Everyone gets involved in Hatboro-Horsham’s romp over Wissahickon
HORSHAM >> The Hatboro-Horsham boys lacrosse team needed a little more than half a period to figure out the Wissahickon defense, but once they did the offensive onslaught was on.
The Hatters first goal came with 5:07 left in the first quarter and they put in five straight over a four-minute and 10-second span.
That was the beginning of a dominant 15-2 Suburban One League American Conference win Tuesday afternoon at a rainy Hatboro-Horsham High School.
Seven different Hatters (9-1, 4-0) scored in the win. Ian Reilly led the way with four goals, Logan Eldridge had three, Cameron Knox, Joe Larouche and Chris Koch each had two and Tim McPoyle and Jason Kleinz one.
“The team play,” Hatboro coach John Kurek said he was most impressed by in the victory. “There wasn’t one guy putting in the goals or there wasn’t one guy making the stops on ‘D.’ These kids like to play together and every time they come out I’m glad that the chemistry is there and they keep on building. They want to get better as the season goes on.”
Knox got the scoring started and Larouche added another 35 seconds later. The lead grew to 3-0 when McPoyle found the back of the net and less than a minute later Reilly scored his first of the game. Eldridge got his scoring started with less than a minute left in the first period to give the Hatters a 5-0 lead going into the second.
The teams traded two goals each in the second period and Hatboro was ahead, 7-2, at halftime.
The hosts blew the game wide open in the third. They scored six goals to Wissahickon’s zero and it was 13-2 with 12 minutes to play.
Kleinz scored early in the fourth to give his side a 12-goal edge and create a running clock situation. Koch finished off the scoring to make it 15-2.
Throughout the entire game, the Hatters only lost a couple of faceoffs. Those possessions led to scoring opportunities and helped keep the Trojans off the board.
“Those guys — that’s what they committed themselves to,” Kurek said. “Both Brian Hood and Chris Dearden — they both committed to working on faceoffs in the offseason. They went away to camp, they went down to faceoff league, they make that their craft and it’s good to see that.”
The Hatters remain perfect in SOL American play with a 4-0 record.
“We didn’t know what to expect this year,” Kurek said. “It’s a whole new league for us. So as we go through the league it’s interesting to see what each team has, but (the players) knew it was a league game and they wanted to take care of business against league opponents and they did.”
Wisahickon (3-9, 2-2) managed just four shots on goal in the game. John Esposito and Owen Bain each scored and the other two shots on net were stopped by Hatboro goalie Joe Brophy.
“Couldn’t win faceoffs,” Wiss coach Daniel Layfield said of the offensive struggles. “We couldn’t get the ball to our main dodgers, we didn’t work well off-ball. We came out very flat.”
“The defense did a good job knowing their scout, knowing what their strengths are and working against that and trying to make them do other things,” Kurek said. “It was a great job on the defensive side of the ball.”
Trojans goalie Cooper McMaster made 10 saves.
Hatboro-Horsham 15, Wissahickon 2
Wissahickon 0 2 0 0 — 2
Hatboro-Horsham 5 2 6 2 — 15
Goals: W: John Esposito, Owen Bain. HH: Cameron Knox 2, Joe Larouche 2, Tim McPoyle, Ian Reilly 4, Logan Eldridge 3, Chris Koch 2, Jason Kleinz.
Assists: W: Owen Bain. HH: Cameron Knox, Joe Larouche, Ian Reilly 2, Logan Eldridge, Chris Koch.
Saves: W: Cooper McMaster 10. HH: Joe Brophy 2.
Top Photo: Hatboro-Horsham’s Logan Eldridge fires a shot into the upper corner of Wissahickon’s net during their game on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
