By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
WESSTOWN >> Haverford’s early regular season tour through the Ches-Mont American Division hit its first snag of the season on Thursday at West Chester Rustin.
Following earlier wins against Unionville and Great Valley, the Fords suffered a lopsided 13-3 setback to the Golden Knights in Rustin’s season and home opener. It took the defending District 1 2A Champions about a half to break things open with a dominating third period that turned a two-goal lead into a blowout.
“Being (Rustin’s) first game of the season we tried to steal one from them because we already had two under our belt,” explained Haverford head coach Bryan Arra. “But they are a very good team.”
Clinging to a 4-2 edge at the half, the Knights went on to score the first nine goals in the second half, including a 7-0 surge in the third period. Seven different Rustin players scored in that stretch, and some of the credit goes to junior Drew Gaffney, who won all six face offs in the third, and was 12-5 overall.
“Drew had a phenomenal day on face offs,” said Knights’ head coach Kevin Philibin.
“We moved the ball well, ran our offense and unlike the first half we weren’t forcing things,” added senior attacker Jack O’Hora.
Junior L.J. Beswick notched two of the first three tallies of the second half, and Gaffney won a faceoff and found O’Hora for the other. Sophomore Jackson Lamb, senior Nate Pechin and junior Aaron Cotter also scored during the run, and O’Hora added another goal and an assist to make it 11-2 heading into the fourth.
“(Haverford) was able to previously work through some of their growing pains and we kind of saw ours for the first time,” Philibin said. “We made some halftime adjustments and the guys responded.
“Our defense and our goalie played well the whole way. On offense we were shaky at times, but they got it sorted out in the second half.”
Senior Jeffrey Scali and sophomore Nick Santangelo rounded out the scoring for Rustin, who finished with an 18-6 edge in shots on goal.
“(Rustin) made adjustments at halftime,” Arra said. “We certainly didn’t come out ready to play and that was the result.”
The Knights open the 2024 the season trying to fill some massive holes filled by the graduation of stars like Billy Carney, Marek Seaman, Antonio Santangelo and Jake Jackson.
“We might have graduated a few really good guys but we are reloading,” O’Hora said.
“We were very top-heavy last season,” Philibin acknowledged. “But I think we have more depth. We have a lot of young guys – a lot of sophomores who are starting to step into roles. Nicky (Santangelo) is one and Jackson Lamb is another one.
“It’s a little bit of trial by fire for those guys, but having them with a couple of our older guys will help bring them along. We are very hopeful for what we can do as the season goes along.”
The Fords (2-1 overall) took an early 1-0 lead on the first of two goals by Nils McCallion. Kristos McKendy registered the other goal for Haverford.
“We have to put together a complete game,” Arra complained. “Unfortunately that’s been our (modus operandi) for the last couple years. We can hang with anyone, which is great for two or three quarters. But we have to finish the game.”
Lamb led the balanced Rustin attack with three goals, while Pechin, Beswick and O’Hora each added two.
“We had some first game jitters and came out a little slow,” O’Hora said. “(Haverford) already got to get their jitters out of the way.”
Another good sign for the Knights was a solid defense, led by junior goaltender Will Brockett, who takes over for Carney.
“We have a pretty young team,” Philibin said. “We have guys that can play, but not a lot of guys with a lot of varsity experience yet.”
West Chester Rustin 13, Haverford 3
Haverford 1 1 0 1 — 3
W.C. Rustin 2 2 7 2 – 13
Haverford goals: McCallion 2, McKendry.
W.C. Rustin goals: Lamb 3, Pechin 2, O’Hara 2, Beswick 2, Santangelo, Cotter, Scali, Clute.
Goalie saves: Devitis (H) 5; Brockett (R) 6.
