Five SOL boys’ lacrosse teams were winners in Tuesday’s opening round of the District 1 6A Tournament. Upper Dublin/WC Henderson photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-10 SOUDERTON 11, #1-23 OWEN J ROBERTS 10
The Indians made history on Tuesday night, winning a heart stopper to capture the program’s first ever postseason win.
“It was one of the craziest lacrosse games I’ve ever seen,” coach Mark Princehorn said. “We went down, we went up, they came back, we went down, then we tied, and we went up. It was a roller coaster the entire game.
“Tonight’s win was just an all-out team effort with everybody playing together and playing for each other and just finding a way to win. It’s the story of our year. With all the adversity these kids have gone through – this season has been crazy.”
The Indians won Tuesday night with their two best players watching from the sidelines. Stephen Blue – the program’s all-time leader in points – was lost for the season with a torn ACL after the third game of the season. After the ninth game, the Indians lost Walker Martin – the program’s all-time leader in goals – when he suffered a broken collarbone. Martin started every single game from May 5, 2015, to April 23, 2019, scoring 117 career goals.
Cole Witoslawski – who had five goals – once again led the Indians, but he had plenty of help.
“The way the guys stepped up – Brock Azeff had a hat trick and Luke Halteman had two goals, and those guys didn’t play in the first game (of the season) because of our depth,” Princehorn said. “To do it with this group of seniors and in the face of the injuries and the adversity – this group of seniors went 3-15 when they were freshmen, and they were all starting and playing significant minutes and significant roles as freshmen. To be able to do what they’ve done in their four-year careers, it’s incredible.”
Fearghas Evanick added a goal. Luke Atiyeh’s eight ground balls led the Indians, and goalie Axell Beskar was credited with 10 saves.
Luke Wawrzynek was a difference maker at the face-off X, winning 15-of-25 face-offs.
“Luke has had a very rocky season – today he came of age, and he stepped up for us tremendously,” Princehorn said. “All the notable guys – Axell Beskar played out of his mind – he had incredible saves. Cole Witoslawski had five goals tonight. It was just great, absolutely tremendous.”
The Indians led 6-4 at halftime only to watch the visiting Wildcats rally to go on top 8-7. A goal by Witoslawski knotted the score heading into the final period. Evanick scored the go-ahead goal early in the fourth period. The Indians led 11-9 before the Wildcats scored a late goal. A shot for the tie was off the target, according to Princehorn, and the Indians escaped with the historic win.
Making the win even sweeter was the presence of alumni who had laid the foundation for the program on the sidelines.
“The sideline was full of guys that played a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, and it was just such a great moment to share that with all of them because they were all part of us turning this program around,” Princehorn said. “Before 2017, the most wins we ever had in a season was 10. This is our 42nd win in three years – we went 16-3 in ’17, 12-7 in ’18, and now we’re 14-6.
“Those guys and so many people who have been so supportive for so long were there tonight. It truly was one of the best moments of my life. For me, year six, I’ve been through a lot of down, and to be where we are now is a testament to the kids. I’m very, very proud.”
One of the players returning to the sidelines for Tuesday’s game was Jake Phaup, who is now playing for Syracuse University.
“Talk about Souderton lacrosse lore and talk about a guy who’s carried this program for a long time – as soon as the clock hit zero, the starting face-off man for Syracuse, our Jake Phaup, was the first person to give me the biggest hug,” Princehorn said. “Jake’s like a brother to me, and to see him go and do what he’s done at the collegiate ranks – he texted me that he was home, and he was at that high school within minutes. Him being the first one to give me a hug after the clock hit zero just made it that much sweeter. The water being dumped on me – it was just such a special moment for everyone who’s involved in the program over the last six years.”
The Indians have been to the playoffs in each of the last three years – they are the only playoff appearances in program history.
Souderton (14-5, 5-3 SOL) will be on the road at Avon Grove to take on the seventh-seeded Devils in a second round game Thursday.
Owen J Roberts 3-1-4-2 10
Souderton 3-3-2-3 11
#1-11 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 8, #1-22 UNIONVILLE 4
The Patriots, who led 4-3 after one quarter, did not allow a goal in the second and third quarters, and although they managed just three goals of their own in that span, they led 7-3 after three quarters on their way to the opening round win.
Ryan Stout’s hat trick led the Patriots. He also shared the team lead with six ground balls. Ryan Carroll added a pair of goals and added one ground ball and one caused turnover. Jimmy Knepp and Joey Beahan both had one goal and one assist. Knepp added two ground balls while Beahan had four ground balls. Ryan Yerkes added one goal while Ryan Gray and Ryan Eife both had one assist and one ground ball.
Jake Kueny had eight face-off wins and also shared the team lead with six ground balls.
Evan Bullotta had three ground balls while Connor Martin had one ground ball and two caused turnovers. Drew Bethke had two caused turnovers and Matt Melendez had one.
Liam Rosenthal turned away 12 shots in a standout effort in goal for the Patriots.
Central Bucks East (12-7, 7-2 SOL) will travel to sixth-seeded Radnor for a second round game Thursday (7 p.m.).
Unionville 3-0-0-1 4
Central Bucks East 4-1-2-1 8
#1-13 NORTH PENN 8, #1-20 PENNSBURY 2
When you combine a quick-strike offense and a stingy defense, you get what North Penn produced on Tuesday night in its PIAA District One Class 3A tournament opener against visiting Pennsbury.
A dominating 8-2 victory.
"You could tell when we were warming up that we were ready to go,” said North Penn senior Lucas Yannul, who led all scorers with a hat trick. “Everybody was really into it and we were clicking.
"And our defense really shut them down in the first half. Those guys did a great job the whole game against a good team. We just need to keep everything going for Thursday.
The win did indeed move the 13th-seeded Knights (12-6, 8-1 SOL) into Thursday’s second round against No. 4 Garnet Valley, which will host the game at 7:30 p.m. The loss ended the season for the Falcons.
"North Penn just played a really good game, and you have to give them a lot of credit for that,” Pennsbury coach Drew Artin said. “They got off to a good start and shut us down on offense.
“But we're a young team and we have a good group coming back. We only have four seniors and now we need our younger guys to step up and be ready for next season and I know they will do that for us."
The Knights, on goals from Yannul, R.J. Macnamara and Steve Rinck, built a quick 3-0 first-quarter lead and made it 4-0 on a goal from Danny Payne midway through the second quarter to take a 4-0 advantage to intermission.
“We knew that this was going to be a tough game against a good team, but everybody just played great," Rinck said. “Our defense was really strong. They played tough the whole game and really did a great job shutting them down. One of our goals for the season was to get to Thursday (the second round of districts) and to win.
“We have to play like we can and play like we did tonight on Thursday. I know we’ll all be ready to go.”
The Falcons, on a goal from sophomore Ryan Dezutel, got on the board first in the third quarter only to see the Knights score on the ensuing face-off (one of 12 out of 13 face-offs won by freshman Will Morrow) when Yannul notched his second tally of the game.
Yannul added another goal just 21 seconds later to put things out of reach at 6-1. Rinck finished with a pair of goals while junior Jesse Keaton had the other goal for Pennsbury.
The Knights limited the Falcons to just 13 shots.
"We really put things together for all four quarters and really played team lacrosse," North Penn coach Rick Smith said.
Contributing assists for the Knights were Payne, Dakari Luby and Lars Homan. Jake Homan added a goal.
"We just played very well fundamentally and the team did a good job coming together.”
Pennsbury (5-4 SOL) closed out its season with an 11-7 record.
Pennsbury 0 0 2 0 – 2
North Penn 3 1 3 1 – 8
#1-14 UPPER DUBLIN 11, #19 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 8
It's a parallel that sticks out quite clearly to Lucas Roselli.
The start of the lacrosse season wasn't a particularly strong one for the Cardinals this spring. With a new coaching staff, a lot of new starters and a tough early schedule, it took a while for Upper Dublin to get going.
But, they finished much stronger than they started and it earned them a first round home playoff game.
The start of that game against No. 19 West Chester Henderson wasn't a particularly strong one for the Cardinals. Aside from Roselli, nobody could score on offense and Upper Dublin was not only down 6-2 at halftime, it had just been shut out in the second quarter.
But, they finished much stronger than they started and it earned them a trip to the second round.
"There's nothing really specific – sometimes we start out slow and it's kind of like how our season started," Roselli said. "We got better as the game and as the season went along."
Upper Dublin did start slowly on offense but held a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to a pair of solo effort goals by Roselli. But the senior wasn't winning the face-off battle with Henderson's Luke Wierman, and the Warriors used it to take over the second quarter.
Henderson rolled off five straight goals in the second period, taking a four-goal lead to the break seemingly in control. But on the Cardinals' sideline, there wasn't much cause for concern.
"Giving up goals, that stuff happens in games all the time so we were still confident," Roselli said.
Offensively, the Cardinals recognized they had to start moving the ball more and making Henderson's zone defense work and chase. Defensively, goalie Sam Hoffman had made a couple early saves but he felt his group was a step slow.
It was one thing to talk about adjustments. Almost sensing his team needed a spark, Roselli delivered it.
With the Cardinals down a man to start the third quarter, Roselli still won the opening faceoff, went right down the field and scored in just 15 seconds. That opened the doors as Brian McCarry scored a pair of goals around a Henderson tally and Jayden Santangelo buried the first of his three second half goals.
"We were moving the ball around a lot more and much faster, which gave me space to shoot," Santangelo said. "They were pressing out, they were coming out a lot to try and jump the pass which gave us the space to move and dodge."
UD came all the way back for a 7-7 tie when defenseman Lucas Nina-Boesler cleared the ball and when nobody got open for him, took the ball all the way for a goal with the long pole. Henderson took the lead back, but Santangelo buried a shot off a McCarry assist for an 8-8 tie heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals controlled the fourth quarter, having finally worn out the Warriors. Part of that was due to the team's inspired defensive effort in the second half. Hoffman made 11 saves, with more than a couple key stops in the final quarter and did well denying the high shots his defenders forced Henderson to take.
"I want it higher, my defense did really well today," Hoffman said. "We slid too early in the first half so we had to adjust to that. We're very physical, we used to play timid and look at teams and think we're not as good as them but we have a lot of confidence now."
Santangelo put the Cardinals up for good with a terrific goal, taking a pass from a sliding Bret Rama and shooting behind his head with about six minutes left. Roselli then iced the game with a pair of goals, giving him five for the game.
"I think this is a really big step for us," Santangelo said. "With new coaching, in the beginning of the year we were a little lost but I really think Coach (Pat) Lacon and (Zack) Wilkcoz did a really good job. It took a while for us to get used to it but it's really worked out."
Upper Dublin (11-7, 7-1 SOL) will be on the road at third-seeded West Chester East on Thursday.
West Chester Henderson 1-5-2-0 8
Upper Dublin 2-0-6-3 11
#1-15 PENNRIDGE 15, #1-18 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 10
The Rams found themselves on the short end of a 2-1 score at the end of one period but then turned on the afterburners, outscoring the visiting Indians 6-1 in the second period to go into halftime with a 7-3 lead. They added to that lead with a 6-3 third quarter to cap a 12-4 tear in the middle quarters.
Logan Lazasz had a big game for the attack, scoring five goals to lead the Rams. Nicholas Fanelli added three goals and one assist. Kevin Britner and Ryan Garner both had two goals and two assists, and Jack Garner added a goal and two assists. Contributing one goal each were Matt Nevells and Shane Hartzell.
Junior Austin Swartley was credited with 13 saves in goal for the Rams.
“Austin did a great job in goal tonight,” coach JP Banks said.
Pennridge (11-7, 5-4 SOL) will travel to Conestoga for a second round contest against the second-seeded Pioneers. Council Rock North (4-5 SOL) closed out its season with a 10-7 record.
Council Rock North 1-6-6-2 15
Pennridge 2-1-3-4 10
#1-24 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 11, #1-9 WISSAHICKON 4
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