St. Joseph’s Prep sets pace in PCL semifinal win over Lansdale Catholic
PHILADELPHIA >> Whether it was spinning the ball around on offense, turning a transition chance into a goal or keeping Lansdale Catholic’s attackers at bay, St. Joe’s Prep played at its preferred pace Wednesday.
The No. 2 seed Hawks spent most of their PCL semifinal with the No. 3 Crusaders in possession of the ball, forcing LC’s defense to work even harder on a hot afternoon in North Philly. While the Crusaders held their ground, it was a culmination of mistakes that cost them a chance to spring the upset at the Brady Field complex just off the campus of Temple University.
Prep played at the perfect pace, topping Lansdale Catholic 6-2 to advance to Friday’s PCL title game against top seed La Salle.
“We’ve been working so hard physically the whole season so it allowed us to control our conditioning the entire game,” Prep midfielder Mitch Lloyd said. “It definitely helps when we’re winning face-offs all day, possessing the ball and playing smart on offense. We want to keep the ball, make sure our defense gets some rest and it was just a great effort from all the guys today.”
Lloyd scored two goals and was a catalyst to the skewed margin of possession with his ability to dominate on the faceoff X. The first team All-PCL selection helped the Prep win 11-of-12 draws and scored a pair of goals.
While most of Prep’s time on offense was spent working the ball against LC’s hard-working defense, the Hawks turned the game with a couple of transition goals. Long-stick defensive midfielder Kevin O’Brien, another first team All-PCL selections, sparked the first when he intercepted a pass, took the ball the length of the field and dished to Scott O’Connor who found Tyler Peterman for the goal and 2-0 lead.
O’Brien, who was at the point of attack all game for the Prep defensively, said changing the pace was important to getting some shots past LC goalie Connor Flanegan.
“We were facing a really good goalie today and it was tough to score in the box, he was saving everything low so transition was huge today,” O’Brien said. “When we have that chance to push the ball, it catches the defense unsettled and opens up easier lanes for shooting on net.”
Lansdale Catholic couldn’t get on track offensively most of the afternoon. Early on, it was turnovers foiling the Crusaders attempts on offense and as the game went along, it was Prep’s defense keeping LC from getting any good looks from close range.
The game wasn’t high scoring with LC’s defense playing strong and Flanegan playing a superb game with 14 saves but it felt like an uphill climb with the amount of time the unit had to be on the field and actively engaged.
“We play a lot of defense but we play good defense then we force something offensively or make a bad decision that turns the ball right back over and that puts a lot of pressure on our defense to play possession after possession after possession against a good offense,” LC coach Mark Princehorn said. “If you can’t clear the ball efficiently, if you turn the ball over on offense and you take poor shots against a team that can move the ball like this with a faceoff guy of this caliber, you are not going to win.”
The Prep led 4-0 at the half and extended its lead to 5-0 in the third quarter before Connor Mann finally got LC on the board with 4:08 left in the quarter. Any momentum from the score was short-lived as a third transition goal allowed the Hawks to bag a score with just six seconds left on the quarter clock.
Lloyd and O’Brien both gave props to Flanegan and knew they couldn’t just throw shots at goal because the LC senior, who named a first team All-PCL selection and recipient of the George Kruse Memorial Award, would stop them.
“Connor Flanegan stood on his head again, every bit of the player he is shined today and my hat’s off to him and he’s the player of the game in my opinion,” Princehorn said. “We made too many mistakes to beat a very good team.”
LC will be back on the field Monday to play for the District 12 title in Class 2A, then prepare for the state tournament. While the loss on Wednesday was disappointing, Princehorn said he’s seen growth in his team after each loss this season although the Crusaders won’t have that luxury after their next game.
“For us to get where we want to get and accomplish what we’ve set out for ourselves, we have to correct these things,” Princehorn said. “It has all gotten better, we have extracted a lot from those losses and cleaned it up. We are far from our best product, but it’s now or never.”
The Prep will get a second crack at archrival La Salle in Friday’s title game, which is set for 3 p.m. Friday at Bonner-Prendie.
“It’s extremely important to us to have this opportunity,” Lloyd said. “We’ve been working toward this all season and we’ve shown we deserve to be there, so it’s really exciting.”
ST. JOSEPH’S PREP 6, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 2
ST JOSEPH’S PREP 2 2 2 0 – 6
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 0 0 1 1 – 2
