Battle hardened Avon Grove knocks off Unionville; Lucovich sets record
LONDON GROVE >> The start of the 2023 lacrosse campaign was undoubtedly painful for the Avon Grove boys. Saddled with, perhaps, the most difficult early season schedule in the state, the Red Devils went six matches in before tasting victory. Along the way, Avon Grove lost a premier talent, Preston Boyd, to a season-ending injury.
But as of Tuesday, head coach Brian Wallace doesn’t look back on those struggles in quite the same way. That’s because the Devils have learned from the adversity, are battle hardened, and have reeled off two solid Ches-Mont wins in a row. The winning streak started last week against Kennett and continued with a dominating 15-6 triumph against visiting Unionville.
“No team wants to start a season 0-5,” Wallace said. “But from where we’ve come, and what we’ve learned, we are ready to take on anybody that we face.
“I think the boys recognize that when you play some of the top teams in the state, you learn a lot from it. So you come into a game like this understanding that we’ve seen some of the best offenses, defenses and faceoff guys, and now we know what we can do against everybody else.”
Avon Grove improves to 2-2 in the league (2-5 overall), and has already played Downingtown East and Downingtown West, the two unbeaten Ches-Mont teams to beat.
“We’ve been doubted and we’ve shown the last two games that we are much better than our record,” said senior attacker Trent Lucovich, who had a record-breaking outing.
“After losing our first five we were super hungry to get some wins. I think right now we want it more than our opponents. People haven’t played the competition we’ve played.”
According to head coach Steve Holmes, the Longhorns (2-3, 4-5) were missing two key non-injured players, but declined to say who or why. Junior faceoff specialist Connor Bellafiore did not play, but it is unclear if he is one of the two.
“We are down a couple guys tonight, and we struggled on the faceoff, and on ground balls,” Holmes said. “We depend on possessions to play our style.”
Riding a two-game Ches-Mont winning streak heading in, Unionville actually scored first. But the lead lasted six seconds as the Devils staged a critical 6-0 surge in a seven-minute stretch in the latter half of the first period.
It all started with a three-goal barrage in the span of just 89 seconds midway through the opening quarter. It put a spring in the Devils’ step and ’Horns on their heels.
“When we are hot, I don’t think anyone can beat us,” Lucovich said.
“In this game, momentum is everything,” Wallace added. “And if you can focus in on why you have the momentum and keep building off of it, great things are going to happen.”
Lucovich already had four goals by halftime, and Avon Grove was in command 9-2. And then in the third, Lucovich scored all three of the Devils’ goals to make it 12-4. He added another early in the final period to set the program record for goals in a single game with eight.
“Trent didn’t score eight goals to score eight goals – he did it for his team,” Wallace said.
“When Preston (Boyd) went down, he had to step up and he has. He surpassed 100 career points last game.”
With a few different guys in the circle – including senior Drew Spancake and junior Braydon Goldstein – Avon Grove went on to win 18 of 23 faceoffs. And the Devils had a pronounced 27-14 edge in shots on goal.
“We thought we were well prepared, but (Avon Grove) came out clicking,” Holmes said. “They are a good team that is only getting better.
“This was a big game for both teams. (Avon Grove) has our respect, and they are a little ahead of where we are right now. We have some work to do.”
Junior Josh Cox registered three goals and two assists for the Devils, Spancake added two goals, and Kyle Anthony dished out four assists, with three going to Lucovich.
“Preston (Boyd) was a huge part of our offense,” Lucovich explained. “We are starting to adjust to it because so many things used to run through him.”
Senior Kevin Carson paced the Longhorns with three goals.
“We pride ourselves on being a resilient team,” Holmes said. “We’ve had adversity and we’ve always figured out a way. This game was a lot of little things – it’s no major thing that we are missing. It’s all correctable, so we will get back to work.”
Avon Grove 15, Unionville 6
Unionville 1 1 2 2 — 6
Avon Grove 6 3 3 3 — 15
Unionville goals: Carson 3, Quinlan, Kupsey, Hoopman.
Avon Grove goals: Lucovich 8, Cox 3, Edwards, Parente, Spancake 2.
Goalie saves: Mousaw (U) 12; Fennessy (AG) 8.
