The toes on Sean Walsh’s right foot tingled Wednesday. That’s what happens when you make a kick save of a fast-moving lacrosse ball.

“You know, it is a little sore,” said Walsh, the Cheverus High goalie. “I’m not going to lie. That was a good shot.”

The save was one of the seven Walsh made in the third quarter to prevent Deering from taking a lead after the Rams had erased a four-goal deficit to tie.

He finished with 15 saves to lead fourth-seeded Cheverus past fifth-ranked Deering 11-9 in a Class A North boys’ lacrosse quarterfinal.

“That was a fun game to play,” Walsh said. “They never went away. Props to them.”

The Stags (9-4) advanced to a semifinal Saturday at top-ranked Brunswick (10-2), the defending state champion.

The Rams (7-6) appeared finished after Cheverus opened a 6-2 lead in the fist quarter. Three times the Stags tacked on a bonus goal with quick transitions.

“On fast breaks, that’s where we got a lot of our goals today,” said Marco Giancotti, who scored five times for the Stags. “We were strong in the first quarter and then we kind of backed off because we thought we had it.”

Instead, Deering responded by shutting down Cheverus in the second quarter, when Tanner Nussinow made five of his nine saves, including his own kick save to thwart a Jesse Pierce breakaway. Nate Richards scored three straight goals for Deering and Nick James made it 6-6 with a minute left in the half. Bryce Randall’s bid to give Deering a lead rang off the post.

“They did not look really happy at halftime,” Cheverus Coach Bill Bodwell said of his Stags. “We had some chances in that second quarter but lacrosse is a game of runs.”

Deering controlled play early in the third but Walsh stood tall. One opportunity evaporated when Andrew Johnson (who led Deering with four goals) was whistled for a crease violation.

“We had a wide-open look,” Rams Coach Jon Dupuis said. “When you lose that, it’s almost like a two-goal swing. You had one and then you don’t get it, and they come down and score.”

It was Max Coffin (five assists) who fed Giancotti for the winner, more than five minutes after intermission. Mackenzie Hoglund scored in transition two minutes later to make it 8-6 through three. After Giancotti and Michael Hatch scored in the opening minute of the fourth, Cheverus seemed to have the game in hand at 10-6.

Once more, Deering responded. Johnson scored twice to make it 10-8 with more than seven minutes left. Alex Nason’s second goal gave Cheverus a little more breathing room but Max Hornblower answered to make it 11-9 with three minutes left. Hornblower won the ensuing draw, but an errant pass spoiled Deering’s last, best chance.

“We came out after halftime and we weren’t sulking,” Walsh said. “We came out and won the third quarter. It would have been easy to lay your head down after being up 6-2 in the first and then going into halftime tied 6-6.”

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