St. Xavier gets win over Moeller to advance to lacrosse regional final

KENWOOD - If you walked onto the Gerry Faust Athletic Complex Tuesday evening without a dog in the fight, you were treated to a highly entertaining boys lacrosse game.

On the other hand, since it involved Greater Catholic League-South rivals Moeller and St. Xavier, there were no random onlookers. It was tickets-only and minus recent rigid coronavirus restrictions, it was a well-attended full-blown grudge match featuring student sections on both ends of the field. 

After having lost to the Crusaders 10-6 off North Bend Road in April, St. Xavier took one from Moeller on their home turf 11-10. As the horn sounded, St. Xavier students gathered in the end zone greeting the victors on the field. After a missed 2020 season and a year full of distancing, no one stopped those in blue from their gleeful moment.

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"That's what it's all about playing high school sports right?" St. Xavier coach Nate Sprong said. "The setting was unbelievable, playing your archrivals, tight game like that. Our guys dug deep."

A couple of future military men led the charge as Air Force Academy commit Luke Vrsansky led everyone with seven goals.

"He's a gamer," Sprong said. "He's a tailback on the football team, a starter on the ice hockey team and a multi-sport athlete. By doing that he becomes competitive. I don't think anyone can deny that kid's one of the toughest kids around."

For Moeller, TJ Rotello found the net six times, including three straight late in the fourth quarter when the Crusaders cut a 10-6 third-quarter lead to 10-9. It was the final Moeller game for Rotello who will play football for Army at West Point. 

"He was voted Player of the Year in Region 4 for midfield," Moeller coach Sean McGinnis said of Rotello. "On the flipside with Luke Vrsansky, Attackman of the Year, it's almost the TJ and Luke show here. We were fortunate and lucky to watch some great lacrosse this evening."

After Griffin Clark scored first for Moeller, Vrsansky added two quick goals. Moeller tied, then took a 3-2 lead on Rotello's first score. His second gave Moeller the 4-3 lead after the first quarter.

Vrsansky and Rotello both scored in the second quarter and the halftime lead belonged to St. Xavier 6-5. Griffin Clark tied for Moeller 14 seconds into the third quarter, but the Bombers rallied for four straight goals (two more by Vrsansky) for the 10-6 advantage after three quarters.

Rotello would fire in three more in the fourth, but Vrsasnky scored with 42 seconds to make it 11-9. Quinn Smith added his second goal in the final seconds to account for the 11-10 final.

"It was a great team victory," Vrsansky said. "The defense played fantastic. Those are the guys you should be interviewing right now. Offense moved it pretty well. They were lucky to find me and my shot was on today."

The win only moves St. Xavier's record to 9-10, but it is deceiving as they have played a rugged schedule. They will Springboro in the Division I regional final Friday at 7 p.m. at Miamisburg High School. 

"It's a tough lesson that you learn more from losing than winning," Sprong said of the seasons' slate of games. "We've exposed all of our faults. Ultimately, we were a better team because of it."

St. Xavier lost to the Panthers 12-9 back on May 7.

Moeller's season ends at 16-3. They were a perfect 10-0 in the GCL-South but were tripped up by the Bombers in the end. No other Cincinnati-area team beat them with their only other losses coming to Cleveland St. Ignatius and Hudson. 

After a big Friday night win under the lights in April at St. Xavier, the Crusaders could not duplicate the feat as the sunset on the season with the narrow loss at home to the Bombers.

"We had two great teams battle it out, we came up a little short," Moeller's McGinnis said. "It was a hard-fought game between both teams. We didn't execute a few things offensively and made a few more turnovers than we should have. I'm just proud of how hard our guys fought. We didn't give up, we didn't get unglued."