Fast start sparks Hatboro-Horsham past Plymouth Whitemarsh
HORSHAM >> Coming off a 15-goal loss against Wissahickon earlier in the week, Hatboro-Horsham knew it needed to make changes against Plymouth Whitemarsh.
One of those changes was getting off to a better start. Head coach Gauntlett Walker stressed a strong first four minutes and the Hatters delivered, scoring four goals in the first 3:33 to start a 17-7 Suburban One League American Conference win over the Colonials Thursday afternoon at Hatboro-Horsham Senior High School.
“We talked about the first four minutes are going to decide how it was going to go,” Walker said. “We’re big on momentum and we wanted to try to steal the momentum from the beginning.
“For whatever reason the first quarter has been our Achilles heel this year. We’ve been throwing the ball away a ton of times. I don’t think in the first quarter (Thursday) we had any turnovers.”
“We just wanted to get a lead on them at the start,” Hatters sophomore Alex Cerminara said, “and just keep going on the gas – don’t let up. If you’re hot, stay hot and keep going.”
Sam Fink got the scoring started just 34 seconds into the game. Cerminara, Jaden Mariano and Min Lee scored three goals in a 20-second stretch to make it 4-0 and force a Plymouth Whitemarsh timeout with 8:27 left in the first quarter.
After a PW goal, the Hatters (4-7, 4-3 SOL American) found the back of the net three more times. Cerminara made it 5-1 before Dom Tarsi scored two goals separated by just 10 seconds.
Cerminara completed his first-quarter hat trick to make it 8-2 with 1:49 remaining in the first before David Benjamin won the faceoff and raced down the middle of the field to score, extending the lead to 9-2.
“Dodging, getting the slide and passing to the open man,” Cerminara credited for the offensive success. “They didn’t really have a second slide guy – they didn’t have a two. They just left that guy wide open on the crease.”
Benjamin sandwiched two goals around a Nate Philips tally to complete his hat trick and extend the Hatters lead to 12-2. Cerminara and Fink added goals to help the hosts to a 14-4 halftime lead.
Lee scored two goals in the third quarter to complete his hat trick and Justin Focht found the back of the net. Hatboro-Horsham held its largest lead of the game, 17-4, after three quarters.
Jake Schaifer and Yontef did all the scoring for the Colonials (3-3, 3-1 SOL American). Schaifer scored four goals – two in the first quarter, one in the second and one in the fourth – while Yontef netted three – one in the second and two in the fourth.
Hatboro-Horsham 17, Plymouth Whitemarsh 7
Plymouth Whitemarsh 2 2 0 3 – 7
Hatboro-Horsham 9 5 3 0 – 17
Goals: PW: Jake Schaifer 4, Yontef 3. HH: Sam Fink 2, Alex Cerminara 4, Jaden Mariano, Min Lee 3, Dom Tarsi 2, David Benjamin 3, Justin Focht, Nate Philips.
Saves: PW: Nick Devitis 9. HH: Brendan Kirn 5.
