Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ lacrosse teams in action Monday.
SOL National Conference
Pennridge 9, Central Bucks West 8 (OT)
The matchup of the two remaining undefeated teams in National Conference play turned out to be everything it was expected to be … and then some.
It was Frank Fanelli who played the role of hero, scoring his second goal of the game in overtime to lift Pennridge over Central Bucks West 9-8 in a wild battle between the top two teams in the standings.
“This is a big one,” Pennridge coach Chris Pianko said of the thrilling win. “Both my brother (Charlie Pianko), who’s the offensive coordinator and helping us, and I went to CB West and we know the coaching staff super well. It’s always a good game between the two teams. I’m happy to finally come out of there with one.”
The Rams coach recapped the sequence that set up the game-winner.
“Ben Souder did a great job – we won the faceoff in the first overtime, and we got a timeout,” Pianko said. “We cleared the ball and didn’t get the look we wanted and lost the ball on the offensive side.
“I felt like it went back and forth, back and forth. They got a timeout when they got possession – they lost it. We ended up getting the ball back with maybe a minute left. We had a few good looks, and Frankie Fanelli had the final finish right on the crease.”
Following a first quarter that saw each team score 4 goals, the game tightened up, with Pennridge taking a 6-5 lead into halftime. The Rams made it 7-5 after 3 quarters to set up the nailbiting fourth quarter and Fanelli’s overtime heroics.
“It was 8-5 with six or seven minutes left in regulation,” Pianko said. “They have a great offense – they’ve got some great players with (Matt) Jacobsen and (Austin) Hahn. We knew we had to buckle down and stop them. West found the net a couple of times and scored the tying goal with five seconds left on the clock. It was a definite momentum shift.”
The Rams – to their credit – found a way to overcome that momentum shift.
“It’s testament to the players and the work they put in,” Pianko said. “It’s very difficult with that momentum shift. We were up three, and I think everyone was starting to feel comfortable, and CB West – more credit to them – fought back and clawed their way back into it and took all the momentum.
“Not only is it game-tying goal with five seconds left, but to give up three goals with six or seven minutes left and the game-tying goal at five seconds, it’s huge to try and find that momentum. We talk a lot about how lacrosse and life swings back and forth, and you have to make sure you ride out as much as you can the momentum when you have it, and you try and stop it as quickly as you can when someone else has it. We preach that as much as we can, and tonight they did a great job of taking that and running with it.
“Winning that first faceoff – even though that didn’t turn into the ultimate game-winner, it turned into a pause and a regroup moment – ‘This is okay, we’ve got a little bit more control, we’ve got the ball, it’s in our hands,’ and from there it was back and forth and back and forth.”
Drew Ferguson scored 4 goals to lead the Pennridge offense. Fanelli added an assist to his 2-goal effort. Matt Seiler scored once and added 3 assists, Ryan Carickhoff and Rocco Fanelli each added 1 goal, and Levi Souder had 2 assists.
Ben Souder went 8-for-20 on faceoffs, and Tyler Vandermark came up with 18 saves in goal to earn the victory for Pennridge.
“Tyler did a great job in net,” Pianko said. “Drew Ferguson with four goals was shooting really well tonight. I think he had a hat trick in the first half.
“A big team effort. A big shoutout from the defensive side. Will Howley came back tonight after an injury and gritted through some pain and did a great job covering Jacobsen. I think without him, it would be a much different ballgame.”
The Rams’ coach also gave a shoutout to freshman Reid Moyer.
“Reid Moyer did a great job,” Pianko said. “He had a few great ground balls, and I would call it the game-winning play – right before we scored, they had a great transition opportunity, and he made a huge hustle play to track down the ball on the back side with Austin Hahn when he caught it.
“It’s one of those things – you think the game’s going down, and it’s going to end with one of their best kids getting the ball on the back side of the defense with no one around him, and Reid just had a great hustle play, getting in and knocking the ball free. It was just a huge momentum turner from a really young kid for us.”
Hahn led the Bucks with 3 goals and 1 assist. Jacobsen has 1 goal, 2 assists and was 9-for-17 on draws, including the 500th faceoff win of his career. Alex Greenspan had a goal and an assist for West, and Joe Perry, Harrison Brownlow, and Aidan Kimberly each scored 1 goal.
Will Shandlay made 5 saves in goal for the Bucks.
With the overtime victory, Pennridge now sits alone atop the National Conference at 8-0 (13-1 overall). Central Bucks West is right behind at 7-1 (12-3). Pennridge will visit Harry S Truman at 4 pm Thursday, while the Bucks will look to get back to their winning ways when they host Council Rock South at 7 pm Thursday.
Central Bucks West 4-1-0-3-0 8
Pennridge 4-2-1-1-1 9
SOL American Conference
Upper Dublin 8, Springfield Twp 3
The visiting Cardinals opened up a 4-1 lead after one quarter and extended that to 7-1 by halftime on their way to the conference win. They received contributions up and down their lineup.
Will Bailey had two goals and one assist to lead a balanced attack, and Al Eby also had three points with one goal and two assists. Adding one goal each were Cam Osborne, Nate Brown, Kyle Spirt, Matthew Shohen and Ben Guagliardo. Cole Coffey and Cole Pedroso both had two assists.
Will Hoffmann won four of five faceoffs, Ryan O’Sullivan won three of five, and Andrew Rizzuto won one of two at the faceoff X.
Nate Fechter (2 saves), Bubba Reape (one save) and Jonah Fisher (one save) combined for the win in goal.
For the Spartans, Adam Fluehr had two goals and Matt Capoferri had one. Carter Weiss recorded eight saves in goal.
Upper Dublin (10-4, 7-1 SOL) will travel to Upper Moreland on Thursday, and Springfield Township (2-10, 2-3) will host New Hope-Solebury on Tuesday.
Upper Dublin 4-3-0-1 8
Springfield Township 1-0-0-2 3
Non-league
Hatboro-Horsham 6, Holy Ghost Prep 1
After a scoreless first quarter, Hatboro-Horsham netted 2 goals in the second quarter and pulled away for a 6-1 win over Holy Ghost Prep in Monday’s nonleague matchup.
Brendan Kirn made 10 saves to record the win for the Hatters. David Benjamin scored 4 goals to lead the Hatters, while Shane Phillips scored the other 2. The duo also went 6-for-8 and 2-for-3, respectively, on faceoffs for the Hatters. Max Mariano registered 1 assist.
The Hatters also received contributions from Brett Yorko (5 GB, 3 CTO), Darius Graziani (2 GB), Tommy Pedicone (3 CTO), and Nick Long (1 CTO).
The Hatters improve to 8-5 overall and sit at 4-2 in American Conference play. They will visit William Tennent for a 3:30 pm game today.
Holy Ghost Prep 0-0-1-0 1
Hatboro-Horsham 0-2-1-3 6
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