Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ lacrosse teams in action Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Michael Rice.)
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Souderton 12, Central Bucks West 11 (OT)
Souderton coach Craig Hunsberger described Tuesday’s game as a heavyweight boxing match.
And it was John Martin Vince who delivered the three biggest punches of the game, including the proverbial knockout blow.
Vince scored the final two goals of regulation to knot the score at 11-11 late in regulation, then delivered in overtime with the game-winner with 2:21 left as the Indians completed the comeback to pull out a thrilling 12-11 victory over the Bucks.
“It’s something I’ve been going over with him,” Hunsberger said of Vince, who finished with 5 goals and 1 assist. “He’s obviously one of our best players. I always turn to him to start taking over games when it counts. He ended up with the final three goals. One thing I expect of our best players is – when the game’s on the line, you’re the one we want to have the ball, you’re the one that’s got to take over.
“It was a pretty up-and-down game for both teams. We got up 5-2 in the second quarter and they started climbing back into it. It was one of those heavyweight boxing matches. We would throw a punch, they would throw a punch, we would throw a punch, and it just went back and forth like that all game long.”
Vince’s heroics in overtime might not have had the chance to happen had it not been for a stellar effort on the other end of the field. Matt Malanga turned aside 16 shot in the cage for the Indians, including a point-blank save in the extra frame.
“Matty did a great job all night long, making save after save,” Hunsberger said. “(He) had a doorstep save in overtime. They got the first possession, he made the save and ended up clearing it, and we got the timeout. After that, we took two or three shots and the fourth one finally fell.”
Souderton led 7-5 at halftime on the strength of a 5-goal second quarter, but West scored the only 2 goals of the third quarter to knot the score at 7-7 heading into the dramatic final period.
Seth Grossman had 4 goals, 1 assist, and 3 ground balls for the Indians, while Brody Anderson made his presence felt with 3 goals, 1 assist, 5 GB, and 1 CTO.
“This was Brody’s first game back since having stitches taken out of his finger from Methacton,” Hunsberger said. “He had a pretty big return game.”
Hunsberger also credit the effort of Peyton Bannak, who might not have scored a point in the game, but still played a critical role in the victory. Bannak picked up 7 GB and went 12-of-24 on face-offs, most of which were against Central Bucks West superstar Matt Jacobson.
“Peyton did a good job going 50 percent going against one of the best face-off guys in the league,” Hunsberger said. “I just think from there on, the team was just fighting for one another. No one really wanted to give up, so everyone sold out all the way to the end, and that’s all I can ask for from them.”
The University of Richmond-bound Jacobson was held to just 2 goals on the day and won 11-of-20 face-offs.
“Our game plan going into it was do our best to make it very hard for Matt Jacobsen to get going both at face-offs and on the offensive side of the ball,” Hunsberger said. “Also, they had another attack man (Alex Greenspan) that we were looking to key on and make it difficult for them to get shots. In the end, there were a lot of transition goals. It was just a very up and down game for both teams.
“It was a group effort (to contain Jacobson). Logan Rubel, Jaden Knize, Seth Grossman – we pretty much cycled middies, locking him off, having poles guard him. We were keying on him all night long. As a team, we made it very hard for him. It was just a team effort.
“We always have a couple guys that stand out, and the biggest guy, to me, on defense was definitely Matty making 16 saves, but obviously, being able to lock Matt Jacobsen off and holding him to 2 goals is always a good thing for us, and just the team effort to do that – I think that’s what really makes us a strong team. We have a number of guys that can hold their own against players like that.”
Rounding out the scoring for Souderton were Trey Bui (1G), Gavin Landis (2A, 1GB), and Sean Landis (1A, 2GB, 1CTO). In addition, the Indians saw solid efforts from Ryan Rothenberger (2 CTO, 1GB), Max Ryon (3GB), Jaden Knize and Jackson Hirschman (2GB each), and Logan Wrubel and Troy Martin (1GB each).
Alex Greenspan led the Bucks with 6 points on 4 goals and 2 assists. Michael Rafalowski also chipped in with 4 goals. James Rutenberg scored once and went 1-for-3 on draws, while Aidan Kimberly and Gavin Todd each had 1 assist. Kanen Patel recorded 17 saves in the cage for the Bucks.
With the win, Souderton remains undefeated and in the chase for the top spot in the National Conference at 4-0 (6-2 overall). The Indians will host Harry S Truman at 6:30 pm Thursday. The Bucks drop to 1-2, 6-2, and will visit North Penn at 4 pm Thursday.
Souderton 2-5-0-4-1 12
Central Bucks West 2-3-2-4-0 11
Central Buck South 18, Harry S Truman 4
It took a quarter before the Central Bucks South offense kicked into gear. But once it did, there was no stopping the Titans.
Behind an explosive 7-goal, 1-assist effort from Landon Amorim and a 7-point game from Keith Conner (2G, 5A), the Titans powered in 14 goals across the middle two periods and rolled to an 18-4 rout of the Tigers in Tuesday’s National Conference game.
Anthony Depedro also had a stellar game with 2 goals and 4 assists to go along with 4 ground balls and 3-of-6 faceoff wins.
Alex Fessler scored 2 for the Titans, Matt Waltrich has a goal and an assist, Blake Bernstein chipped in with 1 goal and went 9-for-14 on faceoffs with 6GBs, and Jack Auerbach, Aiden Sproehnle, and Zach Doerr each had 1 goal.
Chris Glover scored 3 of Truman’s 4 goals on the day, breaking the Tigers’ single-season scoring record with 35 goals on the season. Glover also picked up 9 ground balls and 3 caused turnovers.
Conner Bryson had 1 goal and 1 GB, Rob Krystofolski dished out 1 assist and scooped up 3 GBs, and Rob Eldredge recorded 3 GBs. Tommy Bryson made 23 saves for the Tigers (for a 56.1 save percentage) and 5 GBs.
The Golden Hawks improve to 1-3 in National Conference play (5-3 overall) and will visit Pennridge at 7 pm Thursday. The Tigers fall to 0-4, 3-7, and will look for their first conference win when they visit Souderton at 6:30 pm Thursday.
Central Bucks South 2-7-7-2 18
Harry S Truman 0-1-1-2 4
AMERICAN CONFERENCE
Upper Moreland 10, Hatboro-Horsham 9 (OT)
Just call them the Cardiac Kids.
Upper Moreland pulled out a stunning 10-9 win over neighboring rival Hatboro-Horsham in the most dramatic and heartstopping fashion on Tuesday. Battling back from a late three-goal deficit, Paul Fell scored his fifth goal of the game with 5 seconds left on the fourth-quarter clock to knot the score at 9-9 and force the extra frame.
With just 53 seconds left in overtime, Aidan Tuffy headed to goal and fired home the game-winner to lift the Golden Bears to a thrilling victory.
“Our team showed great resiliency in coming back from the deficit of three goals,” said Upper Moreland coach Corey Kelly. “Our team never stopped fighting and it showed as we tied it up with seconds to go to overtime, and our boys securing a huge program win with laser focus and execution.”
As a team, the Golden Bears scooped up 30 ground balls and won eight face-offs. Goalie Joseph Saltarelli was credited with four saves in the win.
Fell added 1 assist for a 6-point night. Tuffy’s four-point game included two goals and two assists, Kevin Messina added 2 goals, Francis Sebold had one goal, and Indiana Mullen added an assist to help propel the Golden Bears (3-1 in American Conference play, 5-3 overall) to their remarkable win.
For the Hatters, Max Mariano led the way with four goals and two assists, Victor Lasher and Shane Phillips both had two goals, and Darius Graziani contributed one goal.
Upper Moreland will host Wissahickon at 3:45 pm Thursday. The Hatters (0-3, 0-6) will look for their first win of the season when they visit Springfield Twp at 3:45 pm Thursday.
Upper Dublin 18, New Hope-Solebury 2
Matt Shohen and Kyle Spirt each provided 6-point efforts as Upper Dublin rolled to an 18-2 victory over New Hope-Solebury in Tuesday’s American Conference tilt.
Shohen scored 5 goals and added 1 assist, while Spirt netted 1 goal and dished out 5 helpers as the Cardinals raced out to a 15-0 lead at halftime.
Reece Taylor, Kevin Etkin and Jack Williams each had 2 goals and 1 assist for the Cardinals. Ben Guagliardo had 2 goals, Cole Pedroso scored a goal and added 1 assist, Nate Brown, Ryan Simons, and Colin Owens each chipped in with 1 goal, and Cam Osborne, Al Eby, and Will Hoffmann each picked up 1 assist. Ben Shervin made 2 saves to record the victory in goal for the Cards (3-0 American Conference, 4-3 overall).
The Cardinals will host Abington at 3:45 pm Thursday, while New Hope-Solebury (0-4, 2-6) will visit Quakertown for a 6 pm Thursday game.
Upper Dublin 7-8-3-0 18
New Hope-Solebury 0-0-1-1 2
Springfield Twp 15, Quakertown 4
Adam Fleuhr scored 5 goals and added 1 assist, and Jack Vecchione (4G, 1A) and Tommy Coppol (3G, 2A) each had 5-point efforts as undefeated Springfield Twp rolled to a 15-4 victory over Quakertown in Tuesday’s American Conference game.
Matt Hood, Logan Stum, and Brennan Anderson each scored once for the Spartans, while Gabe Fluehr recorded 1 assist. Carter Weiss recorded 8 saves in goal.
Alex Jalboot and Jacob Mosser each had 1 goal and 1 assist for Quakertown, while Mason Borzio and Evan Mooney each scored once.
The Spartans improve to 2-0 in the American Conference, 4-0 overall. They will host Hatboro-Horsham at 3:45 pm Thursday. Quakertown falls to 1-2, 3-6, and will host New Hope-Solebury at 6 pm Thursday.
Springfield Twp 5-4-3-3 15
Quakertown 1-1-1-1 4
Plymouth Whitemarsh 15, William Tennent 1
The Colonials notched their second league win on Tuesday, defeating William Tennent 15 -1.
Eight Colonials contributed to the scoring including Ben Backenstose (4G, 2A), Noah Gamble-Stein (2G), Drew Strohl (2G, 2A, 1GB), Scott Marguiles (2G, 1A), Dylan Ippolito (2G), Luke LaViola (1G, 3A), Sean Heron (1G), and Luke Smith (1G, 1CTO, 1GB).
The defensive effort was equally as well-balanced with nine players contributing to the win. Frank Lynch (1CTO, 1GB), Isaiah Bainbridge (3CTO, 3 GB), Dylan Imperial (1CTO), Pat McLaughlin (2GB), Hayden Hailey (2GB), Connor Rarrick (1GB), Finn Ortiz (2GB), and Owen Cababe (1CTO, 1GB) all had at least a caused turnover and/or groundball.
Goalies Brian DeVitis and Chase Rarrick had 2 saves each and freshman FOG Fidel Greene went 11 for 17 on faceoffs.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (2-4, 2-1 SOL) will host West Chester East in a non-league game Friday, and William Tennent (0-3, 0-2) will host Cheltenham on Thursday.
Nonleague
Central Bucks East 5, Lansdale Catholic 3
Central Bucks East held nonleague opponent Lansdale Catholic scoreless in the second half and netted a pair of goals to snap a halftime tie and earn a 5-3 victory in Tuesday’s nonleague matchup.
Five Patriots each tallied 1 goal in the win – David Crespo, Michael Smallwood, Thomas Williams, Luke Walters, and Blake Bishop.
With the victory, East improves to 7-3 overall (5-0 in National Conference play). The Patriots will host nonleague opponent Unionville at 11:30 am Saturday.
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