By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
DOWNINGTOWN >> In the battle to keep pace with unbeaten Downingtown East at the top of the Ches-Mont boys’ lacrosse standings, a host of one-loss teams simply can’t afford to take a second at this stage.
On Thursday, two such teams collided: West Chester Rustin and Downingtown East. And in one of the more evenly-matched battles so far in 2024, it was the Golden Knights who managed to eke out a critical 11-8 road win over the Whippets.
“There were five teams in the Ches-Mont with zero or one loss (heading in),” said Rustin head coach Kevin Philibin. “Those are the teams that have a chance, and this was a big one for both of us to stay in the mix.
“We knew Downingtown West kind of matches us, and that we are similar to them. They are very solid across the board, it’s tough to find a place to attack because they don’t have a lot of weak spots. We knew it was going to be a full four quarter battle.”
Just about all of the stats were even, and the Whippets had a slight edge in face off wins, 12-10. But little by little the Knights (5-1, 8-1 overall) built up a 20-12 advantage in shots on goals, and it helped them to score six of the final nine goals of the contest.
“We played as a team for 48 minutes, we made the right plays and were unselfish. That’s what won us this game,” said Rustin’s junior midfielder Nate Pechin.
“We’ve been talking about getting better every day, winning the next game, the next ground ball, and continuing to build,” Philibin added. “I feel this was our best games against, maybe, our best competition so far this season.”
West falls to 5-2 in the league (7-4 overall) and stayed with the Knights goal-for-goal until the final period, when Rustin reeled off three consecutive goals to provide enough of a cushion.
“(Rustin) outworked us and out-hustled us,” Whippets’ head coach Billy Davis said.
Clinging to an 8-7 lead, Pechin scored what wound up being the game-winner in the opening minutes of the fourth. He was knocked to the ground by a defender but managed to maintain possession of the ball. He proceeded to get up and bury a laser into the top-right corner of the cage.
“I remember hearing some (Downingtown) kid say, ‘hey, check that guy’s stick – it must be illegal,’” Pechin recalled. “But I kept control, got up and realized I was open so I just let it rip.”
Down the stretch, West had to kill a penalty and then had two possessions without getting off a shot. And finally the Knights’ Danny Batchelor took a pass from teammate Nick Santangelo and scored with 2:42 to play to make it 10-7.
“This was a big Ches-Mont win for us,” said Pechin, who led the way with four goals and an assist.
“We are kind of figuring out who we are as a team. We had a lot of new faces on the field to start this year, but we’ve figured out how to play with each other the last few games.”
Another key stretch came in the third, where Rustin spent most of the quarter trying to kill penalties, but the Whippets were unable to fully capitalize. Pechin scored twice to help the Knights’ escape the period still in front by a single goal.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize there. We didn’t catch or pass,” Davis said.
“We don’t want to be a man down, but we are not too worried to face that,” Philibin added.
“Our senior leadership, for the most part, is on the defensive side. Those guys have been doing a great job of communicating and working through everything. And (goaltender) Will Brockett has stepped up in cage and made some big saves for us.”
Senior attacker Jack O’Hora had three goals for Rustin, sophomore Jackson Lamb added two goals and three assists, and Batchelor chipped in two goals. But Pechin — who is one of the area’s top snipers — was the standout.
“For Nate to have a game like this – it was kind of his coming out game this season,” Philibin pointed out. “He’s been good all season, but he really put his mark on things today.
“That’s something we’ve been expecting of him to go out there and put the team on his back a little bit right now a certain play. He was able to do that.”
Midfielder Owen Lundmark led West with three goals, attacker Cole Epps contributed two goals and an assist, and attacker Ty Raines added two goals for the Whippets.
“Our defense came up huge in this game,” Pechin said. “They hung in there and bailed us out a couple times. It was impressive.”
West Chester Rustin 11, Downingtown West 8
W.C. Rustin 3 2 3 3 — 11
Downingtown West 3 1 3 1 — 8
W.C. Rustin goals: Pechin 4, Lamb 2, O’Hora 3, Batchelor 2.
Downingtown West goals: Lundmark 3, Epps 2, Raines 2, Kell.
Goalie saves: Brockett (R) 9; Guarneri (DW) 4.
