Wierman, West Chester Henderson need 2 OTs to outlast Kennett
KENNETT SQUARE >> The victors were the traditional power and the game-winner came from a four-year standout. And it wasn’t a surprise on either front.
But much of the post-match talk following West Chester Henderson’s thrilling 7-6 double overtime boys’ lacrosse victory over up-and-coming Kennett was the outstanding play of Blue Demons’ goaltender Nick Kienzle. And rarely is that the case for the losing side.
“Kennett’s goalie is amazing,” said the Warriors’ do-everything senior midfielder Luke Wierman. “He played an awesome game, and Kennett plays hard. They are a good team.”
That was one of the big takeaways from Monday’s windswept Ches-Mont battle at Kennett. The other was that Henderson is already developing a knack for winning tight battles. The Warriors (5-1, 7-3 overall) have now won back-to-back overtime clashes, and three of their four league wins have been by a combined four goals.
“This win is huge,” said Wierman, who notched the game-winner with 2:28 remaining in double OT. “This just shows the potential we have when we are all playing together.”
It was, however, a bitter setback to stomach for the Demons (3-2, 9-2) who led much of the way but wound up being outscored 4-1 in the fourth quarter and the extra sessions. It didn’t, however, take anything away from the play of Kienzle, who turned aside eight Henderson shots, including a bunch of really good scoring chances.
“We wouldn’t be 9-2 if it wasn’t for Nick,” said Kennett head coach Jim Trowbridge. “So far, he’s the best goalie I’ve seen. And he didn’t even play last season. He’s been off the charts for us.”
Wierman finished with three goals and an assist, and was a dominant figure in OT. He took a pass from teammate Jeff Benson and beat Kienzle to win it, but a big ground ball by Max Depasquale set it all up.
“We were set up in a 1-4-1, we got a good ground ball, we moved it twice, I worked to get open and Jeff found me,” Wierman explained.
“It was a nice play,” added Warriors’ head coach Paul Stankiewicz. “DePasquale got the groundball to Jeff, he stepped in and hit Luke, who is a shooter.”
Trailing 5-3 heading into the fourth period, Henderson finally ended a scoring drought of more than 28 minutes dating all the way back to the opening quarter when Wierman found Benson for a man-up goal. Several minutes later, DePasquale knotted the score when he cleaned up a rebounded shot by teammate Dan Carnuccio with 5:12 to go.
“That’s what we’ve pretty much been doing all season,” Wierman pointed out. “We get in scoring droughts and then we break out of it and start scoring.”
About a minute later, Jake Freebery put the Demons ahead once again, but Jack Micco registered the equalizer with 2:30 remaining.
“You hold your opponent to six goals through regulation, it should be enough to win,” Trowbridge lamented.
“I told my kids that they played some impressive defense, but offensively, we didn’t score when we needed to. We didn’t possess the ball. We still have a lot of young guys making mistakes.”
Benson nearly ended it in the first overtime, but his shot glanced off the nearside post, setting the stage for the winner. Wierman took every important faceoff in crunch time, which became developed into quite a battle with Kennett’s Rich Hughson, just a sophomore.
“Luke’s been our top faceoff guy for four years since he was a freshman,” Stankiewicz said.
“This group keeps working and we are pretty confident that if we get on a role, Luke will win the face-offs and we’ll have the possessions. That’s the difference.”
Benson wound up with two goals and an assist. Sam Forte paced the Blue Demons with two goals and three assists. His pass to Vince Cresci set up the only goal either side scored in the third quarter.
“A lot of it was that (Kennett’s) goalie was playing real well,” Stankiewicz said. “You just have to keep going after it. Their goalie didn’t deserve to lose that one.
“Overall Kennett is much improved. For us, it’s a real good sign that we’ve been able to pull out some close wins, but it’s tough on the coach’s nerves.”
The Demons have now dropped two of the last three after starting the season 8-0. Heading into Monday’s contest, Kennett was seventh in the District 1 3A power rankings (the Warriors were No. 22).
“I told them to keep their heads up,” Trowbridge said. “We’re a good team. We need to keep getting better on offense and we need to continue to gel on defense. We can’t stagnate.”
West Chester Henderson 7, Kennett 6 (2 OT)
West Chester Henderson 3 0 0 3 0 1 — 7
Kennett 3 1 1 1 0 0 — 6
West Chester Henderson goals: Wierman 3, Benson 2, DePasquale, Micco.
Kennett goals: Forte 2, Freebery 2, Cresci, Brison.
Goalie saves: McKie (WCH) 8; Kienzle (K) 8.
