AUSTIN, TX, March 7, 2009 - The Timberwolves traveled to St. Andrews and found themselves in a dogfight from the beginning of the game through to the second overtime and held on to win 8-7.  In a game with five lead changes, Cedar Park came from behind to take the lead with 2:21 left in regulation, only to watch St. Andrews tie the game with 54 seconds remaining.  Cedar Park won the game in the second overtime period when Ryan Fairclough took a long clearing pass from Rylan Gilley, dodged several players and netted the game winner.

Fairclough led the team with four goals, followed by Jason Teal with two.  Nick Speir and Stephen Smith had  a goal apiece to round out the scoring.

The score after the first quarter was 2-2, then 3-3 at halftime. St. Andrews gave up an own-goal when their goalie missed a pass back from the right side defenseman and watched the ball roll untouched into the goal.  That play gave Cedar Park a 5-4 lead but the margin was short-lived as St. Andrews scored two quick goals to take a 6-5  lead after three quarters.   Cedar Park opened the fourth quarter three men down after a stick penalty accompanied two one-minute personal fouls. Cedar Park managed to kill the three-man-down situation and then ride out the entire three minute penalty without a St. Andrews score.  CP went on to score two goals to reclaim the lead, but St. Andrews clawed back to a tie in the waning seconds and the game went into overtime.  In the first overtime period Cedar Park held on despite being a man down during much of the period and the game remained scoreless.  Just over a minute into the second overtime session,  Fairclough potted the game winner and the Timberwolf players and fans erupted in joy.

“It was nice to get the win,” said relieved Cedar Park Head Coach Chris Knight after the game. “St. Andrews came out with a very aggressive style of play which took us by surprise, and we lost our composure a few times.  We did manage to regain our composure and played very hard.  I thought our defense played great all night.” 

Defensively, Junior Holden Ilseng and Senior Rylan Gilley each had six ground balls, followed by Joel Millikan (Senior) with four and Austin Mueller (Senior) with three. Junior Nick Speir led the middies in ground balls with eight, followed by Ryan Fairclough (Senior) with seven.  Colton Yarborough (Senior) had fifteen saves in goal; St. Andrews had fourteen saves in the close fought contest.  Cedar Park had eighteen penalties in the game vs. five for St. Andrews. The T-wolves held a 35-21 edge in ground balls recovered and outshot the Crusaders 33-31. 

Crosse Currents: Cedar Park (4-2, 3-0) is now 2-0 in overtime games since Chris Knight became coach.  The other OT win was at Westlake in 2008.  This was the first double-overtime game in the history of Cedar Park lacrosse.   The varsity T-wolves can now rest through spring break, but then must face league leading Westwood on March 25 before traveling to Dallas that weekend to face Southlake Carroll in an inter-district game and last year’s  DII semifinalist Coppell in a non-district game.