Check out the results for SOL boys’ lacrosse teams in action Tuesday. Photos of the Wissahickon/PW game are courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of game photos.
Continental Conference
PENNRIDGE 15, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 9
The Rams opened up an 8-4 halftime lead on their way to an important win over the defending co-champion Titans.
“We’ve been emphasizing fundamentals and also going out and having fun,” coach JP Banks said. “My assistant coaches did such a great job with the game plan, and tonight the kids went out and executed. They played very well.”
Sparking the Rams was goalie Denton States, who was credited with 16 saves.
“Our goalie, Denton States, had a great night tonight and bailed us out in a couple of really tough situations, making some great one-on-one stops,” Banks said.
Offensively, Chris Wagner had a hand in seven goals with three goals and four assists. Kyle Fanelli had four goals and one assist while both Bobby Maher and Sean Fechter had three goals and one assist. Nick Fanelli added two goals and one assist, and Ryan Garner had a pair of assists.
“On offense, the boys were sharing the ball, and it was balanced,” Banks said. “It was just a great team effort.”
For the Titans, Evan Falkowski and Dante Poli both finished with a hat trick. Joe Vitelli added a pair of goals while Mike Dutkiewicz had a single goal, and Ian Vogt, one assist.
The win capped a tough stretch that saw the Rams open league play with games against the three Central Bucks schools.
“The boys have been putting in a lot of hard work, and we just want to be able to come out and compete,” Banks said. “It’s still very early in the year, and there’s still a lot of stuff we have to work on, but for where we’re at right now, I think we’re pretty happy.
“I thought we played well on Friday night (in a 10-8 loss to CB West) but just wound up on the short end of it. In this conference, every time you go out on the field you’re playing a good team. The boys know they’ve got to enjoy this tonight and be ready to face Souderton, our archrivals. No time to rest on what we’re doing.”
Pennridge (3-2, 1-2 SOL) will be on the road at Souderton on Thursday (7 p.m.), and Central Bucks South (1-2 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks East on Friday.
Central Bucks South 4-0-3-2 9
Pennridge 6-2-2-5 15
NORTH PENN 11, GREAT VALLEY 8
The Knights turned in an impressive outing on the road at Great Valley.
“It was a really good win for us,” coach Rick Smith said. “Great Valley is a really good team, and they have a great tradition in lacrosse.
“Any time you go out of your league and get a good non-league win – it’s big for us.”
The Knights led 3-2 after one quarter and took a 6-4 advantage into halftime. They outscored the Patriots 2-1 in the third quarter to go into the final frame with an 8-5 advantage. The two teams exchanged goals in the final quarter.
“I believe the difference in the game was Jake Diamond,” Smith said. “In the first half, he won 11 face-offs in a row.
“He really, really did an outstanding job today, and when you’re winning face-offs, it’s hard for the other team to have possession of the ball. They can’t score if they don’t have possession of the ball. Jake is like our heartbeat. He brings a lot to the table for us, and when Jake is on, he gets the sidelines fired up, and everyone feeds off of his energy. Today the difference maker was Jake Diamond and his ability to win face-offs.”
Diamond contributed a goal and an assist to a balanced Knight attack. Luke Homan led the way with three goals and two assists. Reece Udinski and Nike Keim both had two goals and one assist, Eric Diamond had a pair of goals. Max Lehrman contributed a goal and two assists to close out the scoring.
“The defense played well,” Smith said. “We have a system, and when our guys buy into the system and they get the matchups we’re looking for, we play well.
“We spend time scouting, we spend time getting the matchups. Great Valley has a few players who are going on to play in college, and we tried to get our best against their best.”
Smith acknowledged the strong play of Owen Kelly and Collin McConaghy on close defense.
“Those guys really did a phenomenal job today just matching up with their two best guys, and they played them very well,” the Knights’ coach said. “Our guys just played really well today. They put it all together.”
Matt Rinck was solid in goal for the Knights, finishing with nine saves in a winning effort.
North Penn (2-1, 0-1 SOL) will host Central Bucks West on Friday.
North Penn 3-3-2-3 11
Great Valley 2-2-1-3 8
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 11, HATBORO-HORSHAM 5
(Submitted article)
On a cold windy blistery night at Hatboro Horsham High School, the Hatters were hot early and scored the first two goals of the game and held onto a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Then the Patriots got hot and scored seven goals in the second quarter to take a commanding 8-3 lead at the half and never looked back. The Patriots scored two more in the third and one in the fourth quarter and went on to win convincingly by a score of 11-5.
Offensively, East was led by Ryan Brown and Owen Griffin who had three goals apiece. Ryan Schmidt and Mike Ott each scored two goals, while Conor Larkin chipped in with one. Brown, Grant Porter, and Ott each had one assist.
The Patriots scooped up a lot of ground balls, led by Ryan Schmidt with six, Logan Nelsen (five), Joe Thiroway (three), John Galow (three), Griffin (two), Bryan McIntosh (two), Cal Tihansky (one), Alec Bracken (one), Ryan Brown (one), and Conor Larkin (one). Griffin and McIntosh each had two forced turnovers, while Thiroway and Larkin each had one. Ott was credited with winning 14 of 19 face-offs, and Ian Mauer was strong in goal recording 11 saves.
East's record improved to 3-1 overall (2-0). The Patriots return home Friday when they host CB South at 3:30 pm.
Central Bucks East 1-7-2-1 11
Hatboro-Horsham 2-1-0-2 5
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 12, SOUDERTON 1
The Bucks raced to a 6-0 lead after one quarter and stretched that lead to 9-0 by halftime on their way to the big win.
The win was highlighted by a defensive effort that saw the Bucks keep the Indians off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter. Ben Karthaus and Andrew Santacecilia both were credited with four forced turnovers while Nick Werner had a pair and Chase Lorino had one forced turnover.
Steve Hogan also turned in a standout effort, turning away 10 shots while allowing no goals. Asher Mithoefer, who closed out the game in goal, was credited with one save.
On attack, Will Ross had a hand in six goals, scoring four times and assisting on two others. Shane Early added a pair of goals while Jake Greenberg, Joey Rockovich, John McCreary, Ben Sexauer, Scott Price and Brandon Gervais each added single goals. Rockovich and Greenberg both had a pair of assists while Price and Tim Kiel had one assist apiece.
Central Bucks West (5-1, 2-0 SOL) will host Holy Ghost Prep in a non-league game Wednesday. Souderton (1-3, 0-2) will be on the road at Pennridge.
Central Bucks West 6-3-2-1 12
Souderton 0-0-0-1 1
American Conference
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 9, WISSAHICKON 6
The Colonials are looking to improve on last year’s third place finish in the SOL American Conference standings, and they took a step in the right direction with a win over a Trojan squad that last year finished second only to Upper Dublin.
“It was probably the most complete game that we’ve played so far,” coach Bryan Gregg said. “It was a big one for us knowing that Upper Dublin is a phenomenal team this year, but we’re really trying to compete for the second spot in the league this year.”
The Colonials opened up a 6-2 halftime lead and never looked back.
“We actually came out a little bit flat early,” Gregg said. “It was pretty even back and forth in the first quarter, and in the second quarter, we opened up a little bit.
“I think the first quarter we came out a little bit nervous or a little bit amped up to the point where we were making mistakes. Then they seemed to settle in a little bit in the second quarter, and our offense started to jell. We started to score good goals and even got good shot opportunities, which was nice.”
Austin Betterly led a balanced attack with three goals and two assists while Alex Savarese and Jake Kelly both added a pair of goals. Kelly also had an assist. Brendan Sullivan and Vince Martina each added one goal with Martina chipping in an assist. Kenny Diamond dished off three assists.
Gregg lauded the strong play of goalies Jake Boyer, who had five saves in the opening half, and Dawson Faust, who turned away 11 shots in the second half.
“They both played really well,” the PW coach said.
The game’s unsung heroes might well have been PW’s defensemen that included Bo Flint, a senior and first-year varsity defender, Will Mailey, Aaron Olsovsky, Stefan Kolkka and Ricky Amorim.
“Our defense is pretty young this year, and we’ve been spending a lot of time working specifically on defense, and today was a good defensive showing,” Gregg said. “They put a lot of things into practice that we’ve been working on. That was nice to see as well.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (3-2, 3-1 SOL) is off until Monday when it will host Springfield Township. Wissahickon (3-2, 2-1) will be on the road at Upper Merion on Friday.
UPPER DUBLIN 20, UPPER MORELAND 2
The Flying Cardinals – who were without Michael Sowers – opened up an 8-1 lead after one quarter and took a 14-2 lead into halftime on their way to the big win.
Michael Mullen (four goals, two assists) and Max Winebrake (four goals, one assist) led the Cards on a day that saw 10 players contribute goals. Jerry Bardol added two goals and four assists, and Nick Vernacchio had two goals and two assists. Conor Wall and Evan Scott both had two goals and one assist. Jack Rapine, Jed Hanson, Cary Romig and Colin Asper each added one goal.
Rapine was 8-of-10 on face-offs while Winebrake won 6-of-9. Michael Gillen led the Cards defensively with six ground balls.
Goalie Dillon Lojeski was credited with five saves in a winning effort.
Upper Dublin (4-0, 3-0 SOL) will host Springfield on Friday, and Upper Moreland (0-3 SOL) will host Springfield Township on Wednesday.
Upper Dublin 8-6-4-2 20
Upper Moreland 1-1-0-0 2
Non-League
DOWNINGTOWN EAST 11, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 5
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