PIAA Class 3A Boys Lacrosse: Garnet Valley sticks to plan, holds off La Salle
SPRINGFIELD — Needing one stop in the final moments on a hot Tuesday afternoon, Bear Evans and the Garnet Valley defense were up to the task.
“We weren’t panicking,” Evans said. “We stuck to our game plan and just performed.”
Looking for a tying goal in its PIAA Class 3A boys lacrosse contest, host La Salle pressured during the last few seconds but the Jaguars did not crack and District 1’s fifth-place side held on to edge the Explorers for a 7-6 victory.
“It felt great,” said Evans, a senior defender heading to Cabrini. “We had an up-and-down season so this is heading in the right direction. It felt great.”
Andrew Goldt posted a natural hat trick in the first half and finished with three goals and an assist while four other GV players added a goal as the Jaguars advanced to the state quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive season.
Garnet Valley faces District 3 runner-up Cumberland Valley – who defeated Unionville 12-8 – Saturday at a time and place to be announced.
“I think just the grit of us,” said Goldt of what he felt was the difference Tuesday. “Prepared all week, really got after it in practice and competing all week in practice just made us come out here and just want it more.”
Jack Vandegrift had three goals while Andrew Kelly scored twice for Catholic League and District 12 champion La Salle, which ends its season in the first round of states for the second consecutive year.
“Some of the opportunities we didn’t capitalize on,” La Salle coach Rob Forster said. “Couple dropped passes, it was hot out, our guys were sucking wind – so were they, though. Credit to their defense, they did a good job of mixing up man and zone and they won their one-on-one matchups and we didn’t. And their goalie played well.”
Ryan Nealon’s strike with 12 seconds left in the first half gave Garnet Valley a 6-5 advantage at the break. Both teams scored just once more during the afternoon.
Joey Halloran put the Jaguars up two with his tally at 9:35 in the third quarter with Vandegrift striking off a Franky Fix assist to make it 7-6 with 2:56 left in the period.
“We wanted to lock a few guys but it didn’t work out for us and they started putting goals on us,” Evans said. “But then we stopped doing that and just played like we did the entire season and stuck to what we’ve done all year.”
Still 7-6 late in the fourth, La Salle forced a turnover and called a timeout with 2:03 left. The Explorers sent two shots at the goal but neither were on target. Garnet Valley caused a ground ball but La Salle regained possession and called another timeout with just 26 seconds left.
The Jags’ defense allowed just a low bouncer that went wide, giving the Explorers the ball with seven seconds remaining. La Salle’s late bid for an equalizer went wide high and wide, though, and the celebration was on for the Jaguars.
“We just stuck together,” Evans said. “Made sure we had our slides, make sure we had the twos and then we communicated through the entire thing.”
La Salle grabbed a 1-0 lead 61 seconds into the contest as Jack Pilling found the back of the net off a Charlie Huntley assist. The Explorers extended their lead to 3-0 after Huntley connected with Andrew Kelly for a tally at 4:58 in the first quarter.
But Goldt scored the period’s final two goals – the second with 17 seconds left to make it 3-2 then collected his third straight to tie things at 11:09 in the second quarter. Luke Migioni’s goal at 10:24 gave GV a 4-3 edge.
“We got out of school two hours ago, it’s hot, we had to adapt to that,” Goldt said. “And then it really just came down to what I said before, just the grit. We kind of just wanted it – state playoffs, kind of came to the realization of it’s win or go home and we weren’t going home.”
La Salle pulled even twice before halftime, the last time at 5-5 on a Vandegrift goal at 3:31 but Nealon’s tally with 12 seconds left in the second quarter put Garnet Valley ahead for good.
