It was a win, a loss and a tie for the varsity boys lacrosse team last week.
On Monday, the Wildcats picked up their second victory of the season in come from behind fashion, defeating Bay City Western 8-7 in overtime.
The game started off just like their previous win with Bay City capitalizing on calls that broke their way, leaving the Wildcats in scramble mode for the rest of the game.
Oxford eventually cut the lead to 6-5 entering the fourth quarter and after a back and forth quarter, found themselves tied at six with less than 20 seconds left.
On their last rush of the quarter, the Wildcats was able to find the back of the net with 10 seconds left, giving the Wildcats a 7-6 lead.
However, Bay City Western was able to tie the game up with no time left on the clock and force overtime.
In the extra session, Konrad Thaler had the game winning goal. Piper Thaler had four goals, Garrett Kovacic had one goal and Tim Dutzy scored twice for Oxford.
‘There was this emotional seesaw where we won, oh my gosh they tied, and they have the mental toughness to come back in overtime and win it,? Zmikly said.
‘A year ago we would have lost that game, maybe a few weeks ago we would have lost that game,? Zmikly said. ‘But they have done what I asked, they have grown up a lot in terms of not only learning the game, but learning the mental toughness aspect of it and taking adversity and dealing with it and turning it into a positive, where as before they might not have done that.?
The Wildcats came up short when they traveled to Davison on Tuesday, May 10, losing 14-7.
Both Piper Thaler and Austin Bryant scored two goals for the Wildcats.
Against Swartz Creek on Friday, May 13 the weather caused officials to cancel the game in the first quarter with the scored tied at two. Zmikly said the game will not be made up and will officially go into the record books as a tie.
Oxford is currently 2-7-1 with one game left in the regular season on Wednesday, May 18 when they play North Farmington at home. Game begins at 7 p.m. at the soccer field behind Oxford Elementary.
The Wildcats open the playoffs against Romeo on Friday, May 20.
‘Romeo is a solid team, so we are going to have our work cut out for us,? Zmikly said. ‘But we are turning into a solid team.?