Pennsbury High School Boys Lacrosse
Fairless Hills, PA
April 17, 2009

As the saying goes, “the best offense is a good defense”. And to prove the point, Pennsbury's defensive midfielder, Matt Mager provided the defense-to-offense spark in the fourth quarter that broke open a 4-1 game and paved the way to a 8-1 victory for the home team Pennsbury Falcons over the visiting Council Rock South Golden Hawks.

The first quarter saw both teams with back-and-forth possessions characterized by strong defensive play, some errant passes, and some shots that hit the pipes and bounced out. It wasn't until midway through the opening stanza when Pennsbury broke the scoreless tie with midfielder Ricky Jutkiewicz driving to the net, drawing the slide, and dishing back outside to attackman Kenneth Warren, who ripped the outside shot just under the cross-bar. Warren returned the favor at the beginning of the second quarter when he fed Jutkiewicz up top, who rocketed the ball into the back of the net for the Falcon's second goal of the game.

CR South answered 15 seconds later on an extra man opportunity when Golden Hawk middie Matt Morton found long-stick middie F. Junod open up top, who then ripped an underhand shot past Pennsbury goalie David Cutler. The scoring in the first half ended when Falcon attackman Peter Sweetland dodged from behind the cage and fed fellow attackman Calvin Hopkins, who face-dodged one defender and bulleted a shot past Golden Hawk goalie Sean Poritsky for a 3-1 Pennsbury lead at the half.

The third quarter was another defensive affair with exception of a nice feed from Pennsbury's Sweetland from behind the case to Jutkiewicz, who shot a rocket from the left side of the cage into the opposite upper right corner for a 4-1 Pennsbury lead entering the fourth quarter.

And the fourth quarter is when d-middie Matt Mager made his defense-to-offense statement, energizing the Falcons with a coast-to-coast goal that began when he stripped a Hawk middie of the ball in the defensive end, out-fought two CRS players for the loose ball, dashed up the field, dodging both middie and long pole defenders, and slammed a bounce shot at the goalie's feet and into the back of the net. Inspired by Mager's one-man-show, the Falcons knocked in another goal four minutes later on a bang-bang-bang pass play when Warren grabbed a ground ball at the midfield, quickly passed to Sweetland 12 yard out, who found middie Shawn Caven alone on the doorstep. After a double fake, Caven found the back of the net for a 6-1 Falcon lead.

Mager again electrified the crowd two minutes later when defenseman Ben McDannell sent a long clearing pass to a streaking Mager down the middle, who dodged a long pole at full speed and sent a perfect pass to Warren alone on the crease for the triple-fake put in and a 7-1 lead. The Falcons finished the day's scoring when long-pole middie found attackman Danny Caggia on the left side, who fired in a turnaround shot to seal the deal on the final score of 8-1 for the Falcons.

The win puts Pennsbury at 6-4 for the year and 4-0 in the Suburban One National conference. Council Rock South is 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the Suburban One National conference.


Box Score
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CR South 0 1 0 0 1
Pennsbury (home) 1 2 1 4 8

Goals:
Pennsbury - 8; Ricky Jutkiewicz 2; Kenneth Warren 2; Matt Mager 1; Shawn Caven 1; Calvin Hopkins 1; Dan Caggia 1.

CR South - 1; F. Junod 1.

Assists:
Pennsbury - 6; Peter Sweetland 2; Ricky Jutkiewicz 1; Matt Mager 1; Sean Rinko 1;
Kenneth Warren 1.
CR South - 1; Morton 1.

Shots:
Pennsbury 35, CR South 19

Saves:
David Cutler (Pennsbury) 9, Sean Poritsky (CR South) 11

Record:
Pennsbury (5-4 overall; 3-0 in the Suburban One National), CR South (6-4 overall; 1-2 in the Suburban One National)
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