Upper Dublin starts season with 14-1 win over Cardinal O’Hara
UPPER DUBLIN >> The Upper Dublin boys lacrosse team returns most of its players from a team that reached the second round of the district playoffs in 2017.
If the season opener is any indication, this is a team with a much higher ceiling.
The Flying Cardinals handled Cardinal O’Hara, 14-1, at Spark Field Monday afternoon in the first game of the 2018 season.
It took a little while for the Upper Dublin offense to get going, but once it did it didn’t slow down.
The first goal came with 5:14 left in the first quarter when Jerry Bardol found Max Winebrake in front of the net. Jed Hanson, Jason Williams and Bardol all added goals in the final 1:38 of the first.
“A little sloppy in the first quarter,” UD coach David Sowers said, “which you would expect in your opening game but we settled in. It’s a simple game. Just make the simple play in front of you and sometimes kids get all revved up and think they have to do more than that. Once we settled down and got into our system we were fine.”
“(O’Hara) had a good first offensive possession,” Bardol said. “They got the ball around, just kept it out of our hands. I felt like once we got the ball and we got it around once or twice we did what we knew we could do.”
They picked right back up where they left off in the second quarter. Brian McCarry scored twice in the first two minutes and Carey Romig, Williams, Zach Young and Bardol each added goals to head to halftime with a 10-0 lead.
“We really put in the work in the offseason,” Bardol said. “We’ve been out there since December just working hard. It’s showing right now. We’re just super unselfish, everyone’s involved. Whoever has the short stick dodges and if guys are open pass the ball.”
Young and Winebrake scored early in the third quarter to make it a 12-goal game and start the running clock. Young added another goal and Luke Roselli finished off the Cardinals scoring to make it 14-0 with 4:50 left in the third.
“We wanted to get a feel for our offense,” Bardol said. “We’ve been working at it for a while, but it’s good to work it against an opponent that we don’t normally play. We didn’t really scout them or watch film on them, we just came out and (played).”
O’Hara’s Jimmy Yolum scored the Lions only goal midway through the fourth.
Aside from the goal, the Cardinals allowed six shots on net.
“We’re communicating a lot better,” Sowers said. “We’ve got some real good leaders back there. They believe in each other. Right now the chemistry is there. It’s really their communication that is helping us on that end of the field.”
Upper Dublin 14, Cardinal O’Hara 1
Cardinal O’Hara 0 0 0 1 — 1
Upper Dublin 4 6 4 0 — 14
