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MARIETTA - The Lassiter boys lacrosse team smelled victory even though there was plenty of time left.

The Trojans had a four-goal lead and the momentum over Lovett in the third quarter of their state quarterfinal game Saturday at Frank Fillmann Stadium. But the Lions took both away and held on to win, 13-11.

This is the first time since 2003 that Lassiter will not be playing for a state championship, but the Trojans are optimistic about their future. Lovett will in the semifinals Wednesday at Milton.

"We're a young team," Lassiter coach Pete Manderano said. "We're going to miss some key people. We're going to miss some leadership. We have a whole bunch of sophomores, but we have guys with a lot of experience so I'm looking for them to respond."

Griffin Lamie and Seth Erickson scored seven of Lassiter's 11 goals. Lamie had four, Erickson provided three and David Banik and Jordan Shreiner had two assists each.

Owen Green scored six goals to lead Lovett, Bo Anderson added four and North Winship scored two.

The Trojans jumped on Lovett late in the second quarter after tying the game, 5-5. Lamie and Erickson combined for four unanswered goals to give the Trojans a much-needed cushion with 9:27 left in the third.

Lovett made adjustments defensively, putting all emphasis on Lassiter's two leading shooters, while its offense produced four consecutive goals in a 6-minute span to tie the game, 9-9, with 3:20 left. Lovett then converted again a minute later to take the lead.

"Those guys probably had eight shots between them," Lovett coach Jim Buczek said. "It was our focus to put all seven of us on them and stop our main threats."

The Trojans called timeouts to make adjustments in the fourth quarter, but Lovett's defense left little room for error. Goalkeeper Frazier Perrett recorded 11 saves for Lovett with the many coming in the second half.

Lassiter, meanwhile, had fourth quarter chances of its own.

Lamie bounced a shot through traffic early to tie it, 10-10, but the Lions answered two quick goals to retake the lead. Andrew Wachsler scored a late goal on a Carter Sechrest assist to cut the deficit but Lovett got one back and held the ball before time expired.

"We just didn't pick it up," Manderano said. "We made a few mistakes and that got them back into the game. We got behind, had a lot of penalties called on us and didn't have the ball as much in the second half."

The first quarter was a shootout between Lassiter and Lovett's two leading scorers before it ended in a 2-2 tie. The teams exchanged leads in the second before Lassiter took control with five straight goals.

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