Boys Lacrosse: Olson’s Hat Trick Lifts Gig Harbor Past Liberty

RENTON, Wash. – Cody Olson tallied a hat trick as Gig Harbor hung on to edge Liberty 7 – 6 to open the 2012 boys Division II varsity lacrosse season, Saturday at Liberty High School in Renton.  

With Liberty trailing 5 – 4 at the end of the third, Olson, a junior, connected at 7:14 of the fourth followed by a Leif Drathman goal less than a minute later as the Fire moved out to their largest lead of the night 7 – 4. 

But Liberty would not go down easily.  The Patriots’ Mario Moreno beat Harbor goaltender Ashton Sidebottom with 2:06 remaining to make it 7 – 5.  And with just  :39 remaining, converted long-pole defender Wyatt Johnson scored to bring the game back to a one-goal margin.

Liberty won the ensuing face-off and got the ball up field to Peter Disney.  But Disney’s shot sailed wide right in the final seconds.

Gig Harbor (1-0-0) next faces North Kitsap (0-0-0) on Tuesday, March 13 at North Kitsap High School.  Liberty (0-1-0) next faces Mt. Si (0-0-0), Wednesday, March 14 at Mt. Si High School.

SCORING
Gig Harbor   2  2  1  2   -- 7

Liberty        1  2   1  2   -- 6

Gig Harbor 7, Liberty 6 (Cody Olson, GH, 3 goals, 1 ground ball; Leif Drathman, GH, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Desmond Ary, GH, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Ricky Chenoweth, GH, 1 goal, 7 ground balls; Alex Dworsky, GH, 2 assists, 1 ground ball; Corey Marchand, GH, 1 goal, 3 ground balls; Chad Powers, GH, 1 assist; Jon Michael Cosper, GH, 8 ground balls; Ashton Sidebottom, GH, 2 saves; Colin Ross, L, 4 goals, 4 ground balls; Wyatt Johnson, L, 1 goal, 1 assist, 12 ground balls;  Mario Moreno, L, 1 goal;  Roland Deex, L,  10 saves)

Information provided by US Lacrosse - Washington State Chapter.