things got a little different. Now that we have it in the books, it can be something that we can think about."

Levine put Windham up 2-0 in the first quarter with a pair of high shots that got just under the crossbar. Cam Noyes and Gerry responded for Timberlane to tie the game at 2 with 4:33 left in the quarter, but Hall and Denton scored in the final minute of the quarter to give the Jaguars a 4-2 lead.

Ryan scored early in the second quarter to make it 5-2 and he added another with 4:46 remaining until halftime to give the Jaguars a four-goal lead. Levine scored with 1:57 left in the half to make it 7-2.

Windham controlled possession to start the second half, but Timberlane ended its scoreless streak when Braidon Bowman found Freeman for a goal with 8:39 remaining in the third quarter. Goals by Savage and Freeman cut the Jaguars' lead to 7-5 going into the fourth, and after a Windham turnover early in the quarter, Jack Noyes ended the breakout with a goal to make it 7-6 with 9:39 to play.

The Owls didn't see the ball much after that. The Jaguars were able to keep possession, thanks in part to a couple of Timberlane turnovers and penalties, and Ryan scored Windham's only goal of the second half to make it 8-6 with 5:48 remaining.

"They possessed the ball and we had some penalties," Blaszka said. "We had some failed clears and a couple of mistakes. Possessions were at a premium and we missed out on them a little bit. And we had a couple of spots that we could have done something and we didn’t capitalize on them."

Cam Noyes made it a one-goal game against with 14 seconds left on the clock, but Windham won the faceoff to end the game.