Mallee’s 2OT goal caps La Salle comeback against Garnet Valley in PIAA-3A semifinals

LONDON GROVE >> Time slowed down for Danny Mallee at the right moment.

The La Salle junior collected a ground ball off a rebound and instead of rushing, measured up just the right shot. Having already poured so much energy and effort into a comeback and now midway through a second overtime, Mallee knew this might be his last chance.

So he made it count.

Mallee’s second-chance goal completed a stirring rally as La Salle topped Garnet Valley 11-10 in two overtimes in their PIAA 3A boys lacrosse semifinal at Avon Grove on Tuesday. The Explorers trailed by six goals going into the fourth quarter, but found a way to rally past a scorching hot Jaguars team to reach the state title game.

“I saw Chris Mockaitis running down the field on a ‘green’ call, which is his favorite play, coming down the field to score,” Mallee said. “I saw it bang off the goalie, it was in the open field with no one around, I scooped it up, took my time and place it high.

“I felt like I had all the time in the world.”

Mallee stepped up when the Explorers most needed him to, scoring all four of his goals in the fourth quarter or later. The junior attackman scored the first two goals of La Salle’s 6-0 fourth quarter and bagged the game-tying goal with 2:14 left in regulation before winning it with about 2:20 to play in the second overtime.

Getting to overtime required La Salle to make a stand and find a way to slow down a Garnet Valley team that had thoroughly controlled the second and third quarters. Goalie Nick Van Horn made sure his team didn’t get too far behind early, making four of his 15 saves in the first frame to keep the Jags in striking distance.

“I thought if I could make some saves, give some juice to the offense, they could get it going,” Van Horn said. “Obviously, we went on a long run after that. We were just playing good lacrosse, making big plays, getting big stops to give the offense a chance to do their thing.”

La Salle opened up a 3-0 lead with 7:44 left in the second quarter, but Garnet Valley came back swiftly once Jake Morin scored a man-up goal off a Danny Bradley assist. Morin had a monster game for the Jaguars, scoring four goals and assisting three others.

He also made the momentum-turning play of the first half. After La Salle won the faceoff following his first goal, the Explorers went backward and Morin was able to pick off a pass in La Salle’s end, feeding Mitch Lachman for a goal just 23 seconds after his own.

“We’re always fighting,” Morin said. “Every single one of these guys, the seniors led us absolutely every day and they pushed us to be a great team.”

The spree grew into a 7-0 run that spanned halftime and helped put all the fire on Garnet Valley’s side of the field.

“This team proved everything, last year we proved so much (winning a District I title) and this year we proved it again,” Morin said. “This team was supposed to be not good at all after everyone left and we proved that wrong. It stings to go out like this.”

Mockaitis had the only La Salle goal of the third quarter, a quick effort off a restart that only served to temporarily slow down the Jaguars. Morin answered with a man-up goal, Lachman scored his fifth of the game and Morin capped things with his fourth tally to stake Garnet Valley a 10-4 lead with 3:31 left in the third quarter.

La Salle prevented any further damage and went to the sideline with just 12 minutes left in the season. Senior defenseman Brett Mallee, Danny’s cousin, was one of the captains who spoke up.

“We talked about how it had to start with the ‘X’, start winning faceoffs,” Mallee said. “Our offense wasn’t getting the ball much and when they were, they were kind of forcing it and not getting good looks so we had to settle down and get back to our game.”

The Explorers defense started well but got a little caught up in the emotions of the game, especially during the second and third quarters. Mallee said he and the other defensive players talked and stressed staying fundamental, strong and avoiding the flags that had helped fuel Garnet Valley’s run.

Mockaitis, who plays mainly as a defensive mid, admitted he lost his temper a couple times but credited his teammates for being there to quickly calm him down and get his head back in the game.

“It was just a lot of hard work, that’s probably the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” Mockaitis said. “It’s definitely the most time I’ve ever been on a field and the most pressure I’ve played under. It was so much pressure, you can only just play the game, there’s no more than that. We just trusted and believed in each other and that’s the only way we could have gotten it done.”

Danny Mallee felt the momentum changed in La Salle’s favor after the third quarter huddle. He felt the senior captains were very positive in their message and that re-instilled some confidence in the rest of the team.

But they still had to go out and do what they hadn’t been for the last 24 minutes of game time.

“I looked at the scoreboard and got pretty (angry),” Danny Mallee said. “I knew I had to give it all I had the last 12 minutes, it was for our seniors, so I just turned it on.”

Solving Van Horn was chief among La Salle’s concerns. The Jaguars goalie was fantastic, but especially in stonewalling the Explorers’ low shots. While La Salle gained momentum in the fourth, Van Horn still came up with a couple of critical saves in the final frame and overtime to keep his team alive.

“It was an honor playing with all my brothers,” Van Horn said. “It was a great season and I wouldn’t have wanted to play with anyone else. I’ll remember how close we all were and I know next year, they’re just going to grind and get after it.”

Danny Mallee scored two by going high and when Zac Coar scored while drawing a flag to cut the lead to 10-7, that’s when Brett Mallee felt things starting to break in La Salle’s favor.

La Salle was in the state final last year, but for a majority of the Explorers’ seniors, this year was their first as major contributors. Brett Mallee also missed last season with a knee injury, so for his class, Tuesday’s win meant a lot.

“This team is a tight-knit group of guys, but without a lot of returning players, it was a stage and opportunity not a lot of us were used to,” Mallee said. “Bonds form under the heat of pressure and that’s certainly what was going on out there today.”

Both teams ran out of timeouts in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter and neither overtime was particularly pretty which was a credit to how hard both sides were playing and trying to advance. That’s the type of fight and guts that Morin said he was carrying away from the season.

“I’ve played with every guy here for years, it feels like since I was born and I’m going to remember everything about these guys and growing up with them,” Morin said.

An offsides call on the Jaguars set up the clinching goal, giving Mockaitis an opportunity to attack the goal in transition. The senior midfielder went to the cage intending to score, but he was certainly to live with how it worked out.

“I was trying to be a senior leader I guess, good things happen when you go hard to the goal,” Mockaitis said. “I wanted to get one for the boys. I was trying to score, but luckily Dan was there.”

La Salle will clash with District I champion Conestoga in Saturday’s title game at West Chester East. The Pioneers beat La Salle in a regular season matchup.

Tuesday though, the Explorers were just reveling in a game and a comeback that most of them were calling the craziest they’d ever been a part of.

“It’s the best goal I’ve ever scored in my life,” Danny Mallee said. “Our whole thing in the playoffs has been ‘keep believing’ and that’s all we did, kept believing.”

LA SALLE 11, GARNET VALLEY 10 (2OT)
LA SALLE 2 1 1 6 0 1 – 11
GARNET VALLEY 0 5 5 0 0  – 10
Goals-Assists: L – Danny Mallee 4-1, Zac Coar 2-1, Chris Mockaitis 1-1, Shane Osborne 2-0, Mason Laszaz 1-0, Robert Foster 1-0; GV – Mitch Lachman 5-0, Jake Morin 4-3, Danny Bradley 1-1, Hunter Baar 0-2, Max Busenkell 0-1, Bryce Stansfield 0-1. Saves: L- Christian Suter 4, GV – Nick Van Horn 15.