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Fleming Island Nips Episcopal 12-11 In OT Thriller

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
Fleming Island freshman Jack Hawley drilled a full wind-up shot past Jacksonville Episcopal goalie Tram Evans with 1:19 remaining in overtime to lift the visiting Golden Eagles to a 12-11 victory over Jacksonville Episcopal Tuesday night. As middie Sam Barrington began a move toward the goal from the upper right side of the box, Hawley moved from the left side of the goal to a space eight yards in front of the crease. The eyes of the Episcopal defenders were on the advancing Barrinton, enabling the sophomore to flip a crisp pass to Hawley for the game-winner, which whistled past Evans’ left side. The game was broadcast on Jacksonville’s 1010 XL AM radio as the station’s “Game of the Week”, and the North Florida listening audience was treated to a thriller. Episcopal’s Quinton Miller, who scored four goals and had three assists, sent the game to overtime in dramatic fashion, bulling his way through three Golden Eagles defenders while drawing a penalty to convert a bounce shot from close range with just 6.9 seconds remaining. Due to the penalty, Episcopal began overtime with possession and came within inches of winning when a shot by freshman attack Harry D’Agostino, who found the net twice on the evening, buried another shot into the netting– just outside the near goal post. In an evenly matched game that featured eight ties and no lead of more than two goals, a change in face-off strategy paid off for Fleming Island. In the first half, Fleming Island’s Barrington tried to scoop up every face-off, losing eight of 13 battles against Episcopal specialist Mick Upchurch. As a result, the hosts outshot the Golden Eagles 20-16 in the opening two quarters and led 6-5 at the intermission. In the third and fourth quarters, instead of trying to gain possession himself, Barrington’s plan was to scoop or flip the ball toward a teammate, often speedy middie Will Yarbrough, closing in from the sideline. The Golden Eagles gained possession on seven of 12 face-offs in the second half, and thus outshot Episcopal 19-14 in the final two periods and overtime. Goals in the game’s first two minutes by D’Agostino and Hunter Greene staked Episcopal to a 2-0 lead, but Fleming Island chipped away and tied the game at 4 in the second quarter when defender Beau Yarbrough raced all the way to the box from the Golden Eagles’ end and deposited a bounce shot into the net. The elder Yarbrough, a senior, had two such coast-to-coast jaunts. It took the Eagles’ Miller all of seven seconds to restore Episcopal’s two-goal edge, scoring first on a bounce shot from the left wing, and again off of the next faceoff with a feed from Upchurch. Fleming Island middie Hayden LaVangie, who equaled Miller’s four goals, circled the goal from the right side, stopped short and returned to the crease before wristing a shot over Evans’ left shoulder to tie the game at 6 with 9:33 remaining in the third quarter. From that point, neither team could gain more than a one-goal advantage as the tension built toward first Miller’s and then Hawley’s heroics. Both goalies performed admirably, with Evans making 12 saves and Fleming Island’s Ryan Kelly making 13, including several on volleys from close range. Fleming Island breaks a four-game losing streak to even its record at 4-4, while the Eagles drop to 5-5. The Golden Eagles do not return to action until April 1, when they visit Flagler Palm Coast for a 7:00 p.m. tilt.