Non-league
SOUDERTON 8, WISSAHICKON 6
On the calendar, it was just another Saturday non-league game in a long season. The Indians turned it into something pretty special, knocking the Trojans from the ranks of the undefeated and out of the spot they occupied at the top of the District 1 3A power rankings.
Seth Grossman’s six-point game – three goals and three assists – led the Indians’ attack.
“I feel like we can compete with a lot of teams in our district,” Souderton coach Craig Hunsberger said. “I felt like – at the beginning of the year – we could compete with Wissahickon as well. Just like (Central Bucks) East, they’re a great program, and they’re always good.
“We have a pretty talented offense, and we’re starting to find our identity on defense. I think we’re starting to piece things together, and like always, we’re trying to compete with the best out there. East is competitive, West is competitive, and we’re looking to be that next team out of our conference to be that team.”
While the lacrosse world might not have given the Indians much of a chance against the Trojans, the players, according to their coach, believed otherwise.
“One of our players – our captain – told the boys before the game, ‘We’re going to surprise a lot of people, but we’re not going to surprise ourselves,’” Hunsberger said. “We put in a lot of work in the offseason, and I think it’s starting to show.”
The Indians, who trailed 3-2 at halftime, made their move in the third quarter, outscoring the Trojans 4-1 to go on top 6-4.
“I think we just started to clean it up,” Hunsberger said. “The first half we were plagued with penalties. We spent a total of nine minutes and 30 seconds in the penalty box, and all but one was in the first half.
“We cleaned up our penalties, and that allowed us to find our groove on offense a little bit because we were starting to be able to possess the ball. We obviously knew we had a tough task guarding their offense with Kyle Lehman and Andrew Slackman. Our game plan was to play fast, play physical and play aggressive like we always do on offense and defense, and I felt like we just went out there and executed today.”
The Indians’ defense excelled. Troy Martin was assigned the task of guarding Lehman most of the day.
“Behind him we had Ryan Rothenberger, Max Ryon, Jaden Knize, Logan Wrubel, and LSM Sean Ryon, who really helped us just by sliding fast for help and just being physical while we were sliding and making it hard for (Lehman) to make plays, and just making him work for it,” Hunsberger said. “Those guys did a great job just hunkering down in our defense today and really executing our game plan.”
Matt Malanga was once again superb in goal, recording 18 saves.
“We call him ‘Matty Ice’ – he’s a big part of our defense,” Hunsberger said. “He made 19 saves against East, and he just always finds a way to come up in big games. Matty with 18 saves was huge for us.”
Also for the Indians, John Martin-Vince had two goals, Gavin Landis had a goal and an assist while Ty Quintois and Sean Landis each had one goal. Peyton Bannak won 9 of 16 faceoffs.
The Trojans were led by Nicholas Donofrio’s five-point game, which included two goals and three assists. Kyle Lehman added a goal and two assists, and Andrew Slackman had a pair of goals. Charles Stehlik contributed a goal, and Gavin Myers chipped in an assist. Kyle Krump was credited with nine saves in goal for the Trojans. Dominic Kemper had nine faceoff wins.
Souderton (9-3, 4-2 SOL) will travel to Neshaminy on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. contest, and Wissahickon (9-1, 5-0) will be on the road at Plymouth Whitemarsh on Tuesday.
Wisssahickon 2-1-1-2 6
Souderton 1-1-4-2 8
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