Second half surge lifts Lansdale Catholic past Archbishop Wood

WARMINSTER >> Lansdale Catholic boys lacrosse coach Christian Blair kept telling his players it was going to come down to discipline.

Early on in Friday’s PCL clash with rival Archbishop Wood, the Crusaders were anything but disciplined and the host Vikings made them pay for it. Blair just kept pushing discipline and eventually, his team received the message.

LC turned in a strong second half, rallying for a 9-6 win over the Vikings on a chilly and rainy afternoon.

“Today was a big character day, we talked about the team that was the most disciplined and that put the most effort in was going to win,” Blair said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight. We knew it was going to be a sloppy game. We said let’s focus on ourselves and what we can take care of and we’ll come out on top.”

Wood jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes and led 4-2 with five minutes in the first half. The Crusaders were hamstrung on both ends by a lack of focus and discipline. On the offensive end, it was a lot of missed and dropped passes leading to turnovers while the defense was a bit too overzealous and kept getting called for fouls.

While Wood didn’t score on the man-up situations in the first half, LC’s defense was still expending a lot of energy while down a man. Blair noted his defensive unit is very experienced, which is a good thing but also leaves them prone to going a little too hard and sometimes drawing penalties.

Once the defenders settled down, they were able to impose their will on the game.

“As the game went on, we got more disciplined and played great team defense, we were really good man down,” LC defenseman Colin McKeever said. “Our offense really helped us out especially in the second half. They let us play with aggression on defense again and that helped us to be better.”

Attacker Jesse Brown came up with a key goal to cut the lead to 4-3 with 58 seconds left in the first half. Brown led LC with three goals and was a major presence offensively in the second half.

“Us and Wood go at it every year, it’s a big win in terms of the district championship and a win in this game is huge for us,” Brown said. “We had to bring the energy up. We were flat coming out, our warm-ups were a little flat so we had to hype ourselves up.”

With 45 seconds left in the first half, Wood was called for an illegal stick, giving the Vikings a locked-in three minute penalty that carried over into the third quarter. The call opened a window for LC and the Crusaders jumped on it out of the break.

LC scored twice while up a man to take the lead and with momentum on their side, the Crusaders scored the next two goals to stretch the lead out to 7-4. Wood got a goal back late in the quarter, but the Vikings were starting to feel the effects of some turnovers and penalties on their end.

“We had our man-up opportunities and didn’t take care of those,” Wood coach Jared Mayes said. “I overheard their coach saying something along the lines of discipline was going to come out on top and we had a couple of unnecessary penalties, some retaliation-type stuff. It’s tough when you’re battling back and forth in a big rivalry in the Catholic League and just in the area, we’re always up for this game.

“They have a ton of skilled guys, so you can’t ever take them lightly.”

Lansdale Catholic’s defense really ramped things up in the second half with McKeever leading the charge. The long-pole defender caused four turnovers and scooped up five ground balls and with his companions on the back end, caused a lot of trouble for Wood’s attackers.

“They were anticipating our passes and jumping out a little bit and we weren’t handling that quite as well,” Mayes said. “We got some looks, we just couldn’t connect. It’s something we talk about all the time, you have to keep making the passes, it’s what our offense is based on.”

Mayes credited his goalie Bryson Wilson for making all the saves expected of him plus a few more tough ones and added he felt the whole defense did well in even-strength situations. Where LC took advantage was transition and on second chances, with the Crusaders turning a couple rebounds off saves into second shots and goals.

“It took heart, it was a matter of who wanted it more,” Brown said. “I feel like we dug deep and wanted to win the game so we went hard after everything we could.”

Dan Divita had both of Wood’s goals in the second half, but the Vikings weren’t able to turn a few late possessions into real scoring chances thanks to the LC defense.

“We started to relax on the stick-checks and just tried to play body, play position and it worked out really well for us in the second half,” McKeever said. “You have to find a balance of that intensity and staying true to your fundamentals, especially playing defense.

“It helped us to be scrappy and work for every ball. The ground balls were difficult with the conditions so it was really who wanted it more and I think we just showed out a little bit more.”

LANSDALE CATHOLIC 9, ARCHBISHOP WOOD 6
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 1 2 4 2 – 9
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 2 2 1 1 – 6
Goals-Assists: LC – Jesse Brown 3-0, Ryan Corbett 2-0, Jack Kelly 1-1, Kevin Gianoni 1-0, Connor Mann 2-1, Evan Hannings 0-1; AW – Dan Divita 2-1, Brian Kinkade 1-0, Waltnich 1-0, Nangle 1-0, Andrew Leinenbach 1-1.