VIDEO: After Bittersweet End, Boys' Lax Looks to Keep Building

Three goals in 17 seconds.

With the memory of Watkins Mill’s 17-0 thumping last year in the playoff's first round, Linganore wasted no time in making clear from the outset who the better team was this year in Watkins Mill’s foray into the 4A/3A North Region quarterfinal.

Tyler Thompson—the Lancers’ 6-foot-1-inch, 235-pound faceoff specialist—nimbly won the opening draw, darted 20 yards, swung a pass to a flanking attacker, who found a teammate cutting across the goalmouth, who gave the Lancers their first score before Watkins Mill knew what hit them.

The sequence repeated twice more nearly carbon copy: Linganore was up 3-0 after barely a quarter-minute of play. The lead was 8-0 by the end of the first quarter. It wasn’t until two minutes left in the first half—and the scoreboard showing 11-0—that Watkins Mill’s Shane Soghomonian spoiled the Lancers’ shutout. Watkins Mill followed that less than a minute later with a Henry Ludgate goal from in close. But lest Watkins Mill get any ideas, Linganore tacked on two more in the first half’s final minute to stretch the lead to 14-2.

Down a dozen at halftime of the May 14 game, Coach Randy Thompson told the team to remember that exact feeling and carry it with them into the offseason, as fuel to come back next year hungry and wanting more.

As it turned out, they weren’t ready to wait an entire year.

Where Watkins Mill defensemen seemed shell-shocked by the early goal-scoring blitz, they swarmed to ground balls in the second half. And where the offense had played skittish for much of the first half, they showed flashes of confidence and command. After three goals against backup defensemen, Linganore restored its starters back in. Watkins Mill scored two more goals after that—while holding Linganore to one goal in the second half—to post a 15-7 final.

That energized second half came by being more intense, aggressive  and assertive, Soghomonian said, whose three goals put him even with senior Kyle Khuen for the team-high of 34.

“We knew this was good team and we were just intimidated in the first half,” he said. “But we got a feel for it, got used to the speed of play, got to sit down a little bit at halftime. It felt better.”

In the end, the loss was still a bittersweet finale to a resurgent season for Watkins Mill lacrosse.

Their nine wins were one more than the team’s six seniors saw combined in all their years as underclassmen. In two or this season’s five losses—against Clarksburg and Poolesville—the Wolverines held one-goal leads late in the game. In their regular season finale, they spotted Springbrook a seven-goal lead then mounted a second-half rally that fell just short in the waning minutes.

It was a season that reversed a decade-long culture of losing, that has brought both bark and bite back to Wolverines lacrosse. The program still faces a wide gap from its dominance in the 1990s. But the bigger picture that Thompson has preached to his players all season is that they have taken that crucial first step.

That new mantra could hardly have embodied in the season-ending loss; outmatched in terms of talent and lacrosse pedigree, but never in effort or desire.

“You came out and you busted your hump for 48 minutes, and I couldn’t be prouder of this young group of men,” Thompson said. “… I’ll never forget this group of guys; I’ll never forget what you’ve done for your community, what you’ve done for your school and what you’ve done for each other.”

There’s little, if any, downtime if the team’s underclassmen are going to get to the level Thompson envisions, especially with the loss of six seniors, who scored 70 out of the team’s 124 goals.

Many of the cogs, though, are already in place. Soghomonian and freshman D.J. Wess had by season’s end established themselves as the offense’s go-to playmakers. And almost all of a defense that played better every week remains in tact: juniors Kyle Hall and Charles Fianko and sophomore Sutton Gasper, anchored by Watkins Mill’s eminently capable net-minder, sophomore Eole Lake, who tallied more than 120 saves this season.

With a few more pieces and some young players stepping up, Watkins Mill lacrosse will continue its path, Thompson told his team as they gathered for one last sideline huddle after the Linganore game. Then, as he had all season, he issued one more maxim before reflecting on how far they had come, and how far they can yet go.

“You guys had a hell of a ride, one game short of a 10-game season, which nobody thought was possible this time last year. We were bottom feeders, we were cellar-dwellers, and now, everyone knows who you are,” he said. “I’m going to get better. If you can get better, I promise you, this thing is only going to keep going up.”

WATKINS MILL -- 2011 SEASON

• Shane Soghomonian (sophomore) – 34 goals, 22 assists
• Kyle Khuen  (senior) – 34 goals, 14 assists
• Henry Ludgate (senior) – 20 goals, 9 assists
• Tommy Drury (senior) – 15 goals, 14 assists
• D.J.Wess (freshman) – 10 goals, 17 assists
• Sergio Mosquera (junior) – 7 goals, 5 assists
• Kyle Hall (junior) – 2 goals, 2 assists
• Charles Fianko (junior) – 3 assists
• Michael Benavides (senior) – 1 goal
• Paul Gianfrancesco (freshman) – 1 goal
• Kwasi Arhin (senior) – 1 assist
• Zach Lazri (junior) – 1 assist