April 28 , 2008 - BEARS STAVE OFF KILBOURNE

The Upper Arlington mens lacrosse team stabilized their hopes for a berth in the 'A' bracket of the Midwest tournament by winning a pressure-packed 13-10 decision over Worthington Kilbourne Wednesday night before a crowd estimated at
three thousand. The previously unbeaten Wolves were the top-ranked team in the state and the Midwest and were in search of their first-ever win over the Golden Bears.

"It was a big win from our standpoint," UA Head Coach Ted Wolford said. "We needed another win in the Midwest. A lot of people saw we had two losses including one to Scioto and noticed we didn't win that big against Thomas and some were thinking we were down. It was nice to see us come back in a fight and get it done."

The battle for bragging rights was a night of ebb and flows. Kilbourne led 2-nothing but UA rallied to tie at three. A big momentum surge occured just before half when the Bears scored three goals in a 48 second span. Alex Drake, Adam Donahue and Eric Hanover found the Kilbourne cage as the Bears took an 8-5 lead at the break. "I thought that made a huge difference for us as far as being fired up and perhaps had them thinking about what was going on." Wolford noted that Kilbourne has been in control of most of its games by halftime.

The Bears worked the halftime lead into an 11-6 advantage before the Wolves rallied to within a goal at 11-10. UA scored the final two goals to secure the win. Hanover, assisted by Donahue, scored at the 3:19 mark of the fourth quarter and the junior Drake scored unassisted with 2:40 left to complete the scoring. A Kilbourne penalty left the Wolves a man down for the final two minutes and the Bears spread the field and secured the win.

"Our guys were so keyed up," Wolford said. "We stressed keeping control of our emotions... they can run high in lacrosse. You can get too high or too low. We tried to stay as steady as possible."

Wolford credited senior captain Keith Olson for his faceoff work, junior Phil Gross for his defense and Nathan Barnett for his play as a long stick midfielder who also scored a goal.

"We have to keep working hard and continue to take those steps in the right direction.and good things will happen," added Wolford. UA is back home Friday night at 8 pm against Toledo St. John and Saturday night at 7:30 against Midwest opponent Wooster.