‘Stoga bounces back to edge Harriton in first round of districts
TREDYFFRIN >> How much did a humiliating shutout loss to Radnor in the regular season finale late last week affect the mojo of the Conestoga boys’ lacrosse program?
It certainly bled into Tuesday’s District 1 3A opening round clash against another Central League foe in Harriton at Teamer Field. The 10th seeded Pioneers struggled throughout the early going against the No. 23 Rams until co-captain Drew Merschel took command and led ’Stoga to a highly-competitive 7-5 triumph.
“After not scoring a single goal in a game (a 9-0 setback at Radnor), that took a toll on our confidence,” Merschel acknowledged. “And even though we beat (Harriton) during the regular season, we knew that they are a good team.
“We needed to boost our mojo. We had to get gritty.”
With the win, Conestoga improves to 14-5 overall and advances to Thursday’s second round, where they will be on the road against No. 7 Central Buck West (15-3). The Rams season ends with a 10-9 mark.
“It was important that our kids came here and finally believed they can play with a big-name like Conestoga,” said Harriton head coach Dave Sowers.
“These kids just fought, and the one thing we told them is that we can control our energy and our effort.”
Whether it was a hangover from the previous outing or not, it was a truly troubling start for ’Stoga. So much so that the Rams equaled their entire scoring output from the regular season meeting 12 days earlier – 48 minutes of lacrosse and an 8-3 setback – in the opening 13:31.
Harriton scored first, and then added two goals on defensive miscues by the Pioneers – Bradley Fagan grabbed a pass intended for the Conestoga keeper, and then Avi Ragozzino turned another turnover into a goal a little over a minute later.
During a subsequent timeout, Pioneers’ head coach Brady Bush said, quite forcefully: ‘Wake up! This is a playoffs game.’
“We came out slow, but we chipped away,” Bush said. “These are high school kids – there are highs and lows – and sometimes kids think they are better than they are, or worse than they are. The latter happened today.”
It was at this point, down 3-1 in the second quarter, that Merschel took matters into his own hands. The Conestoga senior scored on an inside power move, and then tied it with a move from behind the cage off a rebound. Nine seconds later, junior Clif Hawkins scored off a steal, and the home team was ahead for the first time.
“With his size, (Merschel) is a force,” Sowers said.
“That’s what I expect out of a senior captain, to get the guys going and playing the way they should be playing,” Bush added. “I was proud of Drew. He sort of took over the game for us.”
The Pioneers never trailed again, but it wasn’t smooth sailing the rest of the way. Deadlocked 4-4 at the half, senior Brody Eaton got his own rebound and scored the lone goal of the third quarter. That led to a key stretch early in the final period, when ’Stoga not only killed off a penalty, but managed to score a man-down goal with 8:02 on the clock.
Not surprisingly, it was Merschel again who took it to the cage and finished. It wound up being the game-winner.
“I knew we were man-down and I wanted to get the ball. My mentality was just to go to the goal and make a play,” Merschel said.
“That was the biggest momentum shift in my mind,” Bush added. “(Harriton) had a minute and a half advantage, and not only did they not get a goal, we got a goal out of it.”
A few minutes later, Mason DeMarco notched Harriton’s only second half goal, to make it 6-5. And when the Rams’ Lucas Hagg won the ensuing faceoff, Conestoga’s defense was under the microscope. But junior midfielder Chris Forgie eventually forced a Harriton turnover with 48 seconds left, and the Pioneers’ Wade Beckstrom added an insurance goal in the final seconds.
“You hold an opponent to five goals, you should be able to win that game,” Bush said.
“Holding (Harriton) to one goal for the entire second half, I credit our defense. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half, but then really clamped down. I was really proud of that defensive effort.
“We kept our sticks in lanes and communicated better. We did not do that in the first half. We were flat-footed and did not have the sticks up. I credit my defensive coordinators (Brian) Samson and (Craig) Gratton. They did a tremendous job of adjusting at the half.”
Merschel finished with three goals, and Hawkins added two for ’Stoga. Palmer Zarzycki paced the Rams with two goals.
“I am so proud of this group, who changed the culture in this program and took ’Stoga down to the wire,” Sowers said. “It was 6-5 and we had opportunities to tie it.
“We just have to clean up the dumb lacrosse, and that goes back to the youth program. But our youth program is getting back on the path.”
With Hagg leading the way, Harriton won 10 of 15 faceoffs. But sophomore goalie Mikey Johnson and the Conestoga defense ended up allowing just one goal in the final 34-plus minutes of action. And, of course, Merschel was dominant.
“We started off slow and the coaches did a good job of telling us to wake up and start going to work,” Merschel said. “I felt like, being a captain, I wanted to take control and lead by example. I want to be that kind of player.”
Conestoga 7, Harriton 5
Harriton 1 3 0 1 — 5
Conestoga 1 3 1 2 — 7
Harriton goals: Zarzycki 2, DeMarco, Fagan, Ragozzino.
Conestoga goals: Merschel 3, Hawkins 2, Eaton, Beckstrom.
Goalie saves: Huntington (H) 7; Johnson (C) 6.
