By Alex Frazier
Meet…Conor Crowe
They say that anyone who loves to stand in front of a hard rubber ball traveling at 90+ MPH has to be a little nuts.
And Upper Merion’s Conor Crowe will admit that.
“I have a couple of screws loose, and I pride myself in that,” he said.
There’s quite a bit Crowe can be proud of.
By the time he graduates, he may hold every single goalie record at Upper Merion.
He already holds the single game record for saves at 23 (He’s done that twice), save percentage at 11.67 and most wins at 14. For his career, he has the record for most saves at 537 and most wins at 34. And that’s not including this year.
The only record he doesn’t own right now is single season saves. He’s about 40 short, which is an attainable goal considering the Vikings still have four games left not counting playoffs.“He has been huge for us,” said Upper Merion coach Brady McCormick. “He’s making the saves we need him to make. He’s always been our leader back there.”
Even when he was a freshman, Crowe took control.
“Two weeks into the program he was telling the junior quarterback of the football team what to do and what slides to make,” said McCormick. “That was one of the things that struck me quickly. He was not a timid freshman.”
Crowe became the starter in the second half of his first game. A returning senior goalie played the first half, and Crowe was platooned in the second. From then on, he started every game.
Shortly after that the Vikings lost a one-goal game to Wissahickon, but Crowe showed his stuff with 22 saves.
“That was a pretty amazing thing, that quickly” said McCormick. “He has an uncanny ability to make really, really big saves, game-changing saves.”
Besides making saves, Crowe has the ability to score which he did this year against Upper Dublin.
“He’s done a lot of amazing things,” said McCormick. “He’s a great kid and has no attitude.”
After attending a clinic at Upper Merion in fifth grade, Crowe started playing lacrosse in sixth grade for Norristown. The following year he was one of the original players on the middle school’s first club team.Since it was the inaugural year, there was no designated goalie.
The coach had every player stand in the net while he swatted tennis balls at them.
Crowe was named the goalie.
“I flinched the least, so I became the goalie,” he said. “I quickly began to love it. My mother hated it for a long time. The concept of people aiming at me she wasn’t too fond of.”
As if lacrosse wasn’t enough, Crowe also played water polo.
Guess his position.
You got it half right.
He played goalie when his team was defending the deep end, but when they defended the shallow end, he became a driver.
He came to water polo in a round about way. He had played football for nine years from flag football through 105s, but after his third concussion (only the last one happened in football), his doctor told him he had to quit.
Quitting was one thing. Sitting around was another, so he looked for another sport to play.
Some of his friends were on the swimming team, and they encouraged him to try water polo. At 6-3 he was well suited to play deep-end goalie.
His size was also a factor in basketball where he played center and forward. He plays for a CYO team.
“I play all kinds of things throughout the year,” he said.
Crowe is not just your typical jock. He maintains a 3.4 GPA and takes advanced placement statistics and government/politics and is a member of the National Honor Society.
McCormick said his intelligence has been one of his strengths on the field.
“He has very quick hands,” he said. “He has good vision and positions himself well, but he’s really, really smart. He’s able to position himself to make players shoot where he wants them to shoot. I notice it in warm-ups because I’ll find myself shooting at the same spot, and I realize I’m shooting at the same spot because he’s making me shoot there.”
He is also class representative to the student council and is an announcer and producer for the school television channel.
Next year he will attend Washington and Jefferson College, where he will play both lacrosse and water polo.
“I went out and visited and loved the campus,” he said. “I spent the overnight with a player on the water polo team. I also met a lot of lacrosse players and felt I fit in with all of them.”
The lacrosse coach also happens to be a former goalie.
“He understood all the dynamics of being a goalie,” said Crowe. “I liked his take on the game and where the program is heading. They’re also a relatively young program. I helped build Upper Merion’s program and I liked the feeling, so why not continue that in college?”
He plans on majoring in international business and pre-law.
“Pre-law has always been an interesting topic to me,” he said. “They have the No. 1 placement rate in the country into law school. That was a huge attraction.”
Sounds like he’s all set.
“He has the whole package,” said McCormick. “It will serve him well.”
Knights on the march – New coach, young team.
Two ingredients that can make for some adversity.
Until April 29, North Penn hadn’t won a league game. The Knights lost four games by one goal, two games by two goals and one game by three goals.
“The boys could have packed it in a long time ago,” said North Penn coach Rick Smith, “but they didn’t. They showed up every day. They put on their work boots and they came to work.”
April 29th is a day to mark on the Knights’ calendar. It may be the turning point in the season, the first rung on the way out of the abyss. On that day, having won just two games in the Continental Conference, the Knights upset No. 2 Central Bucks West, and followed that with a 10-9 non-league win over archrival Lansdale Catholic before avenging a 9-8 overtime loss to Central Bucks South with a 12-4 victory over the Titans.
“They bought into our system of hustle, of hard work, playing with heart, playing with passion,” said Smith.
But Smith isn’t looking at the wins and losses at this point.
“I don’t measure success by wins and losses,” he said. “I measure success on team camaraderie and how we come together as a team, so right now this season is very, very successful. All 25 of our guys are contributing to our winning right now.”
North Penn only has seven seniors on the team, which bodes well for next year, especially with a deep junior class.
Long pole Sean Adam, an honorable mention defenseman last year, leads the senior contributors. Midway through the year, Smith tried him on faceoffs and it paid off.
“He is our best long pole,” said Smith. “He has been tremendous. He has been a verbal leader and very popular with the kids.”
Senior defensive middie John Scott and line mates David Selzerian (junior) and Shamar Bowman (sophomore) have been coming through in the clutch.
“They’ve been doing a great job clearing the ball and taking faceoffs,” said Smith.
Three of the four attackmen are also seniors—Chris Anton, Chris Young and Dan Kohler. The other rotating attackman is sophomore Chris Heinig.
“Those four attackmen have come a long way,” said Smith. “We can count on all four to put the ball in the back of the net.”
The Knights have three games left in the season, three wins that could make their season. They face Easton Saturday, Souderton Monday and Hatboro-Horsham Wednesday.
Pink’s a winner – Tuesday the Hatboro-Horsham boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams hosted the Second Annual Pink Game for breast cancer. The Lady Hatters took on North Penn, while the boys’ team tackled Pennridge. The jayvee teams played in the afternoon, followed by the varsity teams. The youth teams were also involved as they played during halftime in both the girls’ and boys’ games.Everyone who played wore pink to create awareness. All the youth teams donned pink pinnies. The varsity teams also wore pink. Pennridge ordered special green jerseys adorned with pink ribbons.
“It was a great success,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach J.P. Banks. “All the teams felt it was a great night. I know I talked with (Pennridge) coach (Tom) Wyatt, and he wants to be a part of it again next year.”
This year was the first time another team was invited to participate.
In its inaugural year, the teams raised $2,000 in honor of Marie Schmucker, a former coach. The money was donated to the Susan G. Koman Foundation.
This year the event was organized by one of Schmucker’s assistants, Jacquie Beck, who ironically enough, was diagnosed with breast cancer in January.
Between the girls’ and boys’ games, 35 cancer survivors were honored with roses, and a check for $4,000 was presented to Abington Hospital breast surgeon Donna Ingutti and nurse oncologist Betty Cummins on behalf of the Mary P. Sach’s Breast Cancer Center, where many local women receive treatment.
“It was really a touching ceremony,” said Beck.
The amount raised may increase since Keith Valley Middle School is also participating in its games this week leading up to Mother’s Day.
“We’re hoping each year we can surpass last year’s goal and keep it growing in that week before Mother’s Day,” said Beck.
This year’s fundraiser attracted a record crowd to the Hatboro-Horsham Football Stadium.
“It spoke a lot to the way the lacrosse community is,” said Banks. “It’s one of those special things about lacrosse. We’re all warriors facing off against each other on the field, but we can come together as an entire community and do great things.”
Around the league – Coming down to the last week of the season, teams are still vying for placement and hoping to nab district playoff bids.
In the National Conference, with its second win over Pennsbury Tuesday, Abington has solidified its hold on first place, and unless something catastrophic happens, the Galloping Ghosts will have won their fifth consecutive crown. The Falcons will certainly get a playoff bid in placing second. Council Rock North may have a shot at a playoff spot.
The Indians kept their hopes alive Thursday nipping Neshaminy 9-8.
Neshaminy jumped out to a 6-2 lead but couldnt hold on. Alex McKenzie had four goals for the Redskins and Austin Marshal had 18 saves. Tyler Shalbin scored goals for CR North while Mark McDonald had five saves in goal
"We came out and played the way I have been waiting for our guys to play today,” said Neshaminy coach Josh Hanlon. “We did a lot of good things. Unfortunatley penalties have killed us all year and it was no different today and their extra man was clicking with a lot of momentum at the end of the game. They have some real nice players who can make things happen. They were very opportunistic. Its always a good game every year.”
Central Bucks East has locked up first in the Continental. Thursday night Hatboro-Horsham edged Central Bucks West 6-5 on Jimmy Durkin’s second goal to give the Hatters a leg up in the battle for second. They still must face a surging Central Bucks South and North Penn next week to claim runner-up.
Plymouth Whitemarsh has also pretty much tied up its first league title in the American Conference, but the Colonials face a desperate Upper Merion Monday. If the Vikings defeat Wissahickon Friday, they have a chance to secure second place and an almost certain playoff spot if they can knock off PW.
Upper Dublin, meanwhile, plays Upper Moreland Friday and Wissahickon Monday. The young Trojans can upset a few applecarts in the next four days.
SOL Top 5
1. Central Bucks East
2. Abington
3. Pennsbury
4. Plymouth Whitemarsh
5. Central Bucks West
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