jjohnson@heraldsun.com; 419-6667
CHAPEL HILL -- Jordan's 9-5 win over Chapel Hill in the first round of the boys' state lacrosse tournament was a long time coming, especially for the seniors on the team.
It was the first time in their high school careers they beat the Tigers.
Jordan coach Jamie Sliwa said his team's two-goal loss to Chapel Hill in the regular season served as a motivator.
"We lost to them earlier 8-6 and the guys were pretty down after that," Sliwa said. "They made a promise that if they got another chance then they'd work as hard as they could to avenge that. They did a great job prepping for this game."
Connor Owen scored four goals and Sam Lindsey added three to lead Jordan on offense, while goalkeeper Joey Schreyack held up defensively with 13 saves for the Falcons. Jordan's victory sends it into a matchup with Apex, the state runner-up from last year, in the second round on Tuesday.
"It's a big thing. We've never beaten Chapel Hill since I've been here and I'm a senior," Schreyack said. "I'm in my last few games so I tried to come up big. We're looking forward to playing in the next round and if it's Apex, we'll be happy to play them."
Owen and Lindsey did most of their damage in the first half with three and two goals, respectivelty, to help Jordan build a 7-2 halftime lead. Damien Bynum and Gus Donner got the other goals for the Falcons.
"Our main focus was to come out and really step on them quick and stay on them," Lindsey said. "We got down by one but we didn't let up. When we came up with the three quick ones, it put them in a hole.
Chapel Hill's Paul Whitford opened the scoring in the game but Jordan scored the next three in a row as the contest then settled into a defensive struggle for the remainder of the first quarter.
The Tigers narrowed the Jordan lead to one on a goal by senior Max Redfoot, who finished with three scores in the game, early in the second quarter, but another three-goal spurt gave Jordan the momentum going into halftime.
"The momentum we got carried over the rest of the game," Lindsey said. "They wanted to win this game just as much as we did but the momentum really helped us."
Chapel Hill coach Dave Klarmann said his team didn't respond with a toughness that could have slowed down Jordan's attack. The Falcons finished with 33 shots, while Chapel Hill managed 28.
"They have great speed and we don't have great speed," Klarman said. "We thought we could stay with them and most of the time we did. The few times we didn't, they canned their shots."
Lindsey scored an extra-man goal for the Falcons just before halftime and another early in the third quarter to give Jordan its biggest lead of the game at 8-2.
The Falcons were 3-of-5 with the man-advantage, while Chapel Hill went 0-of-7. Klarmann said his team's ineffectiveness on the power play made a big difference in the game.
"We had seven opportunities on extra-man offense and we get zero," Klarman said. "And we had some great opportunities to score. Those chances only come a few times in a game. We had shots. It's not like we didn't have shots."
Jordan 9, Chapel Hill 5
Jordan 3 4 1 1--9
Chapel Hill 1 1 2 1--5
Goals--Jordan: Connor Owen 4, Sam Lindsey 3, Gus Donner, Damien Bynum. Chapel Hill: Paul Whitford, Max Redfoot 3, Steve Winsor. Shots--Jordan 33, Chapel Hill 28. Saves--Jordan 13 (Joey Schreyack 13), Chapel Hill 13 (Kip Harkey 13).
Records--Jordan 15-4, Chapel Hill 11-6.
