The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The boys lacrosse squad was scheduled to play at home against North Eugene and Hillsboro this past week, but due to snow covered fields the Outlaws traveled over the hill to get the games played. Sisters brought just 16 of their 22 players as six were out with injuries. Both days the Outlaws played with a lot of freshmen who got a taste of the game for the first time.

On Saturday, March 16, the Outlaws came from behind to post a 9-8 win over Hillsboro in overtime.

The Outlaws trailed until the final minutes of the contest. Matt Harris scored a goal with approximately five minutes left in the fourth quarter off a Haken assist to even the score 7-7. With just over a minute left on the clock Riley Sellers scored off a Gator Haken assist to tie it up again at 8-8.

In overtime, Harris got a ground ball off the face-off, and after a few passes got the ball back and sent it into the net for the 9-8 win.

Haken scored a hat trick and two assists in the Outlaws victory, and Sellers and Harris both recorded two goals. Eli Johnson scored a goal, and Max Palanuk scored his first goal of the year to help get the Outlaws back in the game.

The Outlaws scored their nine goals on 36 shots, and had 35 ground balls in the game. Anthony Randolf had nine saves; he faced 28 shots and had only eight reach the twine.

A day earlier the Outlaws fell 15-1 to North Eugene. Sisters got their lone goal from Johnson thanks to an Ethan Manuel assist. Randolf recorded eight saves in the contest.

Patton had praise for two of his players.

“Gator Haken and Matt Harris had super-human efforts on Saturday, and played the entire game, except for a brief break for Gator to recover from a head-landing after a spectacular diving goal,” said Coach Paul Patton.

“On Friday we struggled quite a bit,” Patton added. “Our effort was good, but the execution just wasn’t there. But, on Saturday things started to click, and with continued hard play we were able to pull off a dramatic win.”