Conestoga can’t solve Garnet Valley goalie Rose in district final loss

WEST GOSHEN >> ​​Thursday night, the Conestoga lacrosse team ran into a tale as old as… well, as old as the sport itself.

The Pioneers took twice as many shots as their opponents.

They won the faceoff battle, 11-2.

They possessed the ball for the vast majority of three quarters, and almost the entire third quarter.

But they just couldn’t solve the Garnet Valley defense, particularly senior goalie Jason Rose.

Rose made 15 saves and Mitch Lachman scored the Jaguars’ final two goals as 15th-seeded Garnet Valley completed a Cinderella run and upset the Pioneers, 5-4, to claim the District 1 Class 3A lacrosse championship.

The loss snapped a 15-game winning streak for Central League champion ’Stoga, making its third District 1 championship game appearance in four years.

The Pioneers weren’t without their opportunities. Aside from the aforementioned statistical advantages, the team hit the goalposts or crossbar on four separate occasions.

“Jason (Rose) had a great game for them,” said Conestoga coach Brody Bush. “We took 36 shots, he made 15 saves — credit to him and to Garnet Valley.”

The Pioneers came in less than 48 hours after a 9-8, triple-overtime thriller of a semifinal victory over state champion Avon Grove. But Bush wasn’t hearing any talk of a letdown.

“I don’t think kids let down for a championship game,” he said. “Garnet Valley had a great game plan going in—they got great goaltending, a couple of our shots hit posts — anything can happen in a championship game.”

The start went well enough for ’Stoga. Scott Smith struck just 1:07 into the contest to break the ice, and Kent Hjelm responded to Garnet Valley’s first goal to put the Pioneers up 2-1. But Bishop Barnes quickly answered for Garnet Valley to knot the game at 2 halfway through the first quarter.

From that point, the rest of the half belonged to the Garnet Valley defense and Rose, who kept the lethal ’Stoga offense to the outside of the box, forcing the Pioneers to maintain extended possessions in order to get their looks.

Despite a 6-1 first-half Conestoga advantage in faceoffs, Garnet Valley managed to even out possession and actually controlled the ball for much of the second quarter.

When Conestoga broke through, Rose was equal to the task time and again. He wasn’t above getting a little lucky on occasion, as was the case when Nick Braendel struck the post early in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Danny Bradley gave GV a 3-2 lead it would take into halftime. ’Stoga lucked out itself in the dying seconds, as Garnet Valley’s Jake Morin cranked one off the pipe.

Despite the statistical disparity, few would come away saying Conestoga dominated the game, as the effectiveness of Garnet Valley’s gameplan was apparent throughout.

“They got some long possessions, they kept their middies in longer… Coach Urso and his team did a great job,” said coach Bush.

Rose’s heroics didn’t stop at halftime either, as the senior goalie turned away three Conestoga shots in the first four minutes of the third quarter. As soon as Garnet Valley gained possession, Mitch Lachman gave the Jags a two-goal lead with a short bounce shot.

Conestoga seized some late momentum when Tate Kienzle broke a 28-minute scoring drought with 41 seconds in the quarter, cutting GV’s lead to 4-3. Will Schnorr’s attempt to tie the game smacked off the far post as time dwindled down in the third stanza.

Lachman’s second of the game gave GV some breathing room at 5:20 of the fourth, but Conestoga’s James Reilly turned another faceoff win into a Pioneer tally with 3:51 left. Reilly won the ensuing faceoff, but Garnet Valley forced an immediate turnover.

When the Pioneers regained possession, Rose made his 15th and final save, robbing Reilly with 1:11 remaining. Conestoga gained possession yet again, calling its last timeout with 54 seconds left.

But the Pioneers were unable to get a shot off on that possession, however, and their last-ditch opportunity went wide in the game’s final second.

It’s one thing to win a title and claim “no one believed in us!” It’s another thing when the team itself had its doubts.

“We graduated 17 players, two All-Americans…” said Garnet Valley coach Frank Urso, “and when the team got together last summer, I asked them, ‘Who thinks we’re gonna stink this year?’

“Every hand went up!”

Slowly, surely, Urso and his staff built the Jaguars’ confidence to a point that they were able to upend the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in District 1 en route to the title.

“It’s safe to say,” he summarized, “they believe now.”

On the other side, Conestoga will have the weekend to get over the bitter defeat before embarking on a journey through states that begins Tuesday against Wilson High at a time and place to be determined.

“Our kids know what our final goal is,” stated Bush.

And that would be?

“The state title.”