Junior attackman Taj Federbusch caught a pass from senior midfielder Luke Gordnier, drove past his defender, and fired a low bounce shot past the goalkeeper to give Santa Barbara High a 5-4 double-overtime boys lacrosse win over Dos Pueblos under the lights at Peabody Stadium on Wednesday night.
Lucas Gaede of the Dons scored two goals in the final two minutes of regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime. The senior attackman scored a hat trick on the night and came in clutch for his team down the stretch.
“It felt amazing (to score the tying goal) but it was a total team effort,” Gaede said.
Santa Barbara jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Kaj Nielsen found Federbusch open on the left side for his first goal of the game.
Dos Pueblos answered right back when Dom Ramirez split to his right and fired one high into the net.
Nielsen assisted again, this time to Gaede for his first of the game to put the Dons up 2-1. The Chargers answered when Trent Jones found Robbie Kriz streaking to the backside and he went airborne for the diving goal, tying it up 2-2.
Dos Pueblos came out firing in the second half when Ashton Slattery drove from behind the cage and found Hector Aldapa open on the right side. Aldapa beat the goalie with a high bounce shot and the Chargers went up 3-2.
A few minutes later, Slattery disrupted a clear attempt by the Dons, face-dodged a defender, and scored one-on-one with the goalie to extend the lead to 4-2.
With less than two minutes left in the game, Luke Gordnier found Gaede open on a fast break and he fired in an outside shot to bring the Dons within one. Then, with 45 seconds on the game clock, Gaede dodged his defender and scored low to tie it up at the end of regulation.
Both teams had opportunities to score in the first overtime but the goalies came up with big saves and the defenses made some key stops.
Then, halfway through the second overtime, Gordnier carried the ball up from midfield and spotted Federbush on the left side of the field. Federbusch surged past his defender, got his hands free and scored with a low bounce shot giving Santa Barbara the win.
“It was an insane shot, Federbusch said after the game. “I was just in the moment, I barely remember it happened. I saw it hit the back of the net and the players swarmed me.”
“I told our guys to just fight until the end of the game,” Dons coach John Keogh said. “Lacrosse is a game of runs.”
“It’s a great rivalry, double-overtime game. What more could you ask for?” Chargers coach Jeff Sears said. “It’s just great for the kids to be playing again in a beautiful stadium.”
Santa Barbara goalie Max Barton had seven saves on the night and Dos Pueblos’ Giovan Diaz made six. Chargers’ defenseman C.J. Amondson had two caused turnovers.
On Friday night, Dos Pueblos will play at San Marcos, and Santa Barbara will host Cate.