Rustin boys lacrosse team advances to district final, state playoff berth for first time in program history

May 24, 2023

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West Chester Rustin (17) Marek Seaman reacts after scoring in the third quarter against Bishop Shanahan in the first period as the Golden Knights advanced in District playoffs Wednesday night. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY LOCAL NEWS)

Westtown >> For the first time in program history, the West Chester Rustin boys’ lacrosse team is headed to the PIAA District 1 2A championship finals – and has clinched a berth in the upcoming PIAA 2A state tournament – thanks to its 11-3 victory against visiting Bishop Shanahan Wednesday evening in the District 1 2A semifinals.

What made this win particularly sweet was that the Golden Knights lost in the District 1 2A semifinals each of the last two years, ending their season both times. Second seed Rustin will face top seed Marple in the district final next Wednesday, and ironically it was the Tigers that defeated the Golden Knights in the district semifinals last year.

Rustin’s defense particularly stood tall Wednesday night. With the score tied at 2-2 and 1:32 left in the first quarter, the Golden Knights held Shanahan scoreless from that point until 8:43 was left in the contest, meanwhile building a 10-2 lead.

West Chester Rustin (17) Marek Seaman grabs a ball in the second quarter against Bishop Shanahan in the first period as the Golden Knights advanced in District playoffs Wednesday night. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY LOCAL NEWS)

Golden Knight head coach Kevin Philibin said, “It starts in the back with our goalie, Bill Carney, who has been phenomenal for us all year, and it gives us a ton of confidence in front of him to (use) different defenses and different looks. We have a lot of athletic defensemen, both our poles and our short stick d-mids, where we’re able to go through and kind of put guys in position for success and really allow them to be athletes.

“Jake Law has been phenomenal for us all year. (Junior defender) Gavin Seaman’s shoulder dislocated two weeks ago against Avon Grove, and today was his first day back. And playing the way he did tonight, that just speaks volumes about the type of player he is and the kind of team we have, guys building him up and getting him ready to go. I think our d-mids, Ryan Loper, Danny Batchelor, Jake Purcell all did a phenomenal job – I think it was a great job across the board defensively.”

West Chester Rustin (9) Nate Pechin avoids Bishop Shanahan’s (25) Landon Wright in the second quarter as the Golden Knights advanced in District playoffs Wednesday night. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY LOCAL NEWS)

Rustin senior attack Antonio Santangelo scored three of the Golden Knights’ first five goals as the hosts built a 5-2 lead by halftime. Against Shanahan earlier this season, Santangelo scored five goals in an 8-7 overtime victory, scoring both the game-tying and game-winning goals, helping the Golden Knights come back from a big deficit.

“Early in the first quarter, I decided that, instead of us sleeping like we did in our earlier game against Shanahan, we had to punch them in the mouth first before they could do it to us,” said a smiling Santangelo, who will be playing lacrosse for Cabrini University next spring.

Philibin said, “Offensively, Antonio had another great game against these guys. We have a deep offense, we have multiple guys that we can attack with, it’s a little bit about playing the hot hand and putting guys into position where they’re going to have success.”

The Golden Knights continued to build their lead in the third quarter. Senior attack Jake Jackson scored his second goal of the night to make it 6-2 just 29 seconds into the second half, then three minutes later Law scored after a long run. Senior midfielder Marek Seaman (the program’s all-time leading scorer) tallied his lone goal of the night to make it 8-2 with 4:46 left in the third quarter.

Marek Seaman said, “My job tonight was different – it wasn’t about trying to score a bunch of goals, it was about getting my teammates the ball and have them make plays, clear the ball and play good defense. It’s a team game, it’s not all about one player.

“Our defense was phenomenal tonight. Jake Law is always outstanding, Mike Biront played a great game, and both our LSMs, Pat Maychak and Brady Founds, played amazing. It was great having my brother (Gavin) back from injury. Our d-mids played great, overall it was a great defensive game. We won the ground balls, we won the war.”

Santangelo, who finished the night with four goals, said, said, “Our defense were shutting down people – it definitely helped having Gavin back this week, and Jake Law was playing amazing.”

With 2:45 left in the third period, Jackson (who is one of the four team captains, along with Law, Marek Seaman and Santangelo) scored his third goal of the night to give the hosts a 10-2 lead.

West Chester Rustin defender (16) Jake Law slips a shot past Bishop Shanahan’s goalie after going coast to coast in the third period as the Golden Knights advanced in District playoffs Wednesday night. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY LOCAL NEWS)

In the fourth period, senior midfielder Ronan Miller (who won 17 of 19 faceoffs Wednesday) tallied with 8:43 left to complete the Eagles’ scoring. Joe Devine and Ryan Weber each scored first-quarter goals for the Eagles, then, in the final 37 ½ minutes of play, the Golden Knights held Shanahan to one goal. The loss ended the Eagles’ season.

Bishop Shanahan head coach Jon Heisman said, “This is a tough loss, but we went to overtime with them earlier this season when everything went right for us. Today, we were right in there (during the first quarter) then they scored a couple of goals, went on a run, and we couldn’t recover. I told our seven seniors that they’re going to be missed. We love them and they’ve been a big part of our group for four years. Ronan (who will play for the University of Scranton) had an outstanding year, playing with a broken wrist for much of this season. We have a lot of young guys, we’re hoping to make some noise next year.”