Rams flex muscles, overwhelm Upper Merion
By DENNIS C. WAY
21st Century Media
ROYERSFORD->>Upper Merion was all smiles 33 seconds unto its lacrosse game with Spring-Ford Tuesday night.
Collin Ginsburg scooped up a ground ball near the Rams cage, and beat goaltender Kyle Pettine to put the visitors up by a goal.
It would be the last goal the Vikings would score.
Spring-Ford scored the contest’s final 16 goals to emerge with a 16-1 victory, continuing to justify its early-season high ranking among District One programs.
“We hadn’t seen (Upper Merion) before, so we didn’t know what to expect,” said Jarrod Marenger , who led the Rams with four goals. “But by the midway point of the second quarter I think we knew we had the win.”
They had the win because they kept the Vikings hemmed in their own end, and then controlled the ball when they were in attack mode.
Upper Merion came into the game on a bit of a roll, having its first three games of the year.
But the Rams were hardly in awe.
Soon after Ginsburg got the Vikings on the board, the Rams got rolling, and goals by Kyle Reed, Ryan Rosenblum, Marenger and Danny Cassidy gave the home team a 4-1 lead after one quarter.
Things only got better for Spring-Ford in the second quarter, and four more goals, three from Marenger, had Spring-Ford on top, 8-1, at the break.
“Their defense dictated what we did on offense,” said Vikings head coach Brady McCormick. “They’re aggressive and they force you into places you don’t want to be.”
Things didn’t improve for the Vikings, who gave up eight unanswered goals in the third period before the same ended with a running clock throughout the bulk of the third quarter and the whole fourth.
“Upper Merion played tough, they played like they wanted it,” Marenger said. “They played hard.”
“Spring-Ford is a classy program,” McCormick said. “(Head coach) Kevin (Todd) runs a good program, and they’re a very good team.”
LAXTRAS: Along with Marenger’s four goals, the Rams got three each from Reed, Rosenblum and Nate Vatilana. … Upper Merion goaltender Johnny Salamy drew praise from McCormick and stopped 14 shots.
