Dennis’ goal sends Springfield-Montco past North Penn

SPRINGFIELD >> Cameron Dennis kept driving and his path to goal never closed.

“I picked up the ball around half and I ran down and I was expected a D-pole to slide to me,” the Springfield-Montco senior said. “So, I was just kind of jogging to pass to the open man and nobody slid so I just shot it and it went it.”

Starting his run close to midfield, Dennis dashed by one North Penn defender, cut between a pair of converging Knights and with still no resistance unleashed a shot that found the back of the net to break a 7-7 tie with 6:56 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The goal proved to be the deciding tally in the Suburban One League nonconference matchup as the host Spartans held off the Knights the remainder of regulation as they rallied to earn an 8-7 victory Monday afternoon.

“We were down 7-6 heading to the fourth and our coach said, just play our game, take our time,” Dennis said. “We still had 12 minutes, two goals is nothing in 12 minutes so we just took our time, passed it around and right after we had the tying goal we just had the momentum with us.”

Dennis had a game-high three goals while Trey DuBose and Luke Gozzard both scored twice for Springfield (3-3, 2-1 SOL American), which snapped a two-game skid.

“I don’t know, they just kind of pulled themselves together,” Spartans coach Hank Resch said. “I mean, they kept the poise and kept playing well. I was afraid when they came back and tied it that we’d kind of – they went up one actually – take a sag but they hung in there. It was good.”

North Penn (5-4, 2-2 SOL National) spent most of the contest chasing down the Spartans after falling into a 3-0 hole less than four minutes into the game. The Knights pulled even twice in the first half before finally taking the lead in the third – scoring the quarter’s lass three goals to go up 7-6 on Declan Lanier’s strike at 53.7 seconds.

Austin Maggioncalda, however, came around the net and found an open Gozzard at the far right post for the equalizer at 9:04 in the fourth. Dennis netted the go-ahead goal a little more than two minutes later.

“I think the game of lacrosse is all about momentum and unfortunately we only had the momentum of one quarter and that was the third quarter,” North Penn coach Rick Smith said. “We lost the first, we lost the second and we lost the fourth. Springfield, man, they’re athletic and they follow their system and they did a really good job today.”

Lanier and Jake Dolan each scored twice for the Knights, which has lost two straight and three of its last four since a four-game win streak had NP sitting at 4-1.

“I just think the guys, we’re just trying to buy into the system,” Smith said. “And I think the parts are bigger than the whole and the parts come together it creates a whole and just think that we have way too many parts right now that aren’t working together.”

After Dennis made it 8-7, Grant Williams came close extending Springfield’s lead but his shot off a drive hit the left post.

The Knights’ bid at pulling level was also denied by the goal frame as a bouncing shot by Lanier knocked off the crossbar. Springfield corralled the loose ball but North Penn regained possession after an off-target pass and called a time out with 1:42 left.

A Connor Toussaint shot was stopped by Spartans goalkeeper Patrick McMahon with Springfield getting the ball after it went out over the end line. The Spartans proceeded to run out the rest of the clock to seal the win.

“We knew this was a real good team before we entered this game,” said Dennis of North Penn. “And when we went up 3-0, I’m pretty sure none of us were thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be an easy game,’ cause we knew we had to hold that lead and we eventually did lose that lead heading into the fourth but we just kept our heads and played our game.”

Both teams have three more games this week. North Penn hosts Truman 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, visits Pennridge 7 p.m. Friday then is at Strath Haven 1 p.m. Saturday.  Springfield is home against Wissahickon 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and Council Rock South 5:15 p.m. Thursday then goes on the road to face William Tennent 3:30 p.m. Friday.

“We know we’re also a good team and we lost two which one was real close and the other one was somewhat close,” Dennis  “And just feels real good winning this game cause it gets us back on track.”

Springfield led 5-4 at halftime with Dennis giving the host a two-goal edge by finishing a drive, juking past a defender then bouncing a low shot into the net at 5:56 in the third.

“He’s a very good athlete,” said Resch of Dennis. “He’s going to Ursinus to play wide receiver (in football) and I told the lacrosse guys about him too. He’s just a very, very good athlete and you can see watching him. And he’s just a tough guy to guard.”

Dakari Luby rifled in an overhand shot at 6:08 to get North Penn within 6-5. Just 64 seconds later the Knights were even – Luby connecting with Caleb Moister, who got off a shot in a crowd that bounced in at 5:04.

Lanier then gave NP its first and only lead, scooping up a loose ball and spinning away from a defender, twisting through a Springfield pair to get to the front of the net and scoring with 53.7 seconds left in the third.

“I just think having the faceoffs and winning the possessions,” said Smith of NP’s success in the third. “And when you have possessions and you’re able to push the ball and we’re better when we’re able to push the ball and our settled offense just hasn’t been as good recently. But when we’re able to push the ball we have a lot more success that way.”

In the first quarter, Springfield grabbed a quick 3-0 lead with three goals in a span of 1:42. Alex Vecchione tallied the first at 9:56, DuBose doubled the advantage a minute later off a Dennis assist while Dennis spun off a defender to score from distance at 8:14.

But North Penn responded by scoring the next three – Dolan at 6:06, Lanier at 4:59 with Dolan feeding  a cutting Toussaint for a goal with 38.5 seconds to knot things 3-3.

Springfield, however, took a 4-3 lead when Gozzard scored off a Williams pass with only 1.7 seconds.

DuBose put the Spartans up 5-3 by coming around the net for a goal at 5:56. Luby found Dolan in front to make it 5-4 just 48.9 seconds before halftime.