Belville, Pio help Strath Haven solve Hampton
MECHANICSBURG — For 16 minutes of even lacrosse Saturday, Strath Haven was in the feeling-out process against Hampton. Unfamiliar with the opponent and uncomfortable early against its zone defense, it would take the Panthers a little while to divine the best ways to break down the Talbots.
For the Panthers, the simplest idea happened to be the most effective: Let the skill players do their thing.
Ibo Pio and Ethan Belville answered the call, scoring four times each to lead Haven to a 12-5 win in the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal at John H. Frederick Field.
The win sends Strath Haven (15-8) to its third state semifinal in four years to take on Hershey, a 13-8 winner over Mars.
Ethan Belville goes low to high. Pio the helper. Strath Haven 6, Hampton 2 at halftime. pic.twitter.com/JZKlIcWhZs
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 1, 2019
Hampton (18-5) was even at 2-all midway through the second quarter before Nicky Palermo put Haven up for good on a man-up situation. Then Belville took over, shaking a sluggish start to rattle off three goals in 1:39, his four first-half goals putting Strath Haven up 6-2 at the break.
“We try to stick to what we’re good at,” he said. “We ride hard, and if that’s our offense, me, Nicky or Ibo getting a good matchup, that’s what we do.”
The goals take Belville to 70 for the season, and he stands at 96 points after two assists.
Pio, who added an assist, found his defensive matchups eminently exploitable. Whether dodging from up top or sneaking around the cage, with his variety of jumpers and roll-back shots, he wreaked havoc.
The middie made it 7-2 midway through the third with a left-to-right sweep from up top that no one slid to, then came from behind the crease and flicked one under the bar to make it 9-3.
“If nothing else is working, that’s always our backup plan,” Pio said. “You can always go back to that, just find a one-on-one and try to create from that. That’s what we do, dodge and create off the dodges. We’ve got a lot of guys who can step down, and we can find guys off the ball, back-side, all that.”
Palermo added a goal and an assist, and Matt Faggioli scored twice.
If Ethan Belville is even, he’s leavin. 4-2 Haven. pic.twitter.com/jL5Xz88EBw
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 1, 2019
The defensive plan hewed to the same thinking. The Panthers had just allowed 16 goals in a nail-biter over York Catholic in the first round and had to contend with Bishop Shanahan’s loaded attack in the district final. Instead of diagramming junk defenses, they just had to keep things fundamental Saturday.
It worked, with the Talbots held off the scoreboard for 21:14 in the middle of the game, allowing Strath Haven to score six straight before Ian Andersson broke the drought late in the third.
“We’ve been playing more competitive teams in the last couple of games, and we’ve been shutting guys off, maybe two guys off, and it changes the way we’ve played,” defenseman Zack Lesher said. “And coming back to today when we don’t have to shut anybody, it was different to get back to the basics. This was a really good off-ball team, cutting off the crease and everything, but once we remembered how to see our man and see off-ball and get in the hands and find our matchups and play good fundamental defense, we were fine.”
Andersson had a goal and two assists, and Max Saltrelli scored twice for Hampton. But the Talbots decided to make it a penalty contest in the second half with 10 accepted flags — including five minutes on defender Josh Andersson, resulting in disqualification, and two unsportsmanlike calls for faceoff man Jake Schwarzbach, earning an ejection.
Extracurriculars aside, the win moves Strath Haven into the state semis for the third time in four years.
“It’s huge,” Belville said. “We’ve built a culture of success around this program, and that’s what we want to continue.”
