Younger Spence leads Springfield to upset
LOWER MERION >> If someone predicted at Saturday’s quarterfinal at Harriton that a Spence would determine Springfield’s fate, you probably would’ve guessed James, the junior All-Delco goalie. And you’d be right, but not completely.
That’s because the baby of the Spence family picked a fine time to put his stamp on the family lacrosse lineage.
Jack Spence, a freshman midfielder, scored a career-high four goals and added an assist as the No. 10 seed Cougars booked another ticket to the PIAA tournament by tipping No. 2 Spring-Ford, 10-7.
Springfield (15-6) advances to Tuesday’s quarterfinal to meet No. 3 Upper Dublin. Spring-Ford (20-2) follows the same trajectory as last year, losing to Springfield in the quarters then getting Garnet Valley, this time at home, in the playback semis Tuesday.
Both Spences started quickly and never let up. Jack scored twice in the Cougars’ five-goal, first-quarter barrage to go with the helper on Zach Venit’s tally.
After the Rams rallied with five in the second stanza, Jack grabbed what proved to be the game-winner at 2:20 of the third, taking a feed from Joe DeBernardi and rifling it home. He put the icing on the cake 65 ticks into the fourth quarter, squirming out of a double team and absorbing a flaggable hit to extend the defending District One champs’ lead to 9-6.
“After (three-time All-Delco and Lehigh player) Lucas last year, Jack comes right in, and he’s filling his shoes as much as he possibly can as a freshman,” James Spence said. “He’s doing unbelievable things. He’s splitting double teams. He’s doing what freshmen never do. This game, he just stepped it up. He did everything he’s supposed to do and more.”
Springfield’s big guns — Kyle Long (goal, three assists) and Mike Gerzabek (two goals) — were kept relatively in check, but the Cougars didn’t miss a beat. They scored 10 goals on just 17 shots, Spring-Ford goalie Chris Morgan a spectator on all but one in a clinical display of finishing.
“It feels good that our whole offense played well and our defense played outstanding today,” Jack said.
Happy Cougars. @sprlax back to states, 10-7 winners. pic.twitter.com/8o3sfeQg7k
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) May 21, 2016
But the younger guy didn’t corner the market on splendid Spences. James was exceptional en route to 13 saves. Five came in the first quarter, including a pair of beautiful kick saves.
“The defense knew exactly what to do before it even started,” James Spence said. “Our coaches helped us scout a lot, so the first quarter, we definitely knew that they were going to do.”
His masterpiece was a double save just before Jack’s final goal. James fought off a Jarrod Marenger shot, then chased out of the crease to cover it. He was beaten to the ball by a Spring-Ford player, though, who fed Raymond Orcutt for a shot from the left wing, with just Springfield defenders Nick Matty and Pat Clements retreating to shield the cage.
Or so Orcutt thought. By the time the ball reached the crease, Spence’s body was in the way, the shot bounding off his pads to launch a break the other way.
Springfield entered the game with the big edge in the intangibles category, a shorthanded squad having been drubbed by the Rams, 15-3, March 29.
“We had that game in our back pocket all season,” James Spence said. “We never kind of let that go. As soon as we lost to them, everybody had that gut feeling that you just never want to get. Everyone wanted to throw up. Coach told us as soon as that game was over that we could get them again, and we believed him.”
It took nine minutes Saturday for the Cougars to match their offensive output from the first meeting. They were well past it when Long threaded a superb pass to DeBernardi on the edge of the crease with one second left in the opening quarter to make it 5-0.
But Spring-Ford, despite a major change in the lineup, didn’t shrivel. Even without attackman Jake Hvazda due to an undisclosed injury, the Rams battled back to tie the game. Ryan Rosenblum scored twice, and Matt Dellacroce, who went from splitting faceoff duties with the eminently capable Justin Schwenk (16-for-20 at the X) to a full-time midfield role, had a goal and two assists.
“I think it was just a little bit weird at first,” Dellacroce said. “We weren’t used to it. … I just don’t think we really played the game the way our team knows how. We came out, we were too frantic.”
The Rams settled down in the second quarter, but the momentum didn’t translate after the break. Dellacroce set up Kevin Todd in the third, and Todd got the final marker of the game, but Springfield had no intention of affording Spring-Ford enough of the ball to mount another comeback.
Instead, the only resurgence worth discussing was how Springfield went from a 1-5 start to the state tournament yet again.
“We wanted to beat them,” James Spence said. “We wanted to show we were a better team than them even though at the beginning of the year, they got a hold of us. We got on them fast, and we had a great game.”
