OHSAA boys lacrosse: St. Xavier falls to Upper Arlington in 2-day state semifinal

DAYTON, Ohio – In a rematch of an April 30 regular season contest, St. Xavier and Upper Arlington played one half of the Division I state semifinal lacrosse match at Centerville's Legacy Field at Alumni Stadium Wednesday night.

Due to rain and lightning in Centerville, the game got no further than halftime with Upper Arlington leading 7-4. The remainder of the game was played at Dayton's Chaminade-Julienne High School Thursday at noon.

The Bombers stayed within three late into the third quarter, but Upper Arlington pulled away in the fourth, leading by as many as nine before winning 15-9.

"It's never easy," St. Xavier coach Nate Sprong said after talking to his departing seniors. "Life moves on, but it's hard to end a chapter. This may be the first two-day game ever (for St. Xavier). Both teams were in the same situation."

Seniors Leo Caine and Chris Mazzaferri had five goals each for the Golden Bears, while in his final game for St. Xavier, four-year player Luke Vrsansky led with a hat trick. Upper Arlington now moves to center stage for a championship Saturday.

Wednesday night, it was Mother Nature on stage.

Just before the start of the third quarter, lightning was detected. From that point, the clock was restarted to 30 minutes per strike and the strikes were coming with regularity. For added entertainment, it began raining sideways.

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The weather delay began just after 9 p.m. After about an hour and a half, the game was postponed.

The Golden Bears put the ball between the pipes three times in Wednesday's first four minutes before St. Xavier's Vrsansky scored at the 7:00 mark. Upper Arlington senior attack Leo Caine had three goals in the first period and they led by as many as five goals.

Freshman Khalif Hocker and Vrsansky would add goals before the end of the quarter with Upper Arlington leading 7-3.

Oddly enough, after 10 first-quarter goals, only one team scored in the second, a goal from St. Xavier's Reid Stegbauer. The game would go to half at 7-4.

Then, just as it happened in the opening girls Division II semifinal between Mariemont and Bishop Watterson, lightning was spotted.

Thursday afternoon, the Bombers took the field again at Chaminade-Julienne with some resilience.  Jimmy Ryan's goal had St. Xavier down just 9-6 late in the third frame, but Upper Arlington roared back with six unanswered goals to have a comfortable 15-6 advantage.

"We probably had two or three times where we had an opportunity to cut it to two," Sprong said. "For whatever reason, we didn't make the play. It's tough to make a comeback when you don't take advantage of opportunities that you have against a good team."

St. Xavier closed out with goals from senior Andrew Andsager, Vrsansky and Hocker in the closing minutes for the 15-9 final.

Vrsansky now takes his lacrosse talents to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs after a distinguished Bombers career in football, hockey and with the lacrosse stick in spring.  He joins NCAA runner-up Cornell head coach Connor Buczek and his brother Griffin (also of the Big Red) as a St. Xavier four-year player. Current junior Max Bonner and freshmen Hocker and Trent Yelton will eventually join that list.

"Luke being a leading scorer his freshman year and playing in a state championship, he was hoping to get back," Sprong said. "No one plays harder than Luke. He's been a great leader for four years. We look forward to the great things he's going to be doing at the Air Force Academy. I think he should be able to contribute right away there."

Upper Arlington is now 22-1, undefeated in Ohio with just one loss to a team from Wilmington, Delaware. They are a 16-time state champion. The Golden Bears also beat the Bombers in last year's state semifinal.

St. Xavier won state championships in 2015 and 2018. They were state runners-up in 2019 in addition to making the state semifinals the past two seasons.

Coach Sprong's Bombers finish 12-10 including a 13-6 earlier loss to Upper Arlington. Their last loss before Thursday was on May 11 to Dublin Jerome, which will face Upper Arlington Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Division I championship game at historic Crew Stadium in Columbus.

With freshmen Hocker and Yelton back next year, Sprong and St. Xavier should be in the mix again. A new crop of varsity Bombers will be waiting their turn.

"We've got a big class of 2025s (sophomores next season)," Sprong said. "They beat Dublin Jerome and UA (Upper Arlington) pretty handily."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: St. Xavier boys lacrosse loses 2-day state semi to Upper Arlington