Here's how St. Xavier lacrosse edged rival Moeller to advance to DI state semifinals

Four weeks after their first meeting ended in a one-goal Moeller win, the Moeller Crusaders and St. Xavier Bombers met again at St. X’s RDI stadium to renew their lacrosse rivalry.

This one went to the wire, too, as freshman Spencer Stegbauer’s goal with 3:21 left in the game lifted the Bombers to a 10-9 win over Moeller Friday night in an Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I boys lacrosse regional final.

St. Xavier, 16-5 overall, will play Upper Arlington in a state semifinal 6 p.m. Wednesday at Wittenberg University in Springfield. Moeller finishes 14-8.

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“Just all the hard work we put in,” St. X sophomore Khalif Hocker said. “We had a little rough patch, but we’ve gotten better as the season has gone on. It’s always good to beat Moeller. Most of us play summer ball together so we have a lot of chemistry.”

Who led the teams in goals?

Hocker led St. Xavier with five goals, all in the second period. He also had an assist.

Stegbauer had three goals and one assist.

Joe Ginnetti led Moeller with two goals and three assists. Brennan Hickey had two goals and one assist, and five other players had one goal apiece.

Hocker had 14 shots as the Bombers outshot the Crusaders 45-24 and won 15 of the 23 faceoffs.

Hocker was hard to stop as the Bombers rallied from an early deficit

Moeller led 3-0 after goals by Ginnetti and Tommy Stines in the first minute, and a goal by Hickey with five minutes left to go in the first period. Ginnetti scored again to give Moeller a 4-1 lead one minute into the second period.

Hocker scored two goals in the next two minutes to tie the game at 4-4 and finished with five in the period. His last one, with 27 seconds left, gave St. X a 7-6 halftime lead.

“He’s a tremendous player,” St. Xavier head coach Nate Sprong said. “It doesn’t take a big opening for him to put one in the back of the net. Eventually, something’s going to open up no matter what defense they’re playing.”

Said Hocker: “I just found my shooting stroke. I hit a couple and then just kept going. My teammates kept putting me in positions to score: Feeding me, setting me picks. Shout out to those guys.”

Second half was a defensive struggle

Stegbauer gave St. X an 8-6 lead with a long shot four minutes into the third period. Hunter Hemphill tied the game at 8-8 late in the third period for the Crusaders.

In the fourth, Johnnie Guttman put the Bombers up 9-8 on an assist by Hocker, then Alec Weeder tied it at 9-9 with seven minutes to play.

Stegbauer is a freshman and had three goals in the game. Guttman and D.J. Wojciechowski, who scored the other goal, are sophomores along with Hocker.

“This is a big moment, especially for the young guys,” Sprong said. “With the atmosphere, playing a rival, playing guys you went to grade school with, there is a lot going on. Moeller did a great job defensively switching things up. That affected us being fluid on offense.”

Playing for each other

Senior Max Bonner didn’t specify but said the mother of one of the Bomber players passed away earlier this week.

“We heard one of our teammates lost his mom the other day,” Bonner said. “It’s choking me up now: Trying to do it for him, trying to do it for each other, trying to do it for her. It feels awesome, celebrating together.”

Bonner, a senior heading to play the sport at the University of Michigan, is one of the few seniors playing big roles on the team as they make a run at the state title next week.

“We’ll focus on our mistakes, see what we can do better, but continue to play our game,” he said.

Up next

St. X hosted Upper Arlington April 1 and won 14-10.

“Upper Arlington is a different team than early in the year,” Sprong said. “We’ll have to have our ‘A’ game and be ready to play, but our guys got some momentum from his one and they’re going to be ready.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Cincinnati St. Xavier lacrosse edged Moeller to win regional title