Boys lacrosse: Glenbard West downs York for 4th straight sectional title

The bracket in the Conant boys lacrosse sectional held true to form as the top two seeds, Glenbard West and York, made their way to Friday evening's title tilt.

The top-seeded WSC champion Hilltoppers won 18 of their first 22 games while the second-seeded Dukes had dropped 3 of their last 4 regular season contests to enter the postseason at 7-8 before wins over IC Catholic and South Elgin placed them back at the Feutz Field pitch for the final.

It became a rough and tumble tussle that wouldn't get decided until the late stages of the game where Glenbard West emerged with a 10-5 victory to garner their fourth straight sectional crown.

The Hilltoppers (19-4) now return to Hoffman Estates except it will be at Hoffman Estates High School Tuesday evening for a supersectional date with New Trier after the Trevians (14-7) beat Loyola Academy (16-4) 7-4 to win the Evanston sectional Friday afternoon.

"We had several big plays where we got up by two and pulled away," Glenbard West coach Eric Nuss said. "We have everything in place, hopefully, to counter what other teams do which makes us successful."

Glenbard West would first need to rally from a two-goal deficit early in the second stanza as scores from attackers Chase Lloyd and Ben Loughlin evened the game at 4 at halftime.

After a Simon Kodosky goal tied the game for the Dukes (9-9) at 5 with 3:58 remaining in the third, the Hilltoppers would finally gain the upper hand as tallies by junior attacker Will Hoisington followed by Lloyd's second put them up 7-5 entering the fourth.

The floodgates opened as Glenbard West scored a trio of goals in the final 4:07 starting with a goal from Joaquin Grimaldo that was the backbreaker.

Lloyd felt that he, along with his squadmates, embraced the challenge of playing York for a second time, a team they had beaten a month ago.

"It's just amazing playing one of our rivals for a sectional championship," Lloyd said. "I feel like there's a challenge where it is fun to play that team."

Perhaps the test was made stiffer by the debut of York netminder Joshua Sandoval who made 9 saves during a 35-shot barrage the Hilltoppers made on the Dukes goal.

"Not a bad debut," York coach Tom Coyne of Sandoval's performance.

Coyne also spoke proudly of his team's effort in defeat.

"Tough for our kids. I think we battled them all day, but Glenbard West is tested and they wore us down," Coyne said.