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Kilbourne Ends UA's Five-Year Run in 7-6 Title Game

Jun. 10, 2009

The only difference last Saturday at Upper Arlington was the moment was real, not imaginary. Horwatt stopped Upper Arlington attacker Alex Drake's shot with less than seven seconds remaining to help the Wolves secure a 7-6 victory and win their first state championship.

"I knew we needed to buckle down, focus and be perfect," said Horwatt whose had 17 saves and was named as the tournament's defensive MVP. "Alex was set up at the top center. He's probably their best player, and I knew he was going to shoot it. I knew my most vulnerable spot was off hip so I cheated a little bit there and made the save."

The Wolves finished a program-best 21-2 as UA, which had won five consecutive state championships, finished 18-3.

For Kilbourne, junior midfielder Will Campbell, the offensive MVP, and Christian Sorensen each had two goals, and Kevin Mack finished with a goal and an assist. Drew Roper and Austin Wright each scored a goal, and Pat Riffee and Tim Davis recorded an assist.

The victory was a perfect end for Mike Riffee, who co-coached the team with Jon Ewert, and the team's 14 seniors. Coach Riffee, whose team lost to Upper Arlington in its three previous state final appearances including 8-3 last year, announced his resignation after a 9-8 overtime win over Hudson in a state semifinal June 2.

"It was incredible. Everything was flashing before my eyes," Riffee said of the final minutes. "But the kids did it. They were able to get the ball one last time and got it down the field.

"Our defense played well. (Defender) Lucas Wood did a great job on Drake. I don't know how many saves Cole had, but he made enough to allow us to win. Our kids knew UA wasn't going to score more goals than we were going to score."

Drake had one goal and one assist.

Campbell was an unlikely offensive hero.

The junior, who made a verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina before the season, was not one of the team's top five scorers but made a spectacular left-handed shot to put the Wolves ahead.

"We encourage Will to shoot the ball any way he wants," Riffee said. "He has been more typically a defensive midfielder for us this year, but he better have confidence to shoot from any where right now. That left-handed goal was a stinger."

Campbell said a 10-8 win on the Golden Bears' home field April 29 gave Kilbourne confidence going into the final.

"The monkey was off our back after the first game. In the past, it was hard for us to get a win against them," Campbell said. "We've been better than them but the mental aspect kept us from beating them. We had the confidence going in and hopefully they had a little bit of doubt (in the back of their mind)."

Kilbourne dominated the first quarter, outshooting UA 9-3 while taking a 2-0 lead. Sorensen scored off a Davis assist with 9:01 left, and Mack added a goal a 1:02 later.

The Bears finally got on track offensively in the second quarter, scoring three goals in a span of 2:30, which ended when Drake scored with 18.3 seconds left to put UA up 3-2 at the break.

"We talked about lacrosse being a game of runs," coach Riffee said. "We had a two-goal run. They had a three-goal run. It's who makes the run at the right time and we made our runs at the right time. We got ahead by a goal and our defense was able to step up and keep the victory for us."