East Men's Lax Earns Shot at State Title After Victory Over Apex

East will play in the state championship game after defeating Apex 12-7 in the semifinals. Apex took down East in the playoffs last year, but East would see that things were different since they played at home this year. East was lead by Baxter Perkins' four-goal game and usual primary goal-scorer Ryan Lucey, who recorded two goals and four assists. Lucey had this to say about the opportunity to play in the state championship game: "I'm very excited. I couldn't imagine a better end to my career at East." Steven Augustine also had two goals, both in the final two minutes, and won 17 of 20 face-offs in the game. Apex drew first blood and quickly gained a one goal lead, but Leo Moran would respond two minutes later to tie it up and Ryan Dotson added a goal to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game and they would not fall behind again. Moran also posted two assists in the game. It would continue to go back and forth until late in the second quarter when East scored three straight goals to gain a lead they would hold onto for the rest of the game. After a quiet first half of the third quarter, Apex would score to move within two. Perkins then responded with a hat-trick to give East a commanding lead and the game would never get closer than three goals after that point. Ryan Dotson, Jackson Boyer, and Chandler Zirkle all had a goal and an assist. Will McEntee said this to say of the team's performance tonight: "We came ready to play and executed everything well. Hats off to Apex for a good game." East will play Northwest Guilford this Saturday in the State Championship game at 4:00 at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.