Roselli sparks rally, Upper Dublin edges West Chester Henderson in District 1-3A 1st round

UPPER DUBLIN >> Lucas Roselli didn’t lack confidence.

Despite his team giving up five straight goals to West Chester Henderson and without scoring in the second quarter, the Upper Dublin senior wasn’t worried. He knew his team was capable of a comeback if they just kept working.

Roselli got it started and the Cardinals carried that effort to an 11-8 win over the Warriors in the opening round of the District I 3A boys lacrosse tournament on Tuesday.

“There’s nothing really specific, sometimes we start out slow and it’s kind of like how our season started,” Roselli said. “We got better as the game and as the season went along.”

Roselli had a busy day, scoring five goals and dueling Henderson’s Luke Wierman on the faceoff X. Wierman played nearly every second of the game, but he had the upper hand on the X at halftime and it was a big part of the Warriors’ 6-2 lead at the break.

“I think he was getting tired and we were getting pumped up and wanted it more,” Roselli said of the second half. “Giving up goals, that stuff happens in games all the time so we were still confident.”

Henderson’s defense frustrated UD in the first half, save for two solo efforts by Roselli. The Cardinals knew that along with faceoffs, they’d have to be better on offense in the second half.

Sophomore attack Jayden Santangelo noted the Warriors played a zone defense, so UD attacked it with passing.

“They have a few more horses, we have three guys who can carry us but they have a few more and it showed in the second half,” Henderson coach Paul Stankewicz said. “They have good players and look at the size of some of their guys. Then, (Roselli), he’s tough to stop coming from behind. We knew he’d do it and we couldn’t stop him.
“When we made the extra pass, we were pretty good but we didn’t get shots on cage late.”

Roselli won the opening faceoff of the second half, took it down the field and scored in just 15 seconds.

It sparked a 6-2 quarter for Upper Dublin as his teammates finally broke through. Brian McCarry had two goals and an assist, Santangelo netted two and defenseman Lucas Nina-Boesler had a long-pole goal when he took a clear himself and finished.

UD had to expend energy to comeback and while they were only tied 8-8, the Cardinals felt fresher.

“We were moving the ball around a lot more and much faster, which gave me space to shoot,” Santangelo said. “They were pressing out, they were coming out a lot to try and jump the pass which gave us the space to move and dodge through ‘x.'”

Upper Dublin’s defense also stepped up in the second half. Sam Hoffman made 11 saves in goal, including three key denials in the final quarter, to earn the win.

The junior goalie didn’t want to take all the credit. Hoffman passed it off to his defensemen and defensive middies for forcing the Henderson shooters to put the ball high where he wants it.

“I want it higher, my defense did really well today,” Hoffman said. “We slid too early in the first half so we had to adjust to that. We’re very physical, we used to play timid and look at teams and think we’re not as good as them but we have a lot of confidence now.”

Santangelo had the goal of the game to break the deadlock midway through the final quarter.

Hoffman made a save, Jake Rossman cleared it and foud Bret Rama. Rama made a move, slipped but as he was falling, slipped a pass to the cutting Santangelo.

The sophomore didn’t have much room, but he was able to contort a shot behind his head for the eventual game-winner.

“It was a great pass by Bret,” Santangelo said. “When I was coming down, I felt with the angle I had, it was the least amount of time to get that shot off and I felt like it was there.”

Upper Dublin will travel to No. 3 West Chester East on Thursday in the second round.

“It means a lot,” Roselli said. “This is probably my last time playing lacrosse so I want to go as far as possible.”