Rustin stages epic comeback to stun Shanahan in overtime
WEST GOSHEN >> Two boys’ lacrosse teams that are expected to be among the district’s best in Class 2A met on Wednesday afternoon, and the clash more than lived up to the billing.
With senior attacker Antonio Santangelo playing a starring role, West Chester Rustin overcame a dreadful start and a dominant faceoff performance by Bishop Shanahan’s Ronan Miller with an unlikely comeback, stunning the Eagles 8-7 in overtime at Jack Kelly Field.
“That finish was a little crazy,” Santangelo said.
“I don’t think I’ve seen one like that, at least not in my recent memory,” added Rustin head coach Kevin Philibin. “That was something. I am kind of at a loss for words.”
This Ches-Mont showdown had a bit of everything, including a goal with less than a second on the clock in regulation that sent the contest into overtime. It came off the stick of Santangelo with just six-tenths of a second remaining.
“I’ve never seen it before and I hope I never do again,” said Shanahan head coach Jon Heisman. “It was ridiculous.”
Buoyed by scoring six of the final eight goals in regulation, the Golden Knights (3-0, 5-2 overall) then won it in the OT on another goal by Santangelo – his fifth on the day. The Eagles – who trailed for a mere six seconds over the course of a 52-minute outing – fall to 2-1 (7-1 overall), and have powerhouses Downingtown West and Downingtown East next week.
“We have to make better decisions toward the end of the game, we have to grow and learn to finish,” Heisman said. “We were winning the entire game. Rustin played OK, but we should have won that game.”
Shanahan led 5-1 at one point, and prevailed on 17 of 18 from the faceoff circle, thanks to senior Ronan Miller. But Rustin somehow carved its way back, using every second available, to eventually get it to overtime.
“We had a similar game to Manheim last weekend,” Philibin said. “They won a lot of faceoffs, we climbed back to get it to overtime, but it went the other way (7-6). So we’ve had some experience with it already. These guys know we have to stay composed, move the ball, play for each other, and eventually things will turn out our way.”
The comeback began with a man-up goal by Santangelo early in the second half. Teammate Jake Jackson then scored on a play from behind the cage, and sophomore Nate Pechin added a final minute tally to slice the margin to 6-5 heading into the fourth period.
Shanahan freshman Nick Snyder made it a two-goal deficit with 8:30 to go, but it was to be the Eagles’ final score. Knights’ midfielder Marek Seaman promptly made it 7-6 on an end-to-end rush with 7:43 on the clock. And even though Rustin had four empty possessions in the rest of regulation – including a pair of penalties – Santangelo registered a leaping, wheeling shot from a very tough angle that just beat the buzzer.
“Antonio is one of the best shooters I’ve ever coached. He can put the ball on a spot wherever he wants,” Philibin said.
“The midfielder, who was in the middle of the crease, had his back turned to me, so it was a perfect opportunity,” Santangelo explained.
“The coaches are always saying that my stick has eyes. So I just propped my stick up, had about a yard in front of me, and I let it go.”
The ensuing game-winner wasn’t quite as dramatic, but it came with just 7.2 seconds remaining in the first OT. Santangelo picked up a loose ball behind the Shanahan cage, took it aggressively past several defenders and into the slot, where he got the advantage with a fake shot before delivering the game winner.
“We had all of the momentum that we needed in the OT,” Santangelo said. “I stayed real low, I saw one (defender) coming, I stuck my arm up in the air, and somehow squeezed past him.”
Philibin added: “(Santangelo) has battled some injuries and had a slow start to the season. But he is getting back up to speed. Now he looks like his old self, which really opens another dynamic for us offensively.
“We don’t want to play hero ball, but we have a couple guys who are good enough to put their head down and make a play. Antonio was the one today.”
The start, however, was the polar opposite and the Eagles scored five goals in a row and looked to be in command. Perceived as a weakness a couple years ago as freshmen, attackers like Joe Devine, Devin Mullen and Ryan Weber are now juniors, and are a strength. Just six seconds after the Knights took a 1-0 lead, Mullen got the equalizer.
And then in a three-minute-plus stretch late in the opening quarter, Mullen, Weber and Devine each scored, and freshman Nate Bracken made it 5-1 early in the second.
“At the beginning, (Shanahan) flat-out wanted it more than us,” Santangelo said.
“We started well but we didn’t finish. That’s the key,” Heisman added.
“We won just about every faceoff, but we made too many mistakes down the stretch. This is a tough one to swallow.”
Clearly out of sorts early, Rustin finally settled down, and got a critical man-up goal from Santangelo with 68 seconds on the clock, and trailed 5-2 at the break.
“It kind of looked like we started Spring Break early,” Philibin quipped. “The energy just wasn’t there at the start. But they were able to make the corrections. We just kept preaching patience and doing the right thing, and chip away one goal at a time.”
The Eagles had a 13-4 edge in first half shots on goal, but the final tally was 20-19 in favor of the Knights. Mullen paced Shanahan with three goals, and in addition to his faceoff domination, Miller had two assists directly off a faceoff win.
“Ronan is a great faceoff guy, but we still lost the game,” Heisman said. “That goes to show you how good (Rustin) was. We had the ball the whole game and they still beat us.
“We don’t have a lot of depth and we got tired. But we made too many mental mistakes at the end. We had an offside, a dumb delay of game penalty, not picking up a guy with less than a second to go. Little things like that cost us.”
West Chester Rustin 8, Shanahan 7 (OT)
Bishop Shanahan 4 1 1 1 0 — 7
W.C. Rustin 1 1 3 2 1 — 8
Bishop Shanahan goals: Mullen 3, Devine, Weber, Bracken, Snyder.
W.C. Rustin goals: Santangelo 5, Seaman, Pechin, Jackson.
Goalie saves: Gallahan (BS) 12; Carney (R) 12.
