Bonny Eagle boys lacrosse knocks off Edward Little in Class A prelim
AUBURN — When Asa Proctor went down with a knee injury in March, Michael Nielsen's role on the Bonny Eagle lacrosse team was supposed to be simple: a short-stick midfielder winding down his high school career.
Instead, the Scots found their starting goalie.
Nielsen stepped into the net and never looked back, and Tuesday night he capped an improbable run with the biggest save of his season, sealing Bonny Eagle's 8-7 victory over Edward Little in a Class A preliminary-round playoff game.
The 12th-seeded Scots held on despite a career night from Edward Little's Matt Fecteau, who scored three goals. Nielsen finished with 18 saves, the last coming in the closing seconds to preserve the win.
"When they started coming down, and I made that last save, it was just, wow," Nielsen said.
The victory sends Bonny Eagle (9-6) to face No. 4 Deering in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The Red Eddies finished their season at 12-3.
The game featured a complete reversal of their regular-season meeting, when Edward Little handed Bonny Eagle an 11-9 loss in driving rain. This time, the Scots built an early cushion before weathering a furious Edward Little comeback.
Bonny Eagle dominated the opening quarter, with Jayden Turgeon, Davis Powell and Landon Emmons all finding the net to stake the Scots to a 3-0 lead. Edward Little climbed back into contention behind Fecteau, who scored twice in the second quarter as the Red Eddies cut the deficit to 5-4 at halftime.
"We did have a big second quarter, but you can't control the time, at the end of the day," Edward Little coach Tyler Haskell said.
The Red Eddies continued their surge in the fourth. Logan Averill tied the game at 6-6 early in the quarter, and when Fecteau scored again with under five minutes remaining, Edward Little had its first lead at 7-6.
But Bonny Eagle answered. Davonte Ephron scored to knot the game, and then Emmons delivered the decisive blow. With under two minutes to play, he fired a shot past the Edward Little goalie for the go-ahead tally.
"I was being confident with my skill and just putting it on cage and hoping for the best," Emmons said.
Haskell said his team generated exactly what it wanted in the final sequence.
"We were able to get the ball off of a turnover, and Logan Averill had one hell of a bid," Haskell said. "That could have (gone) in, but it also could have been saved. He had one final bid that was a really good shot. I'm really proud of the effort, at the end of the day."
Bonny Eagle coach Andrew Slefinger said the rematch felt different from the start.
"We've made playoffs a few times, usually against an unfavorable team. They handle us pretty quickly, and that's that," Slefinger said. "This year, drawing the same team that we played a couple of weeks ago in pouring rain, (and lost to) 11-9. I had a feeling that we could definitely compete with them if every player on the team gave their best."
For Nielsen, the moment was a culmination of a journey that began months ago when he unexpectedly inherited the goaltending duties. He said the win reflected the work of everyone in the program.
"I really appreciate all the guys I'm with, the coaches, all the staff, everything that goes into this team," Nielsen said. "It's not an individual effort, but a team effort."
