Cape boys' lax survives and moves on to play Sallies in championship

The Cape’s boys' lacrosse team survived Saint Mark’s 8-6 in a nippy and chippie “let the boys play” semifinal game at Appoquinimink’s Jaguar Stadium Wednesday night and will move on to face Salesianum in the state championship game to be played at Caravel at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 31.

Coaches huddled afterward and simply told their players, ”Let's get off the field and into the locker room, then watch a little of the girls' game and get home and start thinking about Sallies,” which beat Caesar Rodney 14-4 in a game yet to be played.

“We won; I knew the Saint Mark’s team we beat by 11 goals earlier was not the same one we would see tonight,” coach Jack Lingo said.  “They are a tough team, and we didn’t play great, but the defense came up with stops when we needed them, and Hunter Daily got a big face-off that resulted in a goal which put us up by 2 and gave us a little cushion.”

Jeb Monigle scored off an assist from Luke Benson with 4:30 left in the game, and Grant Gillan zoned up and stopped two shots to preserve the victory.

Cape lost to Sallies 14-7 earlier in the season, and afterward Lingo said, "I don’t care about round one or round two with Sallies; I just want to beat them when they line up in front of us. They are obviously an awesome team, but we’re pretty good as well."

Todd Keen, a 6-foot-3 senior midfielder, led Cape with 3 goals. He will need to show up big if Cape is to upset Sallies in the championship game.