Lacrosse teams battle it out at the Section 9 match-up

Middletown — The Crusaders lost to the Kingston Tigers in the Section 9 Class AA title in Middletown Wednesday, May 23.
On Monday, the number two-seeded Crusaders reached the finale by beating the Vikings of Valley Central 16-7.
The Tigers beat the Crusaders earlier in the season by a score of 9-7.
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter when they scored two goals just 7 seconds apart.
But, the Crusaders responded and scored three goals in the last 3:30 of the quarter to take the lead 3-2.
In the second quarter, the Tigers controlled the ball and scored four unanswered goals as they took the half time lead 6-3.
In the third quarter, the two teams exchanged goals with the Tigers holding on to a three-goal lead 8-5. So, the Crusaders entered the fourth quarter down by three with their season on the line.
Bennett Smith scored for the Crusaders with 8:48 left in the game to cut the lead down to two but the Tigers scored to keep the three goal margin.
With 5:17 left in the game, Crusader Danny Fitzpatrick scored his fourth goal of the game to cut the Tigers lead back down to two. But, the Tigers answered back quickly with one more score to put the Crusaders title hopes away.
The Crusaders offense was lead by Danny Fitzpatrick with four goals, Kyle Raffert, one goal and one assist and Timmy Philbin and Bennett Smith with one goal each.
In the net for the Crusaders, Thomas Dickerson came up with several big saves that kept the team in the game.
The Crusaders season ending 10-7 loss brings their record to 9-7 on the season.