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By Alex Frazier
Brady McCormick knew the Class of 2010 was going to be special.
Back when this year’s seniors were in seventh grade, the Upper Merion boys lacrosse coach knew he had the nucleus of a championship team.
Thursday evening, his forecast came true.
The Vikings led almost from wire to wire to defeat Upper Dublin 14-8 and take a share of their first American Conference title.
“This is what I told them in ’08 when we started the varsity program that we’d be raising a conference banner,” said McCormick. “The youth program has been phenomenal for us. Nine of our 14 seniors were on the seventh and eighth grade team.
“They came out and knew this year was the year. I said in our pre-season meeting in January that I love every class but this Class of 2010 has always had those guys there that would shine when we needed them.”
By virtue of an incredible last-second win over Wissahickon just 48 hours before, Upper Merion tied the Trojans with an identical 12-2 league record.
What is even more amazing about the championship feat is the fact that Upper Merion is only in its third year as a varsity program.
“This is unbelievable,” said Upper Merion’s Nate Hare, who scored five goals. “We were reading in the Times Herald how everyone wanted us to lose. That gave us some fire. Everyone riding on the bus had a paper. We knew if we came out and played our game that we have been playing the past games and settle things down, we’d be able to pull out a ‘W’.”
“I knew we had the talent all the time,” said senior James Brennan. “We just had to get our stick skills.”
Upper Dublin’s Alex Faust gave the Flying Cardinals their only lead of the game one minute and 27 seconds into the contest, but after Brennan tied the game at the 6:48 mark, the Vikings never trailed again.
“Last season we didn’t believe that we could control from the very beginning,” said McCormick. “They came out and knew from the very beginning that they could do it.”
With the game tied at one, Ryan Flansbury, Nate Hare and Brennan pumped in three straight to put Upper Dublin on its heels.
A lot of the credit should go to Brennan, who not only scored four goals and chipped in a pair of assists, but also won 13 of 24 faceoffs.
“James will go 100 percent even if he doesn’t have 100 percent,” said McCormick. “He’s a phenomenal player.”
Down 4-1, the Cardinals didn’t give up. Willy Beury brought the Cards back to 4-2 at the end of the first period of play.
But any hopes of pulling closer were dashed as the Viking sharpshooters struck for five goals on six shots in the second period, while Upper Dublin managed only three on 13 attempts. Two of them came with an Upper Merion player in the penalty box.
“Our offense has really been working on shooting,” said Hare. “That was one thing that we were lacking at the beginning of the year. After practice we’d stay another 30 minutes working on shooting and correct form.”
Beury scored an extra-man goal at the 10:26 mark of the third quarter to pull the Cardinals to within three, but by the end of the period, Upper Merion had pulled away once again to make it a 12-6 game.
“I never feel safe with a lead,” said Hare. “Even if we’re winning by three I still act like we’re losing, just like the Wissahickon game with us, we were down four points with four minutes left. We know you can never have a safe lead on a team.”
Yeah, but how about six goals with less than 10 minutes to play?
Hare’s goal with 9:19 left put the Vikings up 13-7.
Upper Merion could have sat back and stalled the rest of the way, but that didn’t happen.
“We never wanted to let down and wanted to keep playing our game for the whole fourth quarter,” said Hare.
And that’s why they are champions.
Upper Merion 14, Upper Dublin 8
Upper Merion 4 5 3 2—14
Upper Dublin 2 3 1 2—8
Goals: Alex Faust (UD), James Brennan (UM), Ryan Flansbury (UM), Nate Hare (UM), Brennan (UM), Willy Beury (UD), Luc Minnich (UM), Faust (UD), Robby Boyk (UM), Hare (UM), Jason Grossman (UD), Faust (UD), Brennan (UM), Wesley McDowell (UM), Beury (UD), John Widmaier (UM), Hare (UM), Hare (UM), Kieran Hetznecker (UD), Hare (UM), Jacob Long (UD), Brennan (UM)
Assists: Trevor Kupecky (UM) 3, James Brennan (UM) 2, Mike Rama (UD) 2, Jacob Long (UD) 2, Luc Minnich (UM), Jason Grossman (UD)
Saves: Conor Crowe (UM) 9, Kevin Slider (UD) 6
Faceoffs: Upper Merion 14, Upper Dublin 11
Penalties: Upper Merion 6, Upper Dublin 3
Turnovers: Upper Merion 13, Upper Dublin 12
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