Shorthanded Downingtown West blanks Coatesville
DOWNINGTOWN >> Shorthanded, not only in the player ranks but also among its coaching staff, the Downingtown West boy’s lacrosse squad leaned in to its strength on defense during Thursday’s Ches-Mont opener.
With a lot of help from senior goaltender Zach Rossman, and junior defender Thomas Venzie in front of him, the Whippets completely shut down visiting Coatesville’s attack, blanking the Red Raiders 5-0 in action at windy DiSerafino Stadium.
“Our defense is stout,” acknowledged West assistant coach Ray Beneke, who was filling in for head coach Billy Davis. “That’s our strong point, and we also have two very good short stick middies in Carter Grear and Dean Hangey.
“One good thing is that we can always rely on our defense.”
It was not, however, a banner day for the Whippets’ attack, and a lot of the credit goes to a Coatesville program that had its inaugural season in 2021. Very early in season number two, the Raiders are playing hard under head coach Dan Ellis.
“I’m proud of the way we hung in there defensively the whole game,” he said. “(Downingtown) West is a great team, but one thing about our guys is that they aren’t afraid of anybody.”
Even without Davis, who had to leave when his daughter became ill — and a few players like standout junior Bret Bergey (sprained knee) and injured seniors Kevin Conway and Adam Rowland – the Whippets improve to 3-0 overall. Coatesville falls to 1-1.
“Our energy may have been down a little bit without (Davis),” said senior standout Kevin Lundmark. “Maybe that’s why we didn’t score much on offense, but we played hard.”
Lundmark dominated the early going with an assist to teammate Michael Straub, followed by two goals, including an over-the-shoulder gem to make it 3-0 in the second period. And then it took just seven seconds for a Straub faceoff win and a pass to Lundmark’s younger brother, Owen, to make it 4-0 at the intermission.
“It’s great to win and also learn from it,” Beneke said. “There was too much ball-watching as we were on offense. Kevin (Lundmark) had a great game, but the other guys have to step up.
“We were way too willing to shoot right away. When we move the ball and everybody gets a touch it makes it that much easier.”
Junior, Eddie Moore notched the only goal of the second half. The star was a Whippets’ defense that surrendered just one shot in the third quarter, and just five shots on goal for the afternoon.
“This is going to be a big confidence booster for our defense,” Kevin Lundmark said.
“We have guys that can score, but I think we were rushed,” Ellis added. “When you are playing defense the whole time, the tendency is to (rush) your opportunities. We also have to be a little smarter on the offensive end.”
West did a nice job on ground balls and possessing the ball, and also got a lift from Straub, who won eight of nine face offs in the contest. The senior added a goal and an assist and is signed to collegiately at Division I Delaware.
“We played a lot of defense today, and it doesn’t help when Michael (Straub) is taking the faceoff every time,” Ellis pointed out. “We knew heading in that they were going to own the lion share of the possession, but our guys battled.”
The Raiders also showed some defensive prowess, limiting the Whippets to 15 shots on goal. Goalie Dax Shallis finished with 10 saves.
“Coatesville has a great defense. I am very impressed,” Beneke said.
“But to be quite honest, our offense was stagnant a bit. We had two very good games of moving the ball and scoring (23 goals) against good opponents. But then we come in here and think (Coatesville) isn’t going to be a problem – we put 12 up against them last season.”
With an earlier non-league victory over Twin Valley on its resume, the Raiders are now 8-11 overall since starting the lacrosse program a year ago. Coatesville is already making a positive impression across the Ches-Mont.
“I’m not surprised,” Ellis said. “Myself and (assistant coach) Bruce Shallis have watched a lot of these kids grow up, so we know what we are capable of. Now we have to build the depth of teams like Downingtown West.”
Downingtown West 5, Coatesville 0
Coatesville 0 0 0 0 — 0
Downingtown West 1 3 1 0 — 5
Downingtown West goals: K. Lundmark 2, Straub, O. Lundmark, Moore.
Goalie saves: Shallis (C); Rossman (DW) 5.
