By Brandy L. Simms

Sentinel Sports

NORTH BETHESDA - It was another epic battle between the area's top high school lacrosse programs.

Georgetown Prep junior Brian Casey took a pass from teammate Sean Taylor and maneuvered his way around the net, scoring the game-winning goal with five seconds remaining in the fourth overtime period to give the Little Hoyas a 9-8 victory over arch-rival Landon Friday on the Georgetown Prep campus.

Moments later, Casey was mobbed by teammates after netting his third goal of the game, a win that helped Georgetown Prep clinch the Interstate Athletic Conference regular season title. "That's huge for us," said Casey. "Coaches just ask to win the IAC and try our best, and that's what we did today. But we still have a tournament coming up so we've got to get it done then, unlike last year."

With the conference tournament on the horizon, it's very likely these two teams could meet again.

By virtue of the victory, the Little Hoyas remained unbeaten in league play and snapped Landon's 11-game winning streak. Georgetown Prep also earned its sixth straight win against the Bears who suffered their first conference loss this season.

The Little Hoyas managed to rebound from a two-goal deficit in the second period. Landon junior Josh Offit's goal gave the Bears a 7-5 advantage with 10 seconds remaining before Casey scored as time expired in the quarter to cut the deficit to 7-6.

Georgetown Prep tied the game on Colin Madden's goal with 9:10 left in the third quarter. Landon went ahead, 8-7, on Michael Grossman's goal with 7:36 remaining.

The game was tied once again after Georgetown Prep's Michael Federico scored with 4:34 remaining in regulation. In all, there were five lead changes throughout the game.

The Princeton-bound Grossman finished with a game-high four goals including a fourth quarter score that gave Landon an 8-7 lead with 7:36 remaining but was shut down in the overtime periods. "We knew that we had to stop him," said Casey, "and Mike Flanagan was up [for] the challenge. We kept rotating the entire time and Mike Flanagan is going to Princeton so it was fun watching them two go at it."

Photo by Bill Wyckoff