Ravenscroft advances to boys’ lacrosse state championship game

Ravenscroft’s boys lacrosse team picked the right time to avenge its only loss of the season.

It just took the Ravens a little longer than expected to pull it off.

Ravenscroft needed two overtimes to upset Charlotte Country Day 8-7 on Thursday in the semifinals of the N.C. private schools state tournament.

Drew Davis’ goal with 57 seconds remaining in the second “sudden death” overtime period sends the third-seeded Ravens (15-1) on to just the second state final in program history.

“The defender dropped off of me,” said Davis, who finished with two goals. “It was a quick restart, and McLean Voelkel just passed it into me. I saw my opportunity and took it.

“This game was really important to us. Last year, we lost in the first round to (Durham Academy). That was motivation for us to get to that state championship game this year.”

There, Ravenscroft – which has now won 14 consecutive games after a 14-8 loss to the Buccaneers (16-7) on March 14 – will return to Charlotte to take on top-seeded Charlotte Latin (16-3) in Saturday’s championship game.

And the Ravens got their title shot despite giving up a two-goal lead to Country Day in the final 30 seconds of regulation.

Cole Cutter scored twice in the fourth quarter for Ravenscroft, the last at 1:59 remaining for a 7-5 lead. But Buccaneers attacker Peter Pittroff set up Julian Taylor for a goal with 29 seconds left, then scored himself with 10 seconds remaining to force overtime.

“Usually, that means doom,” Ravens coach Sandy Kapatos said. “You start fearing the worst. But the kids are a resilient bunch, and they hung in there. It wasn’t a good situation, but they hung in there.”

Alex Payne had 10 saves in goal in the second half for Ravenscroft. Cutter finished with two goals and an assist, Voelkel had a goal and three assists, and Jack Van Lokeren, Troy Jones and Jack Newell all had goals.

Pittroff finished with one goal and five assists for Country Day.

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Ravenscroft advances to boys’ lacrosse state championship game."