The challenge that Woodstock lacrosse faced on Tuesday afternoon — and really, for all of it’s program history — was made simple by the pair of buses and mass of red-clad athletes beneath them on the southern hill of the lacrosse field. 

Visiting Champlain Valley, the largest school in VPA Division 1, required two buses for a varsity and JV program that counted roughly 65 students. Come June, Woodstock, the smallest school competing at the D1 level, entire graduating class will have perhaps 20 more students than that. 

Such has been life for the Wasps, who wear the badge of the underdog with pride but aren’t blind to the disadvantages of playing against far bigger schools. 

“We talk about it, we’re the smallest school in the state playing division 1 lacrosse. They got 13, 14 hundred kids in their school. We’re lucky if we have 300,” Woodstock coach Brandon Little said postgame. “We have a bit smaller bench, our guys were tired on this hot day.”

That gap of depth proved crucial for the Wasps, who trailed the defending champion Redhawks just 6-5 headed to the fourth quarter before getting outscored 3-0 to fall 9-5 on an overcast but muggy afternoon in Woodstock. 

“I think we played really good lacrosse, for the most part, for us,” said Little. “We need to score a few more goals than that to win a game.” 

Champlain Valley scored twice in a 90 second stretch in the middle of the first quarter to take a two-goal advantage that would remain through the end of the quarter, but entering the second, an oddity gifted Woodstock a potential advantage. 

Referees ruled CVU’s Jameson Wilhite-Keene, who had scored twice in the first period, had committed an illegal stick violation and assessed a two-minute non-releasable man advantage as the penalty.

Woodstock needed just 40 seconds to capitalize, as Declan Roylance’s shot from the left trickled through to halve the deficit, but strong goaltending and defense prevented the game from being tied on the man advantage. The man-up goal was all either team could put away as the teams headed to the halftime break separated by just a goal at 4-3.

Like in the second quarter, Woodstock came out of the gate hot in the third and tied the game just 50 seconds into the quarter when Kelton Maxham scooped in from close range. The lead wouldn’t hold for hardly more than a few minutes, though, as Kyler Eaton got tagged for slashing in the neutral zone with 9:50 to go before CVU scored 8 seconds into the man advantage to take the lead. 

An odd-man break doubled the CVU lead, but like in the first half, Woodstock had some more life. A stunning end-to-end rush in the waning seconds produced a close range chance for Asher Emery to bury and cut the deficit to 6-5 with two ticks on the timer. 

“It was good momentum,” Little said. “We just didn’t execute in the fourth quarter, at the beginning, and they got ahead of us there.”

There would not be a late rally, as Champlain Valley’s long, patient possessions and frequent substitutes ran the Wasp defense and midfield out of gas. Ethan Whitcomb scored a pair of goals for the Redhawks that largely put the game away, before a final insurance goal came with the Woodstock net empty. 

At 4-3 with only a few games left on the schedule, Little emphasized that the focus is still tightly on the regular season.

“We’ve got a few games left, we’d like to win out, and that would put us in a good spot going to the playoffs,” Little said. 

Woodstock travels to Brattleboro on Friday.