Cherry Creek is on the rise

Bruins shake slump, reach title game after ousting Kent Denver

Adam Dunivan, Special to the News

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

ENGLEWOOD - Two weeks ago, the Cherry Creek boys lacrosse team was in a downward spiral of sorts, losing three one-goal games in a span of four contests.

But a huge shutout victory against Golden in the state quarterfinals, coupled with Tuesday's dramatic 6-4 semifinal win against rival Kent Denver, has the defending champions back in the state title game.

The Bruins (13-4) avoided the pit, and now hope the pendulum that has been their season stays on the upswing for one more game, as they will face Denver East in the title game Saturday at Invesco Field at Mile High.

"When we started losing, we just tried to keep playing with confidence," Cherry Creek sophomore attacker Charlie Will said. "Now we have our confidence when we need to, and things are rolling for us."

The mild late-season skid the Bruins played through began with a 6-5 loss against the Sun Devils on April 15, when Kent Denver's Josh Reichert was virtually unstoppable in a four-goal performance.

On Tuesday, the Bruins skidded through the third quarter after holding a 3-1 lead at halftime but erased a comeback effort by the Sun Devils (16-1) when Will scored in the middle of the net with a bounce shot past goalie Max Pluss with 1 minute, 29 seconds remaining.

Will was alone in front of the net after receiving a pass from Ryan Driver from behind the goal. On his second goal of the game, he knew where to shoot after being stoned by Pluss in the third quarter.

"I finally put it low because I learned my lesson earlier," Will said. "He stuffed me a couple times high, so I just took an extra second on the last shot."

The goal broke a seal in which, for the first 10 minutes of the quarter, Bruins players visually were frustrated by not being able to get shots on net. Kent Denver defenders were efficient in closing in on the ballhandler before any good shots could result.

"We had come too far to lose this one," said Cherry Creek's Peter Hoselton after scoring two goals and assisting on the game's final score.

"When it comes down to the end, we wanted to show that we were the tougher team."

Kent Denver, which lost to the Bruins 9-6 in the championship last year, showed in the third quarter it would not go quietly. After goals from Ian Ferrell and Charlie Sayre, Matt Kelsic rifled a one-timer from Tyler Morton into the net with 3:29 left in the third to tie the score at 4.

The Sun Devils outshot Cherry Creek 7-6 in the quarter, but Pluss was tremendous in the third as he registered five saves.

The junior goalie finished with 11 stops.

"Max kept us in this game," Kent Denver coach Tom Graesser said. "To Creek's credit, they executed their offense in the last two minutes when they needed to. The shots were pretty even, but the defenses did a heck of a job controlling the game."

Goals-assists - CC, Peter Hoselton 2-1, Charlie Will 2-0, Ryan Driver 1-1, Kyle Driver 1-0, Tyler McKinstry 0-2; KD, Josh Reichert 1-0, Ian Ferrell 1-0, Charlie Sayre 1-0, Matt Kelsic 1-0, Tyler Morton 0-2.

Shots on goal - Cherry Creek 5-1-6-5 - 17; Kent Denver 1-3-7-2 - 13. Goalie saves - CC, Mark Stone 0-3-4-2 - 9; KD, Max Pluss 2-1-5-3 - 11.