Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ lacrosse teams in action. HH/New Hope-Solebury photos provided courtesy of Karla Donohoe. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL American Conference
HATBORO-HORSHAM 11, NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 10 (OT)
The Hatters won a thriller when sophomore David Benjamin scored with 1.7 seconds remaining in overtime. It was the Hatters’ second win of the season with both coming over the Lions.
“This was definitely a huge boost,” HH coach Gauntlett Walker Jr said. “I told my guys coming into it – ‘It’s tough to beat a team once in a season, let alone twice, and we knew they were going to be ready for us coming in here.
“The morale was teetering a little bit low going into that overtime just because we had given up that big lead, but after they netted that one, you could just see the elation and jubilation on their faces. On the ride home, they were all singing and happy. It’s been a tough season so far. We haven’t won an overtime game in a while, so it was definitely good for them to not only win it but win it in the fashion that they did.”
Early on, there was nothing to suggest overtime would be required to determine a winner as the Hatters raced out to a 3-0 lead and stretched that to 5-1 before the Lions came roaring back to knot the score 6-6 at halftime.
“That’s the same way the previous game had gone – we had jumped out to an early lead,” Walker Jr said of the Hatters’ 14-6 win in the initial meeting. “They did a good job of battling back, and it was pretty much back and forth the entire time.”
The Lions took a 7-6 lead early in the second half, but the Hatters rallied to take leads of 8-7, 9-8 and 10-9 only to see the Lions knot the score.
“Once the game was dwindling down, we were up by a goal, we cleared the ball, and unfortunately, we ran off-sides,” Walker said. “They were able to get the ball back with about 40 seconds left. They called a timeout, they set up their clear, they broke our ride, and then they were able to score and tie the game with about 20 seconds left.”
The Hatters won the opening face-off in OT.
“We had a really nice opening possession, and we probably had the ball three minutes of the four-minute overtime,” Walker said. “We weren’t able to put it into the back of the net.
“They got the ball back, they had a really quick possession and had a nice shot. Our goalie, Brendan Kirn, had a nice save for us off of a lefty wing dodge. We were able to transition the ball back to our side with about 20 seconds left. At that point, it’s kind of a scramble drill.”
The Hatters attempted to set up a play but dropped the ball.
“There was almost a turnover, but Alex Cerminara picked up a huge ground ball for us,” Walker said. “He was able to save possession for us, and we were able to get it to David Benjamin. He was able to take his guy one-on-one to the cage, and he beat the goalie top right.”
Benjamin finished with two goals and an assist and won 11 of 21 face-offs.
“David Benjamin takes the majority of the face-offs for us,” Walker said. “He’s kind of the do-it-all guy for us. We ask him to do a lot in the transition game. He’s a big focal point for our offense.
“He was a little bit banged up coming into the game, and I kept asking him – ‘Are you good to go?’ He said, ‘I’m good. Keep putting me out there,’ so I definitely give him a ton of credit.”
Cerminara led the Hatters’ attack with four goals and an assist.
“Alex Cerminara has really been working on his hand placement on his shots,” Walker said. “He’s starting to reap some of those benefits. He’s starting to keep his hands high, and he’s putting a lot more in the net, and he deserves a ton of credit.”
Also for the Hatters, Min Lee had a goal and two assists while Sam Fink had two goals and Tyler Kim and Dom Tarsi each had one. Dylan Fesmire led the Hatters with six ground balls. Connor Davis and Tommy Pedicone each had three ground balls.
Kirn was credited with 11 saves in a winning effort in goal for the Hatters.
“He struggled a little bit with his clear game, but in the fourth quarter and overtime, he came up with some huge saves, some out-of-the-ordinary saves that were able to propel us and give us a boost that we needed to pull this one out in the end,” Walker said.
Hatboro-Horsham (2-5, 2-2 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks South on Friday, and New Hope-Solebury (2-6, 1-5) will travel to Wissahickon on Thursday.
Hatboro-Horsham 0-6-2-2-0 10
New Hope-Solebury 3-3-2-2-1 11
Non-league
UPPER MORELAND 16, HARRY S TRUMAN 3
The Golden Bears continued to roll, opening up a 9-0 halftime lead en route to their seventh win in nine games.
Ryan Olexa and Joe Marczak both scored four goals and contributed an assist to lead a balanced UM attack. Joseph Messina added a hat trick, and Owen Dunleavy had two goals and an assist. Adding one goal each were Thomas Bryan, Aidan Gallen and Matt Hartley. Colin Hogan and Zachary Rudgunas chipped in with one assist each.
Upper Moreland (7-2, 2-1 SOL) will travel to New Hope-Solebury on Tuesday, and Harry S Truman (1-6, 0-4) will host Council Rock North on Friday.
Harry S Truman 0-0-0-3 3
Upper Moreland 5-4-5-2 16
About the Author
