Bishop Shanahan routs Crestwood, returns to state championship game

EMMAUS >> Bishop Shanahan is headed back to the PIAA Class 2A boys lacrosse championship after a dominant 20-6 semifinal win over Crestwood Tuesday afternoon at Emmaus High School’s Memorial Field.

Tyler Kingsbury got the Eagle offense rolling by winning 20 of 26 faceoffs, setting the stage for six goals and two assists by Kyle Gucwa and four scores and two assists by Gabe Goforth. All-time state scoring leader Anthony Caporuscio and T.J. Kulak each scored two for the Comets.

Defending state champion Shanahan (21-1) will play for the title Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at West Chester East against Hershey, a 10-9 winner over Strath Haven.

“We were dominating in the faceoff X,” said Eagle coach Jon Heisman. “If you’ve got a faceoff guy like that at any level, you give your team a lot of chances and you wear down the other team. We just came up with it and bam, we’re down the field.”

“I’ve worked hard,” said Kingsbury. “I’ve been facing off since sixth grade. I have great wing guys, Jimmy Bevevino and Connor Whalen, who get groundballs I could have lost. We take pride. We call ourselves the face-off unit. It’s not my accomplishment. It’s our accomplishment.”

The District 1 champion Eagles, who have won 19 in a row since an 11-10 loss to West Chester East in March, led 5-0 after a quarter. Vincent Riccardo scored 1:41 into the match and Goforth scored the next two on the way to a 6-0 advantage by early in the second quarter.

“We try to do that every single time,” said Goforth. “It helps with Tyler winning the face-off almost every single time. Our defense shut them down. We just got on a roll and usually our offense scores in spurts.”

District 2 champion Crestwood (18-6), from Mountain Top, near Wilkes-Barre, had averaged 20 goals per match while winning 14 of its last 15. But the Comets did not get on the board until Kulak scored with 7:54 left in the second quarter. Caporuscio, a junior now with 317 career goals, scored his first shortly after that to make it 7-2. 

“I give their guys a lot of credit,” said Heisman. “They’re a nice team. They scrap. They move the ball and they had some great transition goals.”

But Shanahan notched three straight — two my Gucwa and the other by Goforth — to make it 10-2 at the half.

“He still played offense,” Goforth said concerning Caporuscio. “But Connor Whalen has been shutting down for us all year.”

The Eagles blew the lead open to 18-4 by the end of the third quarter as they won seven of nine face-offs in the period. 

“Coach told us they’re the highest scoring offense in the state,” said Kingbury. “If I get faceoffs, they’re not going to be able to score.”

Owen Murray added two goals and three assists for the Eagles, whose only problem was a total of 16 turnovers as compared to 13 for Crestwood.

Last year, Shanahan won 13-5 in the final over Stath Haven, which allowed two goals to Hershey in the final minute on Tuesday. The Eagles won 15-4 at Hershey in March right after their only setback of the season.

“I’m so glad to be back,” said senior Kingsbury. “That has been our goal the whole season. We’re finally here. I’m more excited for this than graduation.”

“Coach Heisman has been holding us to that,” added junior midfielder Goforth. “We’ve still got to finish business.”

And Heisman thinks his team will be ready to defend its title after a couple more practices prior to the final.

“The kids are focused and grounded,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I think our kids are primed.”