Souderton’s defense goes to ground in win over Abington
FRANCONIA >> Ground balls go a long way in winning lacrosse matches.
So far this season, the Souderton boys lacrosse team’s defense had been getting opposing teams to put the ball on the ground but the Indians weren’t scooping them up enough. As a result, they were giving up second or third chances which led to goals.
Tuesday, they not forced turnovers but got the ground balls too. As a result, Souderton’s defense pitched a shutout in a 9-0 win over visiting Abington.
“The main thing we’ve been preaching is ground balls,” Souderton coach Mark Princehorn said. “We’ve been pretty subpar in ground balls leading up to this game. Giving up second and third chances is something we’ve done pretty poorly, along with getting it up and out and into our end so it’s something we harped on a lot.”
From the outset, it was clear that Souderton was set on winning the game with its defense. There’s no dominant defender for the Indians, but instead a group of long and short pole backs and midfielders who work as a group around goalie Axel Beskar.
Souderton had the clamps on Abington all game, limiting the Ghosts to just one shot on goal in the first half while also taking care of the ball on the offensive end. Senior long pole midfielder Matt Lista echoed his coach in saying ground balls were the difference in the game and also the defensive unit’s performance.
“Every turnover we forced, we were able to get the ball and clear it back up the field,” Lista said. “We needed to get into our groove with it. We were rusty, it took us eight games to figure it out but now I feel like we’re there.”
Lista drew a tough assignment on Tuesday, marking Abington’s Nate Rose but the senior more than held his own and even forced a pair of turnovers. The senior, who is attending Penn State next fall but not continuing his lacrosse career, said the entire defense is well-versed in its slide packages and ready to cover for each other.
Having a guy like Beskar playing behind them helps the defense plenty as well. Lista said he can be aggressive at the point because he has a slide coming behind him if he gets beat and Beskar ready to make a stop if the attacking player wants to chance a longer range shot.
“When one goes, we all go so there’s not any room for error,” Lista said. “Our defense is a team unit, we really don’t have that one star.”
Princehorn also felt Matt Halteman had a strong game against the Ghosts while Kain Turner, Zach Gordon and midfielder Nick Guthrie were all solid, especially on the ground ball front.
Offensively, Cole Witoslawski carried the Indians with four goals and an assist while Stephen Blue had two scores and a helper and Walker Martin found the net twice. Souderton led 2-0 after a quarter and 4-0 at the half, using some methodical offense to set up the shots it wanted. While the Indians had a majority of the ball, they still had to solve a pretty tough riddle in the form of Ghosts goalie Connor Reed.
Reed, a senior, made eight stops and did all he could to keep his team in striking range in the first half.
“I have nothing but respect for Connor Reed, he’s a class kid and a great goalie,” Princehorn said. “We tried to make it difficult for him to make saves. Instead of taking the 15-yard, even 10-yard shot, we wanted to take high percentage shots inside of eight yards and make it difficult for him to stop them.”
Witoslawski had a natural hat trick in the third quarter, scoring all three Indians goals in the frame as Souderton opened up a 7-0 lead. It just seemed like every time Abington advanced the ball or tried to set something up, a Souderton defender found a way to dislodge it and another white jersey came up with the ground ball.
“Ground balls, it’s all effort,” Princehorn said. “It’s all intensity and luckily we displayed that tonight and got the ball off the ground.”
“Once we realized we were doing well on (ground balls) tonight, the energy just carried over,” Lista said. “It felt like we mastered the hardest part now that we got down what we had been worst at, we can just dominate everything else.”
