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PHILADELPHIA – Devon Prep had lost to Lansdale Catholic in the last three District 12-2A boys lacrosse finals.
But with a two-goal rally in the final minute and Declan Sullivan’s strike in overtime, the Tide finally found a way to best the Crusaders.
“They’ve always just gotten the edge over us this past three years but this year we were able to beat ‘em twice, finally get it done,” senior Nico D’Alessandro said. “Get over that hump which is nice.”
D’Alessandro pulled Devon Prep to within 5-4 on his strike at 54 seconds left in the fourth quarter while Eamonn Donovan battled through defenders to score the tying goal with 18 seconds remaining in Thursday afternoon’s title contest at Northeast High School.
“All week we work on playing in down, last-minute situations where we needed a lot of goals in a short amount of time,” Donovan said. “And I think it attests to our resilience as a team.”
Driving on the right side, Nick Walton connected with Sullivan in front of the net and the sophomore placed a shot into the goal at 1:16 in the extra session to give the Tide a 6-5 comeback victory over the Crusaders.
“At the end, mistakes lead to possessions by good teams and they got the last possession on it,” LC coach Paul McGovern said.
Both teams were already qualified for the PIAA Tournament, which begins Tuesday. As District 12 champ, Devon Prep faces Twin Valley, the third place team from District 3 while Lansdale Catholic takes on District 11 champ Allentown Central Catholic.
“Just clean up the mistakes, these are things that are easily able to fix,” McGovern said. “And I think with some of these guys who are role players last year are now significant players and these are big learning lessons in here.
“I mean, they don’t want to hear it right now, we’ve already explained it to them but they’ll remember this, right, they’ll remember when there’s less than a minute and they just run it out. We just made some decisions we got to clean up. They fought hard, man, I’m proud of them.”
Devon Prep lost the 2021 district final to the Crusaders 9-4, LC rolled 15-5 in 2022 while last year topping the Tide 8-6 for the 2A crown.
In Philadelphia Catholic League teams’ regular-season matchup April 7, Devon Prep earned a 7-4 victory.
Sullivan scored twice Thursday for the Tide, who had a tough time converting against LC’s defense and goalkeeper Jack Kennedy.
“At first we were just kind of slow on offense, not really moving the ball,” D’Alessandro said. “But then we got it spinning around, the goalie just made a bunch of great saves. We got a bunch of shots off today, the goalie just played well. We were able to bury a few.”
While Devon Prep recorded just one goal in each of the first three quarters, its defense did a solid job disrupting the Crusaders’ attack to keep the Tide close.
“It’s a good defense, right, they had a bunch of all-league players,” McGovern said. “It was two good teams against each other and it didn’t work out for us this time.”
Gavin Selchert had a hat trick for Lansdale Catholic while Cossman added two goals.
The Crusaders built two-goal leads three times Thursday, its last coming when Cossman scored to make it 5-3 with 2:21 remaining in regulation.
D’Alessandro notched Devon Prep’s first goal of the fourth – and its first since Kieran Crossan’s tally at 10:26 in the third – when his shot from the left side went into net with just 54 seconds left.
“I was just looking to draw the defender and then pass it up but then I saw the defender hesitate so I just let it rip down low,” D’Alessandro said.
Three-six seconds later, Donovan came through with the equalizer off a drive, muscling through defenders to get a closer attempt on goal he buried to level things at five apiece.
“I looked up at the clock as soon as I caught the ball around midfield and I saw we only had about 20 seconds left,” Donovan said. “So I knew I needed to take it and make a play.”
Lansdale Catholic could not get a goal in regulation’s final moments then turned the ball over on the first possession of overtime after a pass went out of bounds.
As Walton went down the right side, he fed a pass to Sullivan open in front of the goal for the title-winning tally.
“Breakdown, it was great feed inside for a quick stick,” McGovern said. “And we’ve been collapsing that middle really well all day and that one got through. We had an offensive possession up there and couldn’t seal the deal.”
Selchert gave the Crusaders a 2-0 lead in the opening quarter after twice coming around the net to score. Walton made it 2-1 after his strike off a D’Alessandro assist.
Sullivan tied things 22 at 9:34 in the second quarter before Cossman gave LC back the lead at 5:34.
The Crusaders went up 4-2 after Sean McMahon rifled a pass to Selchert in front for a goal 19 seconds into the third. Crossan had the Tide back within a goal with a tally 75 seconds later.
Devon Prep 6, Lansdale Catholic 5 (OT)
Lansdale Catholic 2 1 1 1 0 – 5
Devon Prep 1 1 1 2 1 – 6
Lansdale Catholic Goals: Gavin Selchert 3; Colin Cossman 2.
Devon Prep Goals: Declan Sullivan 2, Kieran Crossan; Nico D’Alessandro; Eamonn Donovan; Nick Walton.
