Spring-Ford stays on top of Owen J. Roberts in 13-8 win
ROYERSFORD — Seeing is believing.
Not seeing is believing, too, as the Owen J. Roberts lacrosse team found out the hard way Friday night.
X marked the spot for Spring-Ford as the Rams climbed out of an early deficit by making the area behind the goal their treasure island, beating the OJR defense with quick strikes on the way to a 13-8 victory in a battle of the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s top two programs at Coach McNelly Stadium.
It was Spring-Ford’s sixth-straight win over Owen J. Roberts, dating back to their first meeting of the 2013 season. The Rams (9-0 PAC, 10-1 overall) made it four straight league titles in 2014 and are in position for a fifth after beating the Wildcats for the second time this season (8-7 win on March 27).
The Rams maintained the series’ upperhand by getting four goals apiece from Zach Hare (one assist) and Kevin Todd and a goal and two assists from Jake Hvazda.
“We had better team play than what we have been the past few games. We really came together tonight,’ Todd said. “We took care of the ball a lot better than we have and we got the ball around faster and cleaner. We’ve really been working on that in practice and it really came together for the team.’
From the OJR (7-2, 8-4) perspective, it was another setback to their biggest rival despite largely having its way with the rest of the league.
The Wildcats were feeling like this was the game to snap the losing streak when they jumped out to a 3-1 lead on goals by Ben Hiltebeitel, Austin Delgatto (four goals) and Sam Garges (one goal, two assists).
Spring-Ford merely needed a timeout to get itself back in order, which it did by initiating its attack from behind the goal on three of its next four scores, Hare using his speed from the left and Todd with a crafty bouncer to spark what was ultimately a 7-1 run into halftime.
Hare made the trend official with 10 seconds left in the first half when he carried the ball from the OJR end all the way behind the ‘˜Cats goal and burst around the right side, firing past OJR goalie Brandon Calle (three saves) for an 8-4 le
“That was a long run,’ Hare said. “I saw the opening and I knew we had 15-20 seconds left so I just ran as fast as I could to try to give our team the advantage. And I did.’
OJR got the first two goals on the second half late in the third quarter, by Delgatto and faceoff man Matt Tordone, to get within 8-6.
“Once they put in those first goals in the second half we knew we had to start making big plays and getting back on top,’ Hare said.
Hare got the lead back to three before the end of the third quarter and the Rams took hold of the fourth quarter and never relinquished control.
“I feel like we’re on the right track but yet we’re still not satisfied,’ Todd said. “We always can fix the things we missed and fix our mistakes. We should never be satisfied until we’re playing a complete, perfect game.’
