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LANSDALE >> Lansdale Catholic stayed hot Wednesday afternoon with its fourth straight win, an 11-4 victory over Archbishop Ryan, at Lansdale Catholic High School.
The Crusaders improved to 6-3 in Philadelphia Catholic League play. With two games remaining – May 3 against Archbishop Carroll and May 8 against St. Joseph’s Prep – LC looks poised to enter the league playoffs as the fourth or fifth seed. They’re three games behind first-place La Salle, two games behind second-place St. Joseph’s Prep and one game behind third-place Devon Prep.
“(This win) puts us a little bit higher,” LC attackman Evan Milligan said. “We have a lot better chance of making it further in playoffs now. It speaks to our momentum a lot.”
The Lansdale Catholic offense is a big reason for the team’s turnaround after starting the season 2-3. They totaled 11 combined goals in their three PCL losses. In the four straight wins, which is the second longest active winning streak in the league behind La Salle’s 10-game stretch, they’ve scored 47 combined goals.
“We weren’t that good in the beginning of the year,” Milligan said, “but it’s gotten a lot better now.”
Milligan’s offensive talents were on full display against Archbishop Ryan (3-6) Wednesday. He scored six goals, including a hat trick in the second quarter. His three quick goals helped the Crusaders erase an early 3-1 deficit and build a 5-3 halftime lead.
“I wasn’t really having it in the first quarter,” he said. “I was just shooting a lot of overhand, but then second quarter I came out and just started playing my game and it started working.”
The Crusaders scored 10 straight goals to turn the 3-1 deficit into an 11-3 advantage. Judah Wood scored two goals during the run while Carson Bethea and Sean Wadsworth each had one to go along with Milligan’s six.
“The beauty of this is that there is more than one guy adding to this,” LC coach Paul McGovern said. “You have guys like Gavin (Selchert), who’s really, really good. (Nick Auriemma), a two-way middie is phenomenal. All those guys really add a lot. Dan Curran on the faceoff has been actually facing off at like 80-some percent. It’s insane. He’s scoring and getting assists off it, too. He’s been lights out coming off being pretty banged up.”
LC goalkeeper Jack Kennedy stopped 10 of the 14 shots he faced.
Ryan’s Chris Dalton got the scoring started in the first quarter and Pat Foy followed with a goal of his own to make it 2-0. Curran scored LC’s only goal in the first quarter to cut the deficit in half and make it a 2-1 game through 12 minutes.
Dalton tallied his second goal early in the second quarter to make it 3-1, but the Raiders lead wouldn’t last long. After 10 straight LC goals, Ryan’s Craig Webster scored the final goal of the game to make it 11-4.
Ryan goalkeeper Tom Donahue stopped nine shots.
Lansdale Catholic 11, Archbishop Ryan 4
Archbishop Ryan 2 1 0 4 – 4
Lansdale Catholic 1 4 3 3 – 11
Goals: AR: Chris Dalton 2, Pat Foy, Craig Webster. LC: Dan Curran, Evan Milligan 6, Judah Wood 2, Carson Bethea, Sean Wadsworth.
Saves: AR: Tom Donahue 9. LC: Jack Kennedy 10.
