By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
EAST WHITELAND >> The Great Valley boys’ lacrosse squad still has postseason aspirations heading into the final eight days of the regular season. And that, in itself, is a triumph for a program that is on its third head coach in as many years, and didn’t officially hire current head man, Alex Greco, until nine days before the start of the 2024 season.
With a frontloaded schedule, the Patriots have a chance to make it interesting with some winnable games remaining, and it all started with a hard-fought 6-4 victory over visiting Coatesville Tuesday.
“I told our guys we have to fight for every day together,” Greco said. “After today, we have eight days left (of the regular season). We want to drive home that if we want to play more, we will have to earn it.”
Now 3-6 in the Ches-Mont and 5-9 overall, Great Valley entered the day No. 32 in the District 1 3A Power Rankings. They will have to jump into the top-24 to get into the playoffs, and Tuesday’s win will help. The Pats play at Avon Grove Thursday, and then have West Chester Henderson and West Chester East after that.
“When you write the name on somebody’s bullet, you have to fire it,” said Grexo, 26, who graduated from Great Valley in 2016. “We have three bullets left, and all of those teams matchup well for us. We’ve already played (West Chester) Rustin, (Bishop) Shanahan and Downingtown East, and we played them hard and just ran out of juice after the first half.
“So to be able to match up against opponents similar in skill gives us a chance.”
The Red Raiders (1-8, 5-10) have dropped four straight and are out of the postseason picture. A year ago, in just its third season in existence, Coatesville earned an 18th seed at districts. But a strong senior class has since graduated.
“We have some senior leadership, but we are also starting too many young guys who should be playing junior varsity,” said first-year head coach Bruce Shallis. “We are asking a lot from them, and they are doing the best they can.”
Senior attacker Derek Cooper helped keep the Raiders within range by notching two goals in the third quarter. But senior Gavin Rhodes took a pass from teammate Tommy Lavin for a man-up goal on the Patriots’ lone shot on goal in the period, and it was 5-4 heading into the final 12 minutes.
It wound up being the game-winner, but Rhodes added an insurance goal with 4:41 on the clock.
“Ben Walker was taking a big hit on a screen. I came off it, saw daylight and shot it low to high,” he explained.
“It’s a cliché, but putting the nail in the coffin is always good,” Greco added. “Gavin is having an incredible season. Coming off seven goals last game (versus Oxford), he is one of our star offensive guys.”
In the final two minutes, the Raiders took a pair of ill-advised penalties, and Great Valley cruised.
“We were able to throw different guys at attacking midfield and change up looks,” Greco explained. “On a hot day like this, it was just a matter of who was going to empty the tank for the full 48 minutes. Things turned physical real quick at the end, and it was a matter of who wanted it more.”
Lavin took on three different Coatesville players on the faceoff, and won 11 of 15. And freshman goaltender Jesse Holt turned aside 11 shots.
“Today was Tommy (Lavin’s) flu game,” Greco said. “He was a little under the weather and he still came out and played well.
“Plus we have a stud in freshman Jesse Holt. He can make all of the saves, thank God.”
The Raiders wound up with a 15-10 edge in shots on goal, but afterwards Shallis was not happy with the late penalties.
“We were undisciplined, took too many penalties, and (Great Valley) capitalized on it,” he said.
“We don’t want to end the game with physicality. We want to end the game with effort and grit, not stupid penalties.”
The Pats started strong with two goals in the opening four minutes – one by Brodie Camp and another by Davis Reilly. The Raiders, however, fought back to tie it midway through the second on unassisted goals from Cooper and freshman Javion Moreno.
Great Valley then took the lead for good with goals from Jack Deegan and Camp to make it 4-2 at the half.
“Last season (Coatesville) smoked us,” Rhodes said. “There is a different vibe this year. We are doing much better this season, thanks to coach Greco.
“To finish strong would mean a lot to our seniors. Last season was horrible. If we can do that and slip into districts, that would be awesome.”
Camp and Rhodes each scored two goals for the Pats. Cooper paced the Raiders with three goals, but Coatesville was without three injured starters, including two on offense.
“On offense right now we are injury ridden. And because of that we are starting guys that probably wouldn’t normally start at a varsity level,” Shallis said.
Great Valley 6, Coatesville 4
Coatesville 1 1 2 0 — 4
Great Valley 2 2 1 1 — 6
Coatesville goals: Cooper 3, Moreno.
Great Valley goals: Camp 2, Rhodes 2, Deegan, Reilly.
Goalie saves: Fuentes (C) 4; Holt (GV) 11.
