Upper Dublin stays undefeated, tops Spring-Ford 10-9

WAYNE >> Coming into the Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival Saturday at Radnor High School, Upper Dublin and Spring-Ford, both unbeaten, had been blowing the doors off their opponents.

On average, Upper Dublin was dusting teams by a score of 20-2. Spring-Ford was nearly as dominant, routing opponents by a per-game clip of 15-3. 

In an event featuring several of Greater Philadelphia’s top teams, these two needed a competitive game.

They got it. And the sizable crowd got their money’s worth.

Upper Dublin was just a little better when it needed to be. Getting seven assists and a goal from playmaking whiz Michael Sowers, three goals apiece from Max Winebrake and Michael Mullen, and a stout effort on both ends of the field down the stretch, the Cardinals prevailed, 10-9.

“We got a competitive game,” said Upper Dublin coach Dave Sowers, whose team (10-0 overall), has dominated the Suburban One League American Conference (8-0). “They’re well-coached. We knew it would be a slugfest.

“The shame of it is – and this isn’t to take anything away from them – but we didn’t play that well.”

Spring-Ford (11-1) carried much of the play in the first half but the Cardinals controlled key stretches of the last 24 minutes. After four second-half ties, Upper Dublin made the telling surge with under nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Vernacchio placed a sizzling shot perfectly from the right wing off a pass from Sowers to make it 8-7, Cardinals, with 8:24 remaining. Then with a man-advantage seconds later on a Spring-Ford penalty, Winebrake delivered – again, Sowers assisting – for a two-goal edge at the 7:57 mark.

The Rams kept coming, getting a lefty goal from in front by Ryan Rosenblum about a minute after Winebrake’s goal, but a couple more Spring-Ford penalties and patient, precise offense by the Cardinals spelled the difference.

Threading a pass from the right side of the net to the left, Sowers found Evan Scott to make it 10-8 with 3:58 left. Some solid defense slowed Spring-Ford’s last surge. Jake Hvazda’s third goal for the Rams, with 27 seconds to play, made it 10-9 but the Cardinals ran out the clock.

“We didn’t take care of the ball as much as we should have, but our guys played hard,” said Spring-Ford coach Kevin Donnelly.  The Rams got a terrific performance from sophomore goalie Kyle Pettine, who made eight saves, several from very close range. He was a key reason the score was tied 3-3 at halftime.

“We were getting all of our looks, we just didn’t shoot very well,” coach Sowers said. “Their goalie made some good saves.”

“Credit to their goalie,” added Sowers’ son Michael. “When their goalie plays like he did, it messes with you and gets you out of your shooting groove. We preach taking inside shots, and we were able to settle in in the second half.”

Each team showed plenty of offensive skill and balance. Each had six players score goals. After Hvazda’s three goals, Matthew Dellacroce led Spring-Ford with two goals and two assists. His consecutive scores in the third period, one on a rocket shot from 12 yards, another on a determined one-on-one run, tied it at 4 and 5.

He assisted to Hvazda when the Rams got their last lead, 7-6, with 49 seconds left in the third quarter. Dellacroce handled most of the faceoffs after Justin Schwenk suffered some type of leg injury just 25 seconds into the contest. Schwenk was carted off, but Donnelly didn’t know the extent of the injury.

“This was a real good test for us,” Dellacroce said. “We matched up well with them.  We’re very similar teams. I think our team played hard. This is definitely a game where, win or lose, we got better from it.

“We really want to learn from it. It’s a tough loss, but hopefully we’ll see them again.”