Hanson’s OT goal sends Upper Dublin past CB West, into District 1-3A semifinals

UPPER DUBLIN >> With the chaos of the moment at its peak, Upper Dublin stayed poised.

After Max Winebrake’s shot clanged off the post in overtime, the Cardinals boys lacrosse team just got the ground ball and reset. Coach Dave Sowers thought about calling his timeout, but his assistants urged him to trust the guys on the field.

Sowers held off and his faith was rewarded when Winebrake hit a cutting Jed Hanson with 1:28 left in overtime, lifting UD to a 9-8 win over Central Bucks West in an absolute thriller of a District 1-3A quarterfinal Saturday.

“We knew in the huddle if we won the faceoff and got a ground ball, we’d have a good shot of winning this thing,” Hanson said. “We he fed it to me, I knew I had to put it away.”

The win sends No. 3 Upper Dublin (17-1) to states and a Tuesday semifinal with red-hot upset specialists Garnet Valley while No. 6 CB West (14-5) drops into a playback game to try and play its way into states.

Saturday’s game to figure that out was a classic, with both teams pouring everything they had onto the field to try and get that one decisive edge over the other. It had plenty of momentum swings, like Upper Dublin’s fourth quarter rally or the Bucks’ third frame dominance and no shortage of standouts.

For every twist, there was a turn. Early in the game, Upper Dublin defenseman Sam Polin did a great job checking West’s terrific attacker Joey Rockovich but Rockovich turned the tables in the third quarter en route to a hat trick in the frame.

“We were down 5-3 at half and I knew I had to step it up as a leader,” Rockovich said. “These guys, we needed to come out with fire and we did. We scored a few unanswered goals and it gave us some life.”

Polin said getting beat was tough and started to get into his head, but the long pole defender credited his teammates for keeping him calm and focused. Instead of dwelling on any mistakes, Polin and the defensive unit made some changes and adjustments and kept the Bucks scoreless over the final 15:35 of regulation.

West’s rally was no coincidence spurred from some excellent play by defenseman Blake Ewaskey, who had a goal, assists, caused turnover and two ground balls in the game. His ability to flip the field himself led directly to Rockovich’s third goal that put West up 7-5.

Despite coming out on the losing end of the score, Ewaskey said there was a lot to take away from Saturday’s performance but chiefly that the Bucks will need to be a little cleaner when they face Perk Valley for the right to continue their season.

“If we can hang with these guys, we can hang with anyone,” Ewaskey said. “That’s what I feel like.”

Upper Dublin turned some turnovers into much-needed goals in the fourth quarter, none bigger than Carey Romig’s hit to tie the game 8-8 with 5:53 left. The swift midfielder was able to jump a pass in CB West’s backfield and went in alone to knot the game.

Sowers pointed to his team’s grit as a reason why the Cardinals didn’t panic on that final play in overtime or at any point while the were down. As Polin pointed out, Upper Dublin has rallied back several times this season and as long as they trust in the coaches and each other, they feel like they can work out of any situation.

“We ran a zone and put a d-mid on (Rockovich) and it seemed like it took them a while to figure out what we were doing and by that time, we already started to get momentum back on our side,” Polin said. “Nobody batted an eye, we knew we could still win.”

Both Rockovich and Ewaskey said their teammates were a little down coming off the loss but were confident if the Bucks bring that same effort again on Tuesday, good things will happen.

“We have to play the way we did again,” Rockovich said. “That’s a good team that beat us today.”

“I feel like there’s another level we can hit,” Ewaskey said. “This is going to make us go to work on Monday and come out ready to play our best on Tuesday.”

Upper Dublin’s defense was able to come up with a stop and the ball at the end of the fourth quarter to force the extra period after trailing 8-5 to open the frame. Like so much in lacrosse, it was going to depend on who came up with the ball to start the four-minute overtime.

Again, the Cardinals showed their grit. Faceoff man Lucas Roselli, who was playing through an injury he picked up earlier in the week, wasn’t having his best day against the Bucks’ own talented faceoff man in Garrett Hitchens (12-of-21 faceoffs).

With the biggest faceoff of the game on the line, Roselli managed to win it, getting the ball free where Winebrake was able to gather it and set up the offense.

“He’s such a fighter that he said ‘I’m playing,’” Sowers said. “The fact that kind played the entire game where he can barely feel his one arm, he just played for his guys. He didn’t have that great of a day but when we really needed it, he did it.”

After Winebrake’s initial shot in the overtime hit off the post, Upper Dublin’s Brian McCarry gathered the ground ball and the Cardinals reset. Hanson, a senior, led the Cardinals with four goals including the one that left in him in the middle of a jubilant mob of teammates after winning the game.

“It was crazy, doing this for all my friends, it was pretty exciting,” Hanson said. “I know I made them all happy.”

UPPER DUBLIN 9, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 8 (OT)
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2 1 5 0 0 – 8
UPPER DUBLIN 4 1 0 3 1 – 9
Goals-Assists: UD – Jed Hanson 4-0, Brian McCarry 2-0, Carey Roming 1-1, Jerry Bardol 1-1, Colin Asper 1-1, Max Winebrake 0-2; CBW – Joey Rockovich 3-1, Michael Samson 2-1, Blake Ewaskey 1-1, Ben Sexauer 1-0, Jake Ojert 0-1. Saves: UD – Dillon Lojeski 12, CBW – Max Dunar 12.