The Palisades High boys lacrosse team should consider play Aerosmith’s “Livin on the Edge” in the LAX Shack before games.
For the second time in less than two weeks the Dolphins had to stage a furious fourth-quarter comeback and Monday’s 12-11 triumph over Culver City in a CIF Southern Section Northern Division play-in game might be the most dramatic win in the program’s eight-year history.
Macchio Rissone was once again the hero, bringing the contest to an end with a golden goal in double overtime when he bounced a shot into the lower corner off a feed from Nate Galper on a curl play. It was Rissone’s sixth goal of the game, giving him a team-high 66 this season.
“This one was tougher because I really had to work for it,” said Rissone, who scored the winning goal with 2:16 left in regulation to lift the Dolphins past City rival Birmingham on April 24. “The last time I just got the pass and shot it right away from far out, but this team plays better with their sticks and didn’t always let us get the positions we wanted. There’s definitely more urgency in overtime because you know any mistake can cost you. The blood pressure goes up a lot.”
Culver City led 10-6 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, but Andrew Davidson’s goal at the 5:40 mark woke the Dolphins’ sleeping offense. Rissone tucked a shot under the crossbar 33 seconds later and Davidson tallied again nine seconds after that to pull Palisades within a goal.
Rissone tied it 10-10 and Kobi Hancz scored with 3:29 left to give the Dolphins their first lead, 11-10. However, the Centaurs pulled even on a goal by Nick Vu with 1:49 left. Hancz nearly ended it 30 seconds into the first four-minute overtime but his shot hit the post.
“Once we got the momentum we knew we could do it,” Davidson said. “We didn’t know much about this team so we were relying on what we practiced.”
Goalie Spencer Au made his bet save of the game from point-blank range 20 seconds before Rissone’s game-winning goal.
The 15th-seeded Dolphins travel to No. 2 Loyola for a first-round game Tuesday.
— Steve Galluzzo
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