Wissahickon’s Kyle Lehman is The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2023 Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year
Senior Kyle Lehman always knew the boys lacrosse team at Wissahickon would be good during his high school career. Since first grade he’s played alongside his classmates and players from the 2021 and 2022 graduating classes.
The group from 11 years ago had been trimmed a bit, with some opting to take their talents to private schools in the area, but that didn’t stop the success.
After losing his freshman season to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lehman helped the Trojans win three Suburban One League American Conference championships and qualify for the state playoffs twice.
In his final season, Lehman totaled 65 goals, 40 assists and 91 groundballs this spring. He is The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2023 Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year.
Lehman’s 40 assists were in line with his junior season, when he dished out 42 helpers. His goals, however, jumped from 36 to 65. Part of that boost was due to less depth than the 2022 team, but it also had to do with added motivation.
“I didn’t want the season to end,” Lehman said. “This is the last season of me playing with the guys I’ve been playing with ever since I was 8-years-old. I just had a different type of spark this year that pushed me to have more goals and want to go to the net to score.”
The Penn State commit elevated his game when it mattered most.
He scored four goals in what proved to be the SOL American championship game – a 7-3 Wissahickon win at Upper Dublin. The Trojans won the league with a 9-0 record while the Cardinals finished 8-1. Lehman also had an assist in the game and caused a crucial turnover in the fourth quarter.
The three-time first team All-League selection pointed to a District 1-3A second-round win over Souderton as his favorite moment of the season. He scored six goals, including the first three of the game, in the 9-5 win that served as revenge for an 8-6 regular-season loss a month earlier.
“The first Souderton game we lost by a few,” Lehman said. “It was a Saturday morning game and we just weren’t ready to play. They came out very physical and we weren’t ready and we weren’t physical enough. They gave it to us, they beat us by a few goals. We were pretty upset.
“The second game against Souderton we knew that the physicality was coming and we knew that we had to come out really hot and actually be ready to play… We definitely came in ready to go. We were thinking about it all week and we put them away right away. We were up five or six goals and it was a good feeling to get our payback.”
He followed up that performance with four goals and an assist in the district quarterfinals against Pennridge. The Trojans picked up a 10-9 win on the road to secure a state playoff berth and head to the district final four.
In the PIAA-3A state playoffs, he had a goal and six assists in a 10-9 win over Freedom to send his side to the quarterfinals.
“These seniors that are graduating,” Lehman said, “I’ve been playing with these kids since I was in first grade. We’ve been playing together for 12 years almost, so the chemistry is obviously there. We’ve been through a lot. We definitely had some motivation to not let the season end since we’ve been playing together for so long. That was some motivation.”
Lehman and his classmates – including first team All-SOL American selections Andrew Slackman and William Hussa, second team selections Nick Donofrio and Dominic Kemper and honorable mentions Gavin Myers, Matt Bauer and Matt Slovin – kept the season going as long as they could. The district playoff run ended against Springfield Delco, the eventual state champion, and the state playoff run ended against Radnor, the eventual state runner-up.
