Tough Malvern Prep defense stops EA in Inter-Ac lacrosse opener

Malvern >> On a wind-swept Wednesday afternoon, host Malvern Prep’s tough second-half defense keyed the Friars’ 8-4 win against Episcopal Academy in the Inter-Ac lacrosse opener for both squads.
The Friars (4-3, 1-0) limited the Churchmen to one second-half goal after holding a slim 4-3 halftime lead. Malvern Prep collected more than a dozen ground balls, and forced multiple EA turnovers, particularly in the first and third quarters, when the Churchmen were playing into the 20 MPH wind from the west end of the stadium.
“We came out on fire in the second half,” said Malvern Prep senior goalie and co-captain Will Pettit. “I told the guys at halftime that whoever has the most energy in the second half is going to win this game. It was a real team effort, top to bottom; I thought we dominated the second half.
“Our defense played awesome today, I saw just one shot in the second half, with a minute left. Our defense locked it down in the second half, they absolutely killed it. We hadn’t beaten EA since I was a freshman, so this was a huge game for us, kind of a revenge game.”
Pettit, a University of North Carolina commit, recorded four saves Wednesday and bolstered the Friars’ defense with his leadership.
“Will is an amazing goalie and he helped bail us out a lot,” said Malvern Prep senior defender Billy Carlini, a Holy Cross commit. “On the field, he calls a lot of our defense, and lets us know who’s firing, who’s hot for the other team.
“At halftime, we knew that, one-on-one, we have some amazing athletes, so we knew it was a matter of playing team defense and sucking in. Sean Rushton, Tim Mitchell, Cooper Frankenheimer, Jake Brownley and many more of our guys have played amazing defense. Our defense is the culmination of a lot of great individuals.
“Beating EA today in front of the home crowd was awesome; they’re a tough team and they always give us a good [battle].”
After Malvern Prep had built a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter, thanks to goals from Lafayette-bound Evan Lotz (from 20 yards out), sophomore attack Nicholas Potemski, and junior midfielder Colin Hueston, the Churchmen (2-3, 0-1) exploded for three goals in 90 seconds.
With 8:07 to go before halftime, Nick Bates, one of EA’s top scorers, broke the scoring ice to make it 3-1. Nine seconds later, Boston University commit Collin Loughead scored from 15 yards out to make it 3-2. With 6:34 to go before halftime, EA attack Rowan Brumbaugh scored his eighth goal of the season to tie the score at 3-3. Also playing a key role in the comeback was EA’s faceoff man, Penn State-bound senior Jack Henderson.
Just 1:02 before halftime, the momentum swung back to Malvern, as Friar sophomore Will Peden tallied on an assist from Champ Doyle to give the hosts a 4-3 lead heading into halftime.
“It all started on the defensive side for us today – our defense held EA to four goals, so we had the ball most of the time,” said Peden. “In the second half, we were really getting ground balls and winning faceoffs.”
Less than two minutes into the third quarter, Malvern senior Matt Civitella fired in a shot from the right side to make it 5-3, then the Friars patiently passed the ball for 3 1/2 minutes of posession before junior attack Collin McGill scored to give the hosts a 6-3 lead with 6:47 left in the third quarter.
Four minutes later, Peden scored his second goal of the game, on an assist from Potemski; then early in the final quarter, McGill tallied his second goal of the contest to give Malvern an 8-3 lead with 10:50 left.
With 1:32 remaining, Charlie Cunniffe scored the final goal of the game to make it 8-4.
Malvern Prep head coach John McEvoy said, “Our defense did a good job on ground balls, particularly in the second half, and our goalie made some nice stops. But it’s early in the season, and I think both teams are trying to figure things out; they’re missing some guys, we’re missing some guys. It’s still pretty early, just seven games into the season.”
Episcopal Academy got nine saves from junior goalie Matt Chess, a West Point commit. Loughead, a first team All-Inter-Ac selection last spring, collected four ground balls Wednesday in addition to his goal scored.
EA head coach Chris Bates said, “We’re OK, we’re going to get healthy, we’ve got a handful of guys who are down right now but we don’t make any excuses. The wind today makes the players have to communicate that much more, but that wasn’t the issue today, the weather certaily wasn’t the issue.
“This group needs to learn how to handle defensive pressure and make plays, and in the end I give Malvern credit, they outplayed us, they certainly out-groundballed us. Malvern imposed their will on us today, physically, and we’ve got to be able to react to that, and we didn’t, but we’ll be back, we’ll be alright, tomorrow’s a new day.”

Malvern Prep 8, Episcopal Academy 4
Episcopal Academy 0 3 0 1 – 4
Malvern Prep 2 2 3 1 – 8
Episcopal Academy goals: Brumbaugh, Bates, Cunniffe, Loughead.
Malvern Prep goals: Peden 2, Lotz, McGill 2, Civitella, Potemski, Hueston.
Goalie saves: EA – Chess 9, MP – Pettit 4.