Boys lacrosse: Highland's Beckett Mast pockets game-winner over Copley

COPLEY TWP. — With the Highland boys lacrosse team's season on the line, sophomore Beckett Mast delivered in the nick of time Thursday night. Mast scored the game-winning goal in the final seconds of the seventh-seeded Hornets' 8-7 victory over third-seeded Copley in a Division II, Region 5 second-round contest. The score, off an assist by senior Eli Howard, avenged an 11-10 overtime loss to the rival Indians (10-7) in Suburban League play. More importantly, it gave Mast and the rest of the Hornets (11-6) at least one more game with their senior teammates. Highland will face either fifth-seeded Avon Lake (11-4) or No. 10 Holy Name (13-2) in a regional quarterfinal Wednesday. The Shoremen and Green Wave meet tonight. Avon Lake defeated the Hornets 7-6 in regular-season play Saturday. "We've got some amazing seniors," Mast said. "Part of what gives us confidence going into the next game is just the fighting for each other. Every practice before one of these playoff games could be our last practice and every moment on the field could be our last moment." Eli Howard won his 14th faceoff in 18 tries to seal the win. Mast's goal, which came after Highland possessed the ball for nearly four minutes, capped a wild comeback after Jaxon Chang (2 goals) gave Copley its first lead, 7-6, off a pass from Carsen Manson (1 goal, 2 assists) with 6:45 remaining. Senior Jon Tanski answered with 4:09 remaining to set up the final play after Howard won another faceoff. The rematch with Copley was something Highland had sought since the regular-season loss. "Me and the boys, we wanted this one," Mast said. "We chose this fight. We know they're great opponents, but we knew that we could come out of here with a win. We wanted it, and we fought as a team today." Mast's heroics were set up by strong defensive performances from goalie Josh DeSimone (6 saves) and the back line led by starters Justin Weaver, Josh Messina, Tommy Fearn and Matt Merhar. After giving up 11 goals in the first meeting, Highland allowed only one in the first quarter to get out ahead 3-1 with sound fundamentals and communication. "It was crazy," DeSimone said. "Last game, we kind of screwed it up a little bit. This game, we just game-planned, ran our base set and came out and dominated." While Mast and Tanski came to the rescue late, freshman Caleb Lever kept the Hornets in the game early. After Highland put the first three of eight total shots off a post in the first five minutes, Lever came off the bench and fired in two goals to give the Hornets a 2-1 lead with 3:25 remaining in the quarter. "Before the game, I knew I had to try my hardest, because I want to keep playing throughout the season with my boys," Lever said. "I get that first shot in, and I knew they couldn't guard me. I've got this. I just kept doing it over and over, and I kept scoring." Jay Fearn gave Highland a 3-1 lead with 1:11 left in the first. Copley answered with goals by Chang and Ethan Bradford to tie just 1:03 into the second, but Lever scored his team-high third goal to put the Hornets ahead 4-3 at halftime. Mast kicked off the third quarter with his first goal, but the Indians responded with Manson and Chang to tie 5-5. Ryan Thompson answered when he stole a feed from Copley goalie Jonah Rothschild (11 saves) and scored on basically an empty net. Anderson Madden and Chang gave the Indians a 7-6 lead with back-to-back goals before the Hornets rallied. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.