BY ANDREW GIERMAK/SUFFOLK NEWS-HERALD
Andrew.giermak@suffolknewsherald.com

SUFFOLK—Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s boys lacrosse squad got the last two goals of regulation time and Bobby Lamm scored his first goal of the match 1:25 into overtime to give the Saints a 12-11 win over Tidewater Conference foe Hampton Roads Wednesday evening at NSA.

The Saints fought back from being down three goals on two occasions in the second half and from an 11-9 deficit in the last six minutes. Led by Sam Rapoport’s three goals, seven Saints had scored goals by the time overtime started.

After the Saints squandered a man-up opportunity starting extra time, having Lamm get the critical scoring chance wasn’t the plan.

“It definitely wasn’t by design, but Bobby’s been shooting the ball well all season and actually, we’ve been wanting him to shoot the ball more,” NSA head coach Tom Hostutler said.

The Saints controlled the ball for the majority of the game, but possession didn’t mean anything on the scoreboard most of the way.

Tucker Hotte tallied both of NSA’s goals in the second period. Hotte’s first came via an assist by Jack Russell and finished a two-plus minute span moving the ball around the Navigator end of the field.

Hotte put NSA up 3-2 with 1:38 left in the half. Jeff Ruland’s feed set up Hotte on the right wing and Hotte fired a hard, one-hop shot into the goal, again at the end of a patient, three-minute-long NSA possession.

The Navigators won the ball on the ensuing faceoff and scored within 15 seconds of going into NSA’s box, leaving a 3-3 halftime score.

HRA kept the momentum and the quick scoring going, building an 8-5 lead late in the third period.

Harris Howell scored with 0:37 left in the third. Starting the fourth, Ryan Serianni and Thomas Westfall worked to win the faceoff, with Westfall, a long-stick defender, going on the attack with the ball. Westfall passed to Rapoport near the left post of the HRA cage and Rapoport quickly finished from point-blank range.

Another NSA faceoff win turned into a long possession in the HRA box and Bobby Wentz scoring off an assist by Hotte, making it 8-8 with 10:06 left.

HRA scored a man-up goal to regain the lead. The Navigators kept going to an 11-9 lead.

Howell scored at the 5:34 mark, getting a pass from Hotte as he curled from the top of the HRA box in on goal and firing a hard, low shot.

Another faceoff win put the Saints straight in on goal again. Hotte passed to Rapoport, going right to left across the goal crease, and Rapoport scored with 5:15 left.

With Serianni doing the work as the main faceoff player, NSA had a 15-6 advantage on faceoffs. Hostutler also credited Westfall for lots of dirty work.

“Thomas is our best ground ball guy. Some other things we’ve been trying weren’t really working so we went back to one thing we know works, Thomas going after ground balls,” Hostutler said.

HRA earned a one-minute man-up chance with 3:10 left. HRA scored on 4-of-5 man-up situations to that point but NSA held defensively at the right time.

The Saints controlled the ball for nearly all of the last two minutes and drew a penalty with 9.5 seconds left. The man-up chance, moving into overtime, expired. NSA maintained possession, though, and the passing and pressure paid off with Ruland passing to Lamm, Lamm driving in a few strides from the right wing and firing in a shot while in tight traffic.

“This shows a lot about the character of these guys,” Hostutler said.

Rapoport had a hat trick and two assists. Hotte had two goals and four assists.

The Saints (8-3, 2-1) move on to back-to-back road games, at Norfolk Collegiate Thursday and at Highland Saturday afternoon.