Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ lacrosse teams in action in Thursday’s second round of the District 1 3A Tournament. Wissahickon/Souderton photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko, and CR North/Radnor photos courtesy of Michael Rice. Check back for galleries of both games: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f900124885
No.6 Wissahickon 9, No. 11 Souderton 5
There’s a saying attributed to a Yankees pitcher from the 1930s, Lefty Gomez, that goes “I’d rather be lucky than good.”
Wissahickon senior Kyle Lehman was certainly both of those things Thursday night. The attackman admitted he was pretty lucky on a few of his shots, but the feat of scoring six goals in a district playoff game also owes up to some serious skill.
Asked if he’d rather be lucky than good, Lehman had a counter in the form of a saying of his own.
“My little slogan is ‘the harder you work, the luckier you get,’” Lehman said. “I think the mentality to just work really hard is what brings the luck along with you.”
Lehman’s six-goal effort, the highlight of which being an audacious rip from a step over the halfway line that found the back of the goal, paced the Trojans to a second round win over visiting Souderton.
A game that was physical and fiery throughout gave Wiss a measure of payback for a regular season loss to the Indians and advanced them to the quarterfinals thanks to a huge night from their standout senior and a rugged defensive performance.
While Lehman, who has pledged to play at Penn State next season, had a hat trick before the first quarter expired, it was the Wissahickon defense that got the home side off to a hot start. The Trojans forced turnovers that ended Souderton’s first four possessions, the catalyst coming from midfielder Gavin Myers, who caused a pair of turnovers and gathered four ground balls with two of them leading to Lehman goals on the other end.
“Gavin, I would say was 100 percent the MVP of the defense tonight,” Lehman said. “He was an all-around athlete, played hard and that kid brought it tonight. He’s very much a slept-on kid, he’s a hard worker. His brother Brody was on the team two years ago, just the same kind of kid, all they want to do is hustle, get after ground balls and all they’re there to do is win.”
Nick Donofrio and Lehman added goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter, putting Souderton down 5-0. It was an imposing climb for the Indians, seeking to break the barrier of the second round of the playoffs after falling short a season ago.
Late last month, Souderton topped Wiss 8-6 and that result left the Trojans with quite a few things to consider for the rematch.
“That team is very good and coaching-wise, they scouted us really well,” Lehman said. “The first time, they knew to slide to me right away and I was not prepared for that. We looked over the film, we knew what they were doing so we took that plan into today, fixed up a lot of things and looked really good offensively.”
Souderton knew it had what it took to beat Wissahickon, but the Indians also knew they’d be facing a different Trojans team on Thursday. Indians senior Tyson Bui figured the SOL American champions would come out riled up on their home field and he was exactly right.
“We know they’re a good team, we played them earlier in the year and we knew they didn’t play their best and were going to throw punches here at home,” Bui, a senior, said. “Going down 5-0, you can’t do much but all you know is that for the next 10 minutes, you don’t let them outwork you so that’s what we tried to embody.”
Bui, fittingly, would finally be the one to crack the scoreboard for Souderton off a Sean Landis assist midway through the second quarter. Neither team could get another score before the half, but Bui again found the back of the goal off a Gavin Landis assist four minutes into the second quarter, giving the visitors a little bit of a spark.
Five minutes later, the goal of the night happened.
“They were 10-man riding, which means the goalie’s out on the field locking off one of our attackmen and I noticed that right off the bat,” Lehman said. “The coaches did a great job yesterday of going over that so right when I heard that call, I knew exactly what they were in. I caught the ball, turned and the net was wide open, so I just chucked it. It just got by the defender’s stick.
“I never had a half-court shot before that went in, so it was pretty cool.”
Lehman had barely crossed midfield when he put everything he had into a hard line-drive blast that whistled the length of the field and rippled the netting. On his back, Lehman celebrated a tide-turning score while the Indians had to regroup after taking their own chance to try and make something happen.
“We’ve been running our 10-man ride for about three years now and we knew it was risk-reward,” Bui said. “We were down at that point, so it was a case of ‘if you want the ball, go get the ball.’ It’s going to happen, the best teams have that happen even if it hasn’t happened that much to us this year. You’re going after something, trying something new so it is what it is.”
Myers added a goal 40 seconds later and Charlie Stehlik found Kyle Doll for a hit a minute into the fourth quarter that made it 8-2.
The half-field rip was certainly his most audacious, but Lehman’s last goal was his most emphatic. The future Nittany Lion barreled through a check attempt, dislodging the defender’s pole before romping in and blasting a take into the back of the net. 
“I was definitely feeling it,” Lehman said. “This entire game, I had a different kind of energy. I saw an open net, I knew there was a defender kind of in the middle but I just wanted to rip it and with my luck tonight, I had a lot of great goals that the goalie had a lot of effort to try and save but they just snuck through.”
John Martin Vince reeled off three straight goals for Souderton following Lehman’s final tally with the last coming with 5:23 to play.
Souderton’s season concludes and at the end, the team’s seniors led a final goodbye huddle. Bui, who is off to play at Grove City College next year, thinks the best is yet to come for a group that’s improved each year he’s been in the program and has a firm idea of what the next step is.
“You can go off stats or record or whatever but the biggest thing at the end of the day is what kind of culture are you going to build and that comes in the offseason, it comes from the coaches and comes from the leaders on the team,” Bui said. “That’s a culture that’s going to come in day in and day out and work hard not because of anything outside of lacrosse but because we love each other and love working for each other and when you know everyone is going 100 percent next to you, it makes it a lot easier.”
Lehman is part of a core of players that have been teammates for over a decade. On paper, this might not be the most talented Trojans team of the last few years, but they’ve got one of the best players in the state on their side and he’s not ready to call it a career yet.
“I played with the mentality that this season has to stay alive,” Lehman said. “When I had open shots, I capitalized luckily and all those great shots came from the mentality that I can’t let this season end, can’t let our 12 years of these same six guys playing together end.”
Wissahickon (15-2, 9-0 SOL) will engage in another all-SOL tilt in the quarterfinals as the Trojans take on No. 3 Pennridge on Tuesday. Souderton closed out its season with a 13-7 record overall (6-4 SOL).
WISSAHICKON 3 2 2 2 – 9
SOUDERTON 0 1 1 3 – 5
No.3 Pennridge 12, No. 14 Ridley 10
Why not the Rams?
After all, they’ve already made history by securing an undefeated SOL Colonial title so getting past the second round of the district playoffs would be another notch in an impressive season. A seemingly comfortable seven-goal lead got chipped to two, but Pennridge dug in and found a way through.
Goalie Tyler Vandermark summed it up.
“I knew what we’d done last year, I knew we were returning a ton of guys, I trusted our coaches to really give us the looks and let us develop,” Vandermark said. “Obviously, it’s hard to walk into a season and think you’re going 16-1, going to the third round for the first time ever. It shows all the hard work we’ve done – I expected us to be a good team, but the work we’ve put in shows how good of a team we are and what we’ve accomplished.”
Vandermark had a right to tout his team’s accomplishments as it was due in a large part to his 23-save effort between the posts that the Rams never relinquished their lead despite a furious Ridley rally. Pennridge twice had leads of seven – at 10-3 and 11-4 – in the third quarter but saw it clipped all the way to 11-9 with 7:18 to play.
He came up with a timely interception in goal, but like any good goalie, Vandermark was quick to credit the entire defensive unit. The mix of short-stick middles, long-stick defensive midfielders and pole defensemen Will Howley, Liam Molyneaux, Andrew Horensky, Colin Manville and Aiden George, who tangled with a potent Green Raiders attack all night.
“It is the defense – they’re giving up shots I want to see,” Vandermark said. “I put a lot of faith in my guys to help me out, and if I have a chance to bail them out, I’m going to put everything on the line, put my body on the line to get in front of that ball because they put their whole body on the line, they put everything they’ve worked on on the line. With all the hard work they’ve put in for me, I’m going to do my best to get in front of the ball.”
Brothers Frankie and Rocco Fanelli combined for an early goal in the first quarter, then did the same with Rocco scoring off Frankie’s assist to restore a three-goal lead. Frankie Fanelli had a hat trick and two assists while Rocco Fanelli had two goals and an assist, Drew Ferguson posted a hat trick for Pennridge and Ryan Carickhoff had two scores and two helpers.
After the Fanelli combo put the Rams up 12-9, it wasn’t over. Ridley had a shot hit the crossbar and Vandermark had to intervene twice in the final minutes after the Raiders got back within two with 4:35 to play.
“He’s been great. He – as well as a few other kids – have been a huge improvement from last year. Tyler and our back-up Calvin (McGuire) really battled it out, and we said the entire time – the competition will always bring out the best of both of them,” Pianko said. “Tyler really stepped up, and you can tell how hard he worked. He really earned that spot and has played some great lacrosse down the stretch. Tonight was another example of that – the number of times where they had shots and opportunities towards the end of the game that he denied them that opportunity. It was another great game from Tyler.”
Lacrosse is a game of momentum and often a team can seize it by controlling the X at the middle of the field. Rams senior Ben Souder is a terrific faceoff man, but he had his hands full all night battling for possession of the ball.
“Ridley definitely had a great run (in the fourth quarter),” Pianko said. “It’s tough when the other team’s face-off guy is really good, and they’re scoring goals. They’re kind of playing make it, take it at that point.
“Ben did a great job battling all night and came away with a few really key face-offs which was great. He’s been great for us all year and came up with the face-offs and possessions when we really needed it to slow the game down and to ride out the victory.”
Vandermark also gave his teammate credit for battling on the X, including a “huge, huge face-off at the end” that Souder was able to win at a key moment.
“They put together a really good showing at the end. I just trusted my defense and my offense to hold them out,” Vandermark said. “It got a little nervous at the end. They were doing a great job, but our defense really shut them down. I had a few saves at the end, our defense had a few good turnovers. That’s all it really took. I knew we had it at the end there.”
It doesn’t have to be artsy or anything like that when it gets to the postseason, which suits this Pennridge team just fine. The Rams found an identity early and have kept it all year through nonconference battles and preserving a perfect record in the SOL National, so being put to the test late in a playoff game against a quality opponent wasn’t going to alter that.
“We just had to trust what we’ve been doing all season – just playing our game, putting goals on the board – it sounds simple, but just stopping the ball, playing defense. We didn’t want to do too much to try and play up or down to their level,” Vandermark said. “We just trusted ourselves, trusted the games we’ve played all season, trusted the work we’ve put in at practice – all our plays we’ve been running, all our defense. I think that’s the key to what happened tonight.”
Pianko cited the play of Levi Souder, who scored a goal and assisted another.
“Levi Souder was huge for us,” the Rams’ coach said. “It’s not really shown in the box score with one goal and one assist, but the amount of plays he made in the middle of the field with ground balls and clearing and dealing with the pressure they gave us was huge. I thought he had another great game.”
The Rams have seen some great players and quality teams come through the ridge over the years, but none can claim the accomplishments of this group.
“We talked about it with the kids – with this win, we can firmly say this is the best team in Pennridge lacrosse history – the most wins, the farthest in the playoffs,” Pennridge coach Chris Pianko said. “All across the board, it’s been an amazing season, and I’m just happy to be part of it.”
“I love every second of (this season), I love the guys,” Vandermark said. “We’re putting in a ton of work, we’re having a lot of fun together. It’s really been great. Just knowing the adversity we had to come through, it’s been huge to have gotten to this point.”
All that stands between Pennridge and another first – a berth in the PIAA tournament – is a duel with No. 6 Wissahickon on Tuesday.
PENNRIDGE 4 4 3 1 – 12
RIDLEY 2 1 3 4 – 10
No.1 Radnor 17, No. 16 Council Rock North 4
The district’s top seed showed its mettle early on and never looked back.
Radnor, despite a game effort by the Indians, jumped out to a 9-1 first quarter lead and held a 10-3 advantage at the half on its way to the impressive win.
Council Rock North closed out a successful season with a 12-7 record overall, 7-3 in the SOL.
No. 5 Downingtown East 6, No. 12 Upper Dublin 5
A stirring three-goal comeback by the host Cougars spelled an end to Upper Dublin’s upset bid and the Flying Cardinals’ season.
Trailing 5-3 after three quarters of play, Downingtown East’s defense clamped down while the offense scored three unanswered goals to flip the script that had seen UD lead most of the way.
Upper Dublin closed out its season with a 13-6 record (8-1 SOL).
No. 10 Conestoga 9, No. 7 Central Bucks West 3
Conestoga, a perennial power in District I and at the state level, made the trip to War Memorial Field worth its while.
The Pioneers hopped out to a 3-1 lead after a quarter, then took control with a 5-0 advantage in the second frame. West won the second half 2-1, but Conestoga’s defense ensured its lead stayed intact.
Matt Jacobsen led the Bucks with two goals and also won 7 of 14 faceoffs. Austin Hahn added a goal and won 1 of 2 faceoffs. Aidan Kimberly chipped in an assist. Will Shandlay was credited with 12 saves in goal.
Central Bucks West closed out its season with a 15-4 overall record. The Bucks were 9-1 in the SOL National Conference.
CONESTOGA 3 5 1 0 – 9
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1 0 1 1 – 3
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