The Manual boys’ lacrosse team lost their double overtime game against the Ballard Bruins on Wednesday.

This game determined which team would be going to the state tournament.

Manual struggled to keep possession and maintain a strong defense in the first half and the team gave up four goals each quarter

Manual was losing 3-8 at the end of the first half but they soon tied the game up early in the second, really stepping up to score goals and to stop goal attempts.

Joshua Doelling (10, #40), goalie, managed to block several of these attempts.

Movement from Owen Gant (12, #9) and David Contarino (10, #14), allowed for Manual to catch up and tie the game.

Contarino, attacker, scored two goals during the game.

“I think my ball movement and aggressiveness were really strong in the game,” Contarino said.

Gant, midfielder, scored one goal during the first half and three during the second half.

“I feel like I did well, the whole team stepped it up in this game more than any other game we’ve played this year and everyone was out there giving their hardest,” Gant said.

Manual played Ballard in in another overtime game earlier in the season.

“When we first played Ballard, they had beaten all the teams that had previously beaten us but we were beating them the whole game until the last minute,” Gant said.

Head coach, Nathan Moore, was proud of the team.

“We battled back from five down against a tough team and took them into overtime…again, they showed a lot of heart today,” Coach Moore said. “I’m going to look back on this season as a season of resiliency because we started out our season against the team we thought we would crush, we went into a tailspin and it looked like our team had given up but we’ve fought very hard the past six games.”

Sean Blue, head coach for Ballard, offered his opinion on the game.

“It was a tale of two halves, you know I thought we played a really great fundamentally sound first half, I thought our heads got a little big second half and we stopped executing but overall, I thought it was a really hard fought game both ways, both teams left everything out there and I’m really proud of the boys the way they finished the game,” Coach Blue said. “I think I grew about five years older during this game, I grew some gray hairs but I figured a lot about our team.”

Hunter Moore (12, #11) , attacker for Ballard, scored three goals and had one assist. Colin Scinta (12, #23), attacker for Ballard, scored a goal and was a key player in completing plays.

Both players talked about the game and what they were proud to see.

“I feel like we could’ve played better but it’s good to come out with a win,” Moore said. “I think we moved the ball a lot better this game and finished well.”

“I played pretty well in the first half and could’ve played better in the second but my team got it done for me,” Scinta said. “The first half we moved the ball really well but we got stagnant in the second half.”

Ballard prepared for this game after their previous game with Manual.

“We put in two really hard practices on Monday and Tuesday, worked really hard and focused on everything we needed to from our first game against Manual and really prepared for their defense,” Scinta said.

“We knew this would be a tough test, I think the first time we played [Manual], a lot of people overlooked them and we realized they were a really sound and well-coached team, so we prepared hard and we’ve been practicing specifically for them,” Coach Blue said. “It was a tough game and it was a hard fought battle both ways.”