Plymouth Whitemarsh pulls away from Upper Merion in 4th

UPPER MERION >> In the middle of a three-games-in-three-days stretch, it was understandable that the Plymouth Whitemarsh boys lacrosse team was a bit on the sluggish side Wednesday afternoon when it visited Upper Merion.

And suitably, the Vikings jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period.

But PW got a chance to catch its collective breath, blew open a close game in the fourth quarter and won going away, 14-6, in the final game between the two programs as members of the Suburban One League.

Alex Savarese netted seven goals as the Colonials (7-2) won their fifth straight game after a 2-2 start.

“We had a good game (Tuesday) against Upper Moreland,” said Colonials head coach Bryan Gregg, “and they fight hard.

“I don’t know if our guys felt (Upper Merion) was going to come out as hard against us, but they did. It took us a while to push through. But we started to compete better for faceoffs and we won more of the 50-50 groundballs.
“It was just hard work, that’s all.”

The Vikings came out hard, shaking off a Savarese goal in the opening 2:00 to grab a 3-1 lead, with two goals coming from Nick Freda.

But before the quarter ended, the Colonials tied the score on goals from Jake Kelly and Savarese. And when Austin Betterly put the Colonials up, 5-4, with 4:20 left in the half, the Vikings would not see the lead again.

A second-period goal by Vince Martina extended the PW lead to 6-4, and the Vikings were chasing the rest of the way.

A Will Borkowski goal to open the second half got the Vikings within 6-5.

But Savarese and teammate Kenny Diamond would score the next two goals, and the visitors would to into the final period with a three-goal cushion.

Upper Merion’s Josh Reinhardt trimmed the deficit to two with a goal early in the third, but the Colonials would close the game on a 6-0 run.

“I think our coaches had a lot to do with that,” Savarese said. “They got us riled up.

“We got off to that slow start, and (Gregg) has done that quite a bit this year. He knows how to get us going.”

“We fell apart,” said Vikings head coach Brady McCormick. “Got within two, we got a two-minute man-up situation and threw the ball away.

“We stayed with them, tempo-wise, but we turned the ball over and then tried to play run-and-gun with a team that’s better at it than we are.”

Savarese scored three times in the six-goal barrage, and the Colonials won going away.

“That showed a lot,” Gregg said. “When you’re able to push through mentally and physically, that shows what kind of players you have.

“We’re very inexperienced on defense, and it took a while for the guys to get up to varsity speed. But they’ve risen to the occasion and got to where they need to be.”

Now, with Springfield on the docket for Thursday, the Colonials’ resolve will be tested again.

“Now we’ll have come back tomorrow with the same energy,” Savarese said.

LAX-ENDS >> Along with Savarese’s seven goals, the Colonials got three goals and two assists from Jake Kelly, three assists from Zach Zygmunt single goals from Vince Martina, Kenny Diamond and Austin Betterly. … PW goaltender Dawson Faust had four saves, while UM netminder Johnny Salamy had six stops. … Nick Freda and Will Borkowski led Upper Merion with two goals apiece, while Connor Stutzman and Josh Reinhardt each had single goals.