Three SOL boys’ lacrosse teams advanced to Saturday’s district quarterfinals. To view action photos of the PW/CB East game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
#3 Central Bucks East 14, #14 Plymouth Whitemarsh 6
Plymouth Whitemarsh played it close for nearly three quarters. But as the game progressed, Central Bucks East showed why it is one of the top teams in the district.
The Patriots downed the American Conference champion Colonials, 14-6, in Thursday’s second-round District One Tournament matchup. The Patriots led 2-1 after one quarter and 5-3 at the half, but outscored PW by a 9-3 count in the second half.
“They were definitely the better team,” PW coach Phil Chang said of the Patriots. “They were great. They played well offensively, defensively, their transition game was unbelievable. They’re well-coached … it’s just an outstanding program.
“I think our kids showed that they could play with those kids. We played with them for three quarters and they really beat us in transition. In settle offense, I thought we were competing, playing well. We had a great first quarter, but slowly they wore us down and continued to push the ball in transition and they capitalize on every mistake that you make.”
Chris Vetter led East with six goals and two assists. Matt Millici scored four; Parker Self had a hat trick; Zach Kane added one goal and one assist; and Chris Schneekloth, Cole Rushworth and Geoff Kuhn each had one assist. Schneekloth and Peter Donovan each registered six ground ball pickups, and Schneekloth won a whopping 20 of 23 faceoffs. Harrison Holak made nine saves in goal for the Patriots.
Jake Brown and Nick Swift led Plymouth Whitemarsh with two goals each. Dylan Wixted and Corey Kelly each scored once. Goalkeeper Andrew Sabia turned aside 14 shots in goal for the Colonials.
With the victory, Central Bucks East (18-1) advances to the District One Quarterfinals, where it will meet 11th-seeded Garnet Valley. Plymouth Whitemarsh ends its historic season at 15-4.
“I told the kids, one game doesn’t sum up a season,” Chang said. “Everybody but the state champion walks away feeling like we do. But we won every league game, we finished with 15 wins, which is the most we’ve ever had in our program’s history, we won our first playoff game. Overall, it’s been a huge success.”
#5 Hatboro-Horsham 4, #12 Penncrest 3
It was a score better suited for a hockey game than a lacrosse game, but low-scoring games suit Hatboro-Horsham just fine.
Led by their stellar defense – as they have been all season – and senior co-captains Tyler Gelhaus and Dom DeFazio, the Hatters edged out 12th-seeded Penncrest, 4-3, in Thursday’s Division One Tournament second-round game.
“Our philosophy is that our defense is going to work its tail off to keep the score as low as possible,” said Hatters’ coach John Kurek. “As a team, they understand the strength is the defense and the offense is trying to get as many goals as the defense needs to get the W.
“(Gelhaus and DeFazio) are not only good players, but they’re good teachers. They’re surrounded by sophomores and juniors, and the kids listen to them, respond to them. As a unit, I couldn’t ask more from a defense.”
Neither team scored in the first quarter. Hatboro-Horsham netted a pair in the second quarter to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.
“We knew Penncrest was good,” Kurek said. “They have a really good, tough defense. It was hard to crack. We had our opportunities, rang posts all night.”
Goalkeeper Marc Poust made 12 saves in recording the win for the Hatters.
“Marc made some phenomenal saves,” Kurek said. “He’s only a sophomore. He started as a freshman, and as a sophomore, he’s showing everything it takes, especially in a playoff game. He stayed cool and he made the saves. That’s what we needed.”
Jimmy Murphy led the Hatters with two goals. Trevor Downing and Jake Durkin each added one. Ryan New and Ryan Higgins each had one assist.
With the win, the Continental Conference co-champion Hatters improve to 17-2 on the season and advance to the District One Tournament Quarterfinals. Hatboro-Horsham will face 20th seed Great Valley.
“We don’t know too much about them,” Kurek said. “We’re going to enjoy this tonight, then break it down and get a quick practice in tomorrow and get ready for Saturday.
“We tell the kids, one game at a time. You have to focus one day at a time, focus on the game plan, execute the game plan, and if we win, we move on.”
#11 Garnet Valley 6, #6 Pennsbury 5 (OT)
Pennsbury’s season came to an abrupt and heartbreaking end on Thursday, as 11th-seeded Garnet Valley scored twice in the final three minutes of play to force overtime, then netted the game-winning goal with four seconds remaining in the extra session.
“It was very difficult,” Pennsbury coach Jamie Huber said. “We kept back in a zone. We knew we could win that way, we have an excellent goalie, and we were playing well. We had a breakdown on offense, and they got a turnover and scored (late in the fourth quarter). Then they got the faceoff and scored again.”
Pennsbury led, 1-0, after one quarter and 5-3 after three (the score was tied at 3-3 at halftime). Sean McDonald, Collin Sullivan, Ryan McDonald, Calvin Hopkins and Evan Caterson each scored one goal for the Falcons. Sean McDonald added three assists, Ryan McDonald and Sullivan each had one. Drew Sweetland made 10 saves in goal for the Falcons, who end their season at 17-3.
“I said to the guys, this was not how we wanted our season to end, but we lost to a very good team,” Huber said. “Garnet Valley is one of the top teams in the state. We feel we’re right there as well, and our play this year reflects that. Only one team gets to lift the trophy at the end of the season, unfortunately that’s not us this year. But we did a lot this year. We’re 17-3 overall, 10-0 undefeated SOL (National Conference) champs, we got the highest seed in the District One Playoffs that we’ve ever had, so there’s a lot that the guys have accomplished.
“We had a great group of seniors this year, and there’s never an easy way for seniors to go out. I’ve been very lucky to coach this group of seniors. I know it tough to see the forest for the trees today, and maybe for the next couple weeks. But I think they’re going to look back and see how much they enjoyed the season and be very happy with it.”
#7 Abington 13, #10 West Chester Henderson 6
Konrad Thallner doesn’t always get his name into the scoring column, but his contributions have been invaluable to Abington’s success.
Thallner, the Galloping Ghosts’ center, is tasked with winning faceoffs and helping his team gain possession and begin working its offense.
It’s a job he performs without fanfare … but with plenty of skill.
“Konrad’s almost our secret weapon,” Abington coach Ryan Greer said. “He kind of goes underneath the radar. People don’t really appreciate him as much as they should. He really controls our tempo and our game for us. A team like ours where we really push the up-tempo game, possessions really matter because it gives us more chances we can go up on offense and give our defense a break.
“Konrad does his work and goes home. He doesn’t need anybody to pat him on the back. He told me in the beginning of the year, ‘I want to be the faceoff guy. I want that to be my specialty.’ He’s done that for us, he doesn’t care whether somebody pats him on the back or not. He knows – and we know – he gives us 100 percent every time.”
Thallner ought to get plenty of pats on the back after his stellar efforts in Thursday’s District One Tournament second-round game against 10th seed West Chester Henderson. The senior won 14 of 20 faceoffs as the seventh-seeded Ghosts rolled to a 13-6 victory.
“Konrad did a great job today of communicating with his wings and really controlling the ball and keeping Henderson on the defense, which was nice, with them being so aggressive and such a skilled team,” Greer said.
Abington jumped out to a 5-3 lead after one quarter, and held the high-octane Henderson squad to just one goal in each of the last three quarters.
“Our defense worked well together, we didn’t give Henderson any angles or openings to attack with,” Greer said. “They’re a very tough, aggressive, athletic team, and our defense really put the clamp down on them today.”
Greer credited goalkeeper Travis O’Connor for making several crucial saves among his 11 stops on the afternoon. Defender Austin Pifani also came up big, making a save on a Henderson shot when O’Connor was caught out of the crease.
The Ghosts aggressively scooped up loose balls throughout the game. Ryan Ambler and Josh Kluver each recorded eight ground ball pickups, Chris Duffy had five, and Pifani, Matt Figueroa and Matt Lomady each grabbed four.
Figueroa led a spread-out Abington attack with three goals and three assists. Brian Gallagher and Shane Dunn each scored a hat trick, Lomady had two goals and an assist, Ambler scored once and had three assists, Hunter Jones registered a goal and an assist, and Kluver had one assist.
Abington (15-5) advances to the District Quarterfinals to take on second seed Downingtown West. Abington opened the season with a 13-10 loss to the Whippets. But this is a much different Abington team.
“We lost to them in the beginning of the year and we said, ‘We need to do everything in our power to see these guys again,’ because we were unhappy,” Greer said. “We had injuries early in the year. That’s not an excuse, but we know we’re 100 percent healthy now, we’re 100 percent ready to go – our obstacles are out of the way. We just have to play our best lacrosse, have fun, put our best athletes on the field to match up against theirs and see what happens.
“We’re peaking. The guys have really bought into being unselfish, move the ball, do your job, but we need to do it as a team. No one guy is going to bring us here. No one guy is going to win us the game. We have to do it as a team. It’s going to be all of us or none of us.”
In other scores
#1 Conestoga 13, #16 Springfield Delco 2
#2 Downingtown West 8, #15 Bishop Shanahan 5
#20 Great Valley 8, #4 Ridley 7
#8 Radnor 9, #9 Downingtown East 8
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