La Salle overcomes slow start, beats Manheim Township to reach PIAA final
EXETER >> It wasn’t the start they imagined. After eight minutes of play, the La Salle College High School boys lacrosse team was unable to find the back of the net offensively and trailed Manheim Township by two goals.
Things changed quickly.
The (12-1) Explorers scored a goal at the end of the first quarter to start a 10-goal run that would last until the end of the game.
La Salle beat (3-2) Manheim Township, 10-2, Tuesday afternoon at Exeter Township High School in the PIAA semifinals. The Explorers face (1-3) Springfield Delco — an 8-5 winner over (1-4) Strath Haven — in the state championship game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at West Chester East High School.
The Explorers offense had two lengthy possessions in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s semifinal. Both offensive trips ended with shots fired on goal and saves from Manheim sophomore Caton Johnson.
After each save, the Blue Streaks carried the momentum into the offensive end for scores. The first was a shot fired by sophomore Grayson Sallade and the second a goal by senior Reagan Ketchum off a nice feed from senior Christopher Rivera.
That 2-0 advantage lasted for all of 1:55.
La Salle senior Cody Mazurek got one past Johnson with 2:21 remaining in the first to cut the Explorers deficit in half — and that was only the beginning.
“No changes there,” La Salle coach Bill Leahy said of the team being down 2-0. “There were changes at halftime a little bit. It’s just that it was a zone and we kind of got off the bus slow and they got two. Against zones you have to hang in there. You have to hang in there and get a feel for it — how’s it going to break? Then you get one or two. Then you get another three or four and it’s broke. That’s just the way zones are.
“We got 10 today. I’ll take that any day against a zone. That’s great.”
The Philadelphia Catholic League champions scored four goals in the first 7:03 of the second quarter to take a 5-2 lead. Sophomore Matthew Clibanoff had two goals in the period and junior Brett Baskin and senior Craig Coleman each scored one. Senior Colin Cahill had two assists in the game-changing quarter and Coleman and sophomore Ethan LaMond each set up scores.
“We just stayed confident throughout the game,” Baskin said. “They went up two early and we just never got down on ourselves. We just kept fighting and then we were able to put a bunch away and get the win.”
It was more of the same in the third quarter. After nearly 10 minutes without a goal, Mazurek scored to make it 6-2. Just over a minute later, Baskin found junior Christopher Hladczuk to make the lead even more commanding.
Baskin, Mazurek and Hladczuk each scored in the fourth — two of them assisted by Cahill — to make it a 10-2 game.
The game was stopped with 1:23 remaining due to lightning and — after a short delay — the game was ruled complete.
Baskin, a junior, said this is the furthest he has made it in the state playoffs. His previous best was the state quarterfinals his freshman year.
“This is definitely the closest team we’ve had,” Baskin said, comparing this title-game bound team to the others he has played for. “We definitely worked the hardest and it’s paying off now.”
Sophomore Michael Clibanoff played goalie for La Salle in the first half and made one save. Junior Matthew McLaren made six saves in the final 24 minutes of the game.
Johnson finished with seven stops for the Blue Streaks.
