Check out the results for SOL boys/girls lacrosse teams in action Wednesday.
BOYS
Continental Conference
Central Bucks South 15, Central Bucks East 6
April 3, 2007
On that date eight years ago, according to LaxPower, Central Bucks South eked out a 12-11 win over Central Bucks East in boys’ lacrosse. Kevin Witchey and Jake Henze, who were in fourth grade in 2007, undoubtedly don’t remember that win, but it’s a safe bet the senior captains won’t forget the cold and damp Wednesday night at War Memorial Field when their squad snapped a 14-game losing streak to East with an impressive win over their archrivals.
“We just wanted it to bad,” Henze said. “It was all hustle, honestly.
“Once we got pumped up in the beginning – all game I think we had the momentum.”
“We just wanted it more than they did,” Witchey added. “They’ve blown us out every year.”
For coach Mike Sharman, in his fourth year at the helm after serving as an assistant at CB East, it was a signature win for a program that was 2-15 the year before he took over.
“The kids are playing with so much heart and so much passion,” the Titans’ coach said. “They believe in each other.
“There’s just this special chemistry amongst these guys. The seniors are great leaders. At halftime, I let the seniors talk to the kids. They settle them down, and then we go in and talk x’s and o’s with them. It’s just a really solid group of kids, and that’s what makes it so exciting.”
The Titans served early notice that they meant business, opening up a 5-2 lead after one quarter, but as expected, the Patriots didn’t go down quietly, outscoring the Titans 3-1 in the second quarter to make it a 6-5 game at halftime.
The Patriots scored just one goal in the second half, and that came in the fourth quarter. By that time, the Titans – who scored five unanswered goals in the third quarter – led 11-5.
“CB East is an amazing team, and I never thought the score would be what it is tonight,” said Sharman, whose son Brandon is a senior on East’s squad. “I figured this would be a dogfight from beginning to end.
“My kids ran hard, they were swarming the ground balls, and this is a game of fundamentals. Ground balls are so important. I don’t know what the stat is, but the kids were all over the ball. They were constantly trying to get the ball. They were always in position. There’s just a great energy out there today.”
Brendan McGrath, who had a team-high five goals, led the Titans with six ground balls while Witchey added five. Witchey was part of a standout defensive unit that included two-way midfielder Henze, Jake Lautt, Steve Nowelski and LSM Tim Ross. For Ross, a four-year starter, it was his first game action of the season after being sidelined with a shoulder injury.
If the Patriots entertained any thoughts of getting back in the game, it came midway through the fourth quarter when the Titans were assessed a three-minute un-releasable penalty (illegal stick). A key interception by Nowelski and subsequent penalties on East allowed the Titans to keep the Patriots off the scoreboard during the penalty.
The second half belonged to the Titans, who – in one memorable night – erased memories of losses past.
“For the first half, we would hang with them, but we always blew it in the second half,” Henze said. “This year we came out even stronger in the third quarter. We just feed off each other and played as a team.”
“We stayed focused the entire game,” Witchey said. “Our energy was better than it ever has been.”
Offensively, in addition to McGrath, Chris Tanner contributed three goals and one assist. It is the fourth game this season that the Titans’ high-scoring duo has combined for at least eight goals. Evan Falkowski added a hat trick while Henze had a pair of goals, and Dillon Kelly and Austin Naessens each had one goal.
“The offense was very patient with the ball, and they were taking some great shots,” Sharman said.
For the Patriots, Ryan Brown scored five goals, and Mike Vetter had one. Owen Griffin had an assist. Michael Ott won 16-of-23 face-offs. Dustin Buchanan had a big night defensively, forcing four turnovers. He also was credited with five ground balls.
East goalie Sean McGovern was credited with 16 saves while his counterpart, South’s Robbie Richick, had eight saves.
With the win, the Titans upped their record to 4-0 in conference play (5-0 overall). It is their best start since the inception of the program in 2005. CB West (3-0) is the only other conference team without a loss. This year’s success, according to the players, didn’t just happen.
“We’ve just been working out hard,” Henze said. “Fall league we’ve been doing all we can to get better. Practice whenever we can – out in the snow or whatever. After practice, we shoot around.”
“I know a lot of people come on their own – do their own drills,” Witchey said.
Making South’s performance in Wednesday’s win even more impressive was that it came in adverse conditions.
“It was wet for them, it was cold for them (too) – we just have to play strong,” Sharman said. “We have to play tough, and I’m just so proud of them.
“They played every quarter 0-0. They started every quarter as if the game was 0-0, and they came out and played. I’m super proud of them.”
The two teams will meet in a rematch on April 27. Mark your calendars!
Central Bucks East 2-3-0-1 6
Central Bucks South 5-1-5-4 15
Pennridge 22, Norristown 7
The Rams sprinted to an 8-1 lead after one quarter and extended that to 14-4 at halftime on their way to the big win.
Stephen Puras had a big night for the Rams offensively, finishing with four goals and four assists. Bobby Maher added four goals and one assist while Christopher Warner had three goals and three assists. Sean Fechter and Griffen Wenger each had two goals and two assists. Kyle Fanelli added two goals and one assist while Lee Phillips and Tyler McMahon each had a pair of goals. Jack Peterson had a single goal to close out the scoring for the Rams.
Goalies Teddy Tozzi and Banks combined for five saves with Banks collecting four of those.
Norristown 1-3-1-2 7
Pennridge 8-6-4-4 22
Souderton 19, New Hope-Solebury 0
Souderton had a shutout effort against host New Hope-Solebury in a non-conference meeting.
The Indians (3-4), led 12-0 at the half, were led by Greg Gibbs’ six goals and four assists. Trent Breneman added three goals and three assists, while Jeremy Biggans finished with two goals and an assist.
Anthony Potts and Jake Phaup each scored twice for Souderton, while Cory Azeff, Sean Curran, Colin Huggins and Nick Portolese each scored once. Azeff also had an assist.
Gibbs also led the Indians with seven groundballs, while goalkeeper Remi Reeves stopped four shots in the shutout win for Souderton.
National Conference
Abington 15, Upper Moreland 4
After what has been a historically unusually slow start for Abington, things are starting to look up for Peter Burns and the Ghosts.
Generally one of the better lacrosse teams in the area, Abington started the season with four consecutive losses before beating Harry S. Truman on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, huge games from Hunter Jones, Cameron Leech and Joey Lomady gave the Ghosts an easy win over visiting Upper Moreland on a cold and wet afternoon.
Jones scored three times and added five assists and three ground balls, Leech scored five times, dished out one assist and was credited with three ground balls and Lomady scored four goals and also had five ground balls to help Abington to the big day offensively.
“It’s always good to get a win,” Burns said. “We got our first win yesterday, so hopefully we keep using these victories as a springboard as we get into the meat of our league play. We did have a slow start to the season with some injuries and a lot of inexperienced players in key roles for the first time, but I think now we’re starting to gel a little bit and hopefully that’ll play dividends when we start to play our league games.”
The Ghosts (2-4) led the game throughout, but really broke things open in the second half. Leech set the tone early on with his goal-scoring, and his teammates followed.
“Cam is one of those players who can score from anywhere,” Burns said. “Right hand, left hand, up top and behind – he did that today. He had his full arsenal of offensive skills on display today.
“Joey Lomady was in his third game back from injury and right now, he’s finally showing up glimpses of what made him a first team All-League player the last two years. Hunter Jones has been our tone-setter on offense the last couple games and he got everyone involved. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”
Lomady also took some face-offs for the first time season, finding some success in the process. Jones now has 19 points in his last two games, following his five-goal, six-assist performance on Tuesday with an eight-point effort on Wednesday.
John Wink added two goals, one assist and three ground balls for Abington, while Jack Kurtz had one goal, one assist and one ground ball. Tyler Dermer drew an assist, while Ryan Fetzer had five ground balls and Trey Hudson had four. Adding one ground ball each were Chase Lavallie, Colin Boetefuer, Russell Nocito and Casey Hesdon.
Goalkeeper Connor Reed stopped six shots in net to earn the win.
Upper Moreland fell to 1-6 overall.
George Washington 11, Harry S. Truman 7
Harry S. Truman stayed in the game in the first half, trailing by just a 4-3 score at halftime, but the Tigers saw things slowly slip away in the final two quarters en route to a loss at home to non-conference opponent George Washington. The Tigers were outscored 7-4 after the intermission.
Kyle Morris, Fred Baez and Lucas Gray each tallied a pair of goals for the Tigers, while Ricki Tran added one.
Truman, which fell to 3-3 overall, received 15 saves in net from goalkeeper Ross Koenig.
George Washington 3-1-3-4—11
Harry S. Truman 2-1-2-2—7
Council Rock South 17, George School 4
Sam Presley scored five times and also dished out four assists as the Golden Hawks easily got past George School in a home win for CR South.
Sam Murray recorded three goals and one assist for CR South, while Tom Vanderslice and KJ Sweeney each scored twice. Joe Lauch added a goal and an assist, while Conner Simpson scored once. Jared Gambino scored once for the Hawks, while Sweeney also tallied an assist.
In net, goalkeeper Adam Reifer played well in the winning effort. CR South improved to 4-2 overall with the win.
The Hawks led 5-0 after one quarter and doubled that lead by going up 10-0 at the half.
George School 0-0-2-2—4
Council Rock South 5-5-4-3—17
Neshaminy 14, Conwell-Egan 6
Matt Magdelinskas continues to put up big offensive numbers, scoring five more goals in Wednesday’s win over host Conwell-Egan on a rainy afternoon.
Kevin Goetz also scored five goals for the Redskins, who led 7-3 at the half before running away with the game easily in the final two quarters. The Skins outscored their hosts 7-3 in the second half.
Mason Zebberline scored three times for Neshaminy, which also got one goal Cale Kitchenman. Goalkeeper Anthony Blickle stopped eight shots in net to earn the win.
“I was happy with the way we played, especially coming off the beating we took yesterday from Council Rock South,” Neshaminy coach Len Quici said. “Matt Magdelinskas took the game over, beginning in the second quarter, and they (Conwell-Egan) had no answer for him. It was just miserable out, honestly. It was too cold and wet.”
Neshaminy 2-5-4-3—14
Conwell-Egan 2-1-1-2—6
GIRLS
UPPER MORELAND 19, ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 5
What a difference a year makes.
Last year this time, the Golden Bears had five games under their belts. On Wednesday, they finally played their second, and conditions were anything but ideal on the cold, misty afternoon.
“We hadn’t played since last Tuesday against CB South, and I just felt like they wanted to play today,” coach Pam Remmey said.
The number of games played in what has been a difficult spring isn’t the only difference this season. The Golden Bears believe they are a vastly improved team, and their dominance in Wednesday’s non-league contest suggested they may be right.
“I feel like we’ve done a lot in the offseason to improve, and if people couldn’t go to the workouts, they improved on their own rather than just letting it brush off their shoulders,” sophomore Sydney Bachmayer said.
The Golden Bears – led by four draw controls from both Delaney Smith and Maura O’Leary – won 17 of 26 draws. They led from wire to wire, and after Smith turned an Allison Felicetti pass into a goal at the 22:13 mark of the second half, there was a running clock the rest of the way.
“It was obvious how much practice they put in the offseason because this was a close game last year,” Remmey said. “In the end we won (13-6), but at halftime it was a close game.
“Today they went out there and really wanted to show how much they’ve improved.”
Smith and Falcetti led the offensive onslaught for the Golden Bears. In addition to her four draw controls, Smith had a game-high five goals and three assists. Felicetti added four goals and three assists while Bachmayer added a hat trick and one assist.
“I thought Delaney Smith had a great game,” Remmey said. “I thought Sydney Bachmayer and Allison Felicetti played well.
“I was just happy with how our attack was running. Eight different people scored today. We had (10) assists, so people weren’t just running in. They were scoring off of plays.”
Also for the Golden Hawks, Veronica Baez had two goals and an assist, and Samara Santry added a pair of goals. O’Leary and Jess Flanagan both contributed a goal and an assist, and Madison Pisut had one goal. Flanagan and Melanie Wittick both had three draw controls, Melissa Felicetti had two and Britt Dumproff had one.
The fun started early for the Golden Bears, who saw O’Leary win the opening draw and find Smith for a goal 19 seconds into the contest. That was followed by a goal from O’Leary, back-to-back Felicetti goals and a goal from Pisut (Baez assist) to cap a 5-0 run. By halftime, the Golden Bears led 11-2, and they weren’t finished yet.
Smith’s goal sparked a 4-0 run that also included goals by Baez, Bachmayer (Felicetti assist) and Santry, giving the Golden Bears a 15-2 advantage. The Golden Bears, who improved to 1-1, were in command from start to finish.
“I’m excited to see where we’ll go,” Bachmayer said.
“Especially in our league – I’m excited to play those teams and show them what we’ve got this year,” Smith said. “You can just tell in school – people are talking about UM girls’ lacrosse.”
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