The Newburgh Free Academy boys’ lacrosse team rallied back to tie the Washingtonville Wizards in the season finale for both teams.
However, the Wizards scored three goals in the game’s final 3:10 to pull out an 11-8 victory over the Goldbacks on Thursday afternoon at Washingtonville Middle School.

The Goldbacks trailed by as many as four goals after the Wizards’ Luke Lombardi gave them a 7-3 lead with 7:15 remaining in the third quarter. However, that would be the last goal they would score until the fourth quarter.

The comeback started when Sam Esposito scored off an assist from Mike Vasquez to pull the Goldbacks to within three. Then with 4 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Vasquez, who led the Goldbacks with four goals and two assists, found the back of the cage to cut the Wizards’ lead to 7-5.

A Wizards’ penalty early in the fourth quarter gave the Goldbacks a man-up advantage, which Vasquez quickly cashed with a goal that pulled them to within a goal, 7-6.

The Wizards’ lead was gone 16 seconds later.
Vasquez assisted on a goal by Matt Wood to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:54 remaining in the game.

But that’s where the Goldbacks’ offensive surge ended and the Wizards started to pick up the pace again, controlling the faceoff.
Washingtonville’s Andrew Heins broke the tie, scoring off an assist from Dylan Fuentes to give the Wizards an 8-7 lead with 9:27 remaining.

Then with 3:10 remaining, Lombardi scored what turned out to be the game’s deciding goal. Sean Creeden and Jake Pierno also added fourth-quarter goals as the Wizards built an 11-7 lead.

The Goldbacks still had one more gasp left in them, and that came with 28 seconds remaining in the game, as Billy Engle scored his first varsity goal for the Goldbacks, cutting the Wizards’ lead to 11-8.

Thursday’s game was the finale for both teams as neither qualified for their respective Section 9 tournaments. The game was originally scheduled for May 16, and even though it had no playoff implications was rescheduled as the Wizards’ Senior Day.

It was a Senior Day the Goldbacks had looked to spoil early, as they took their only lead of the day as they got the first goal of the day to take an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Vasquez.

However, Pierno tied the game off an assist from Fuentes and then two straight goals by Heins gave the Wizards a 3-1 lead. Joe Vecchinello’s goal gave the Wizards a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Wood scored early in the second quarter to cut the Wizards’ lead to 4-22, but goals from Washingtonville’s Pierno and Creeden expanded the lead to 6-2.

Vasquez scored a late man-up goal to cut the Wizards’ lead to 6-3 at halftime.