Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ lacrosse teams in action Wednesday. Pennridge/CR South photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f1055694815 (Neshaminy/New Hope-Solebury photos courtesy of Trish Swanson/Neshaminy lacrosse)
SOL National Conference
Pennridge 10, Council Rock South 9
It’s been quite a week for the Pennridge Rams.
Twenty-four hours after an emotionally charged come-from-behind win over Souderton that put the Rams in the driver’s seat for the conference crown, they travelled to Council Rock South for a must-win if they wanted sole possession of the title.
They delivered.
Any thoughts that it would be easy were put to rest in a hurry. The Rams trailed 2-0 after one quarter and were still on the short end of a 3-2 halftime score. For the Golden Hawks, Joey Smith and TJ Shores scored the first two goals with Owen Dillon turning an assist from Joey Smith into their only goal in the second quarter.
“It was a battle back and forth,” Pennridge coach Chris Pianko said. “In the beginning of the game, we had some good looks, and we just weren’t connecting on passes, dropping the ball a little bit and trying to get into that rhythm. A lot of the game – it was like that hangover from the night before. I think everyone understood the gravity of the game.
“Getting home late from an away game at Souderton and then hopping on the bus today to go against a good CR South team – but a tough one to be able to come out ready to go for both games. I just felt like most of the game we were just trying to get our legs back underneath us and be able to play fast like we usually do.”
The Rams rallied in the third quarter, scoring the first four goals to go on top 6-3. The Golden Hawks answered with goals by Dillon and Connor McCaffery to cut the Rams’ lead to 6-5 heading into the final quarter. 
Dillon’s goal with 7:08 remaining gave Rock South its final lead of the game at 8-7. After three straight Pennridge goals, South scored at the 1:24 mark to trim the Rams’ lead to one. With the score 10-9, South had a final possession but the Rams’ defense stood tall, and the Rams ran out the clock on the big win..
“The team as a whole started picking it up, started getting our legs back under us a little bit and had a nice run in the third quarter, which helped tremendously to be able to kind of continue it out,” Pianko said. “We had a little lead going into the fourth quarter, and a lot of it was just trying to make sure we can bring the energy two days in a row for a really big game and make sure we had that sole conference championship.”
For the Rams, this is their second conference title in as many years.
“It means a ton,” Pianko said. “I don’t have the records, but I think we might be the only ones to have a repeat title (in the National Conference) outside of CB East, which is amazing company to be in. A great junior class last year that are now seniors that have played with us for a long time and played together for a long time.
“We have great cohesiveness, great connectedness, and that’s helped us a ton this year. I think that’s the biggest thing – how we’ve done it as a group. We’re not one guy, we’re a team. We’ve spread the ball. You look at all three of our attackmen are very similar in points because you’ve got to stop all three of us and not just one, which makes us a hard team to play.”
For the Rams, Frank Fanelli led the way with three goals and one assist. Ryan Carickhoff added two goals and one assist, Matt Kriney and Levi Souder both had two goals while Matt Seiler had one goal and one assist.
Cole Nitterour won 13 of 23 faceoffs. Tyler Vandermark had 10 saves in goal for the Rams.
For the Golden Hawks goalie Billy Houser recorded 10 second half saves and had three ground balls. Thomas Gallagher and Logan Foy both had six ground balls. Wes Waninger had four ground balls. Dillon led the Hawks with three goals and one assist while Smith’s five-point game included two goals and three assists.
Pennridge closed out its regular season with a 15-3 record. The Rams were 9-1 in the SOL. Council Rock South – ranked 19th in the latest District 1 3A rankings – closed out it season with an 11-6 overall record (5-5 SOL).
Pennridge 0-2-4-4 10
Council Rock South 2-1-2-4 9
SOL American Conference
Upper Dublin 15, Quakertown 2
The Cardinals put the finishing touches on an undefeated conference season, rolling to a big road with that clinched sole possession of the conference title.
Once again, it was a team effort for the Cardinals, who had 16 players contribute to the 15 goals. Cole Pedroso’s four-point game with one goal and three assists led the way. Michael Pileggi and Al Eby both had two goals, and adding one goal each were Ben Guagliardo, Nate Brown, Will Hurlburt, Chase Foster, Matthew Miller, Kevin Etkin, Noah Beamer, Anthony Verzicco, Benji Ravitz and Chris Idi.
Jack Williams had two assists while Kyle Spirt and Cam Osborne each had one.
Will Hoffmann won 4 of 8 faceoffs, and Aarush Pillai won 3 of 8 faceoffs.
Parish Albright (3 saves), Ben Shervin (6 saves) and Jonah Fisher (4 saves) combined for the win in goal.
Upper Dublin (13-3, 10-0) will close out its regular season with a non-league game at Springfield-Delco on Friday. Quakertown closed out its season with a 6-12 record overall (3-7 SOL).
Upper Dublin 4-5-1-5 15
Quakertown 1-1-0-0 2
Neshaminy 10, New Hope-Solebury 6
The visiting Redskins opened up a 4-1 lead after one quarter and took a 5-3 lead into halftime on their way to the non-league win.
“It was a quality team defensive effort led by close defender Brett Cohen with five ground balls and two caused turnovers,” Neshaminy coach John Donato said. “Brett was also efficient in the clearing game.”
Jack McVey’s six-point game led the Redskins and included two goals and four assists. He also had four ground balls. McVey also attained an individual milestone in his final high school game when he reached the 100-point mark for his four-year career.
Ryan DeMatteo added three goals, one assist, two ground balls and one caused turnover. Colin Demi had one goal, two assists, two ground balls and one caused turnover, and Pietro Gatta had two goals and three ground balls. Jack Sexton also had a big game with six ground balls and one caused turnover to go along with one goal and one assist. Evan Martini added one goal.
Neshaminy (4-13, 1-9 SOL) will host Upper Moreland in a non-league game Thursday while New Hope-Solebury closed out its season with a 6-12 record (3-7 SOL).
Neshaminy 4-1-3-2 10
New Hope-Solebury 1-2-0-3 6
Archbishop Carroll 12, Cheltenham 3
Pope John Paul II 6, North Penn 5
Tuesday, May 7
Plymouth Whitemarsh 16, Cheltenham 2
The Colonials won their tenth consecutive win on Tuesday, beating host Cheltenham in league action. Plymouth Whitemarsh received goals from Dylan Ippolito (3G, 1CTO, 2GB), Hayden Domers (2G, 2A, 1CTO, 1GB)
Ben Backenstose (5G, 1A), Caiden Lesczcynski (1G, 2A,1GB), Sean Herron (3G, 1A), Kai Silverman (2G, 1CTO), and Owen Cababe (1G). The defensive effort was led by Isaiah Bainbridge (2CTO, 8GB), Frank Lynch (2CTO, 5GB), Chase Welliver (1CTO, 2GB), Connor Rarrick (1GB), Chase Rarrick (1CTO, 3GB), Alex Frangiosa (2CTO, 5 GB), and Pat McLaughlin (1CTO, 1GB). Goalie Mason Best had 3 saves and a ground ball and goalie Brian DeVitis had 2 saves. Freshman FOGO Fadl Green went 9-for-13 on faceoffs,
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