TWHS lacrosse secures Final Four berth

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- The Woodlands Highlanders secured their second THSLL (Texas High School Lacrosse League) Final Four berth defeating the #4 North seed, Southlake Carroll Dragons by a score of 8-5 at Dragon Stadium, the site of the THSLL Super-Regional on Sunday afternoon.

For the Woodlands, Gus Pinsoneault led the team in points registering a goal and two assists, while Sean McCanna tallied two goals of his own. Also contributing for the Highlanders were Brian Welling, Tyler Murphy, Riley Spradlin, and Adam Lowell with a goal and an assist apiece. Graham Casey lit the lamp once.

This matchup between Southlake and The Woodlands was a rematch of a game that took place earlier this year in The Woodlands where the Highlanders defeated the Dragons by a score of 16-11. Sunday's game had considerably less scoring but was spirited throughout as each team tried to punch their ticket to their program's first Final Four berth under their current head coaches. The Woodlands made the Final Four in 2008 with Dave Seale at the helm.

The Highlanders got going early as Coach Keith Tintle's motion offense was clicking on all cylinders. Being fairly deep from top to bottom, The Woodlands can beat opponents in a variety of ways.

At the beginning of the second half, the Dragons went on a two goal run which put them in front 5-4. Shortly thereafter, possession became an issue as the Dragons were unable to take care of the ball for much of the second half. Several unforced turnovers led to extra possession time for The Woodlands and subsequent goal scoring opportunities. Junior Face-Off specialist Jake Williams had a tremendous game against the D1-bound, senior Connor Harryman which was much of the reason The Woodlands won the battle on the ground.

Senior Goaltender, Hayden Stanifer, had a huge game for the Highlanders, making 14 saves to go along with his engineering of 10 successful clearing opportunities. Senior defenseman Cameron Babin gobbled up eight ground balls

Coach Tintle elaborated on the victory, "To be honest with you, it was a bit of a sloppy game as evidenced by all the turnovers both teams committed. Southlake may have been the North 4 seed out of the Dallas area but if you put them in any of the other three districts they are number one in two of them and number two in the other. Every time you play a team from the Dallas area you are going to have your hands full." Tintle continued, "Jesuit is going to be real tough. If you measure by common opponents we are pretty even with each other. They are a real disciplined team under Chris Surran. He's got his team playing their best at the right time. Let's hope the same can be said for us."

The Woodlands will now face Dallas Jesuit in the nightcap in the THSLL D1 Semi-Finals at Friendwoods High School on Saturday at 4pm. The winner will play on Sunday for all the marbles against the winner of the other semi-final between Episcopal School of Dallas and Dallas Highland Park.