La Salle rides past Lansdale Catholic to stay unbeaten in PCL
SPRINGFIELD >> La Salle’s midfielders don’t mind going for a ride.
Getting a stop in lacrosse is only half the battle, there’s always the task of clearing the ball that comes after. Thursday, the Explorers weren’t really interested in making that second part easy for visiting Lansdale Catholic as La Salle’s ride kept negating all the hard work the Crusaders defense was doing.
That, coupled with a fast start, tipped the battle of the PCL unbeaten to La Salle as the Explorers picked up an 18-3 win over LC.
“That can change the sway of a game for us, it can change a game for us and we tell our attack if they want to play, they better be able to ride,” La Salle coach Rob Forster said. “It’s something we’re looking to build up right away.”
The teams came into the day in a three-way tie along with Father Judge atop the PCL table and LC was fired up to try and make a statement against the league power Explorers. Crusaders goalie Connor Flanegan is one of the best in the PCL, so La Salle knew a fast start would be paramount to keeping the visitors from building confidence.
A goalie by Charlie Huntley just 13 seconds into the first quarter set the tone and La Salle ripped off three goals in the first two minutes to prompt an LC timeout. Everything was going the Explorers’ way off the first whistle thanks to midfielder Seth Michalak, who controlled the tempo on the faceoff X.
Michalak, who is also a standout soccer player, had 13 of his team’s 16 faceoff wins along with his wingers Jack Pilling and Matt Wills.
“I was the only face-off guy today so right from the jump, I knew I had to come up big,” Michalak said. “It comes from practice every day, we work on faceoffs each day and I was just trying to do what I do best, get the clamp down, exit and getting the ball to the offense.”
From there, the ride took over. In lacrosse, the ride starts when the offensive team loses possession of the ball then applies pressure to the defensive team trying to clear it past the halfway line.
Crusaders coach Mark Princehorn knew that would be a defining trait of Thursday’s game. Last time out, LC lost to a talented Marple Newtown squad that also challenged the Crusaders defense as it tried to clear the ball.
Naturally, the Crusaders made some changes but Princehorn noted that facing a team of La Salle’s level was going to show them what else they still need to fix.
“We’ve had some problems clearing the ball this year and that’s the biggest thing we’ll need to correct to be playing our best lacrosse in May,” Princehorn said. “We’ll get it figured out. We made some adjustments for this game and we were much better than we were on Saturday but it’s still the focus of our improvement.”
Forster liked the energy his team brought to its ride on Thursday and said the guys on attack adapted well to the different things Lansdale Catholic was doing on its clear attempts. Michalak credited the coaches for getting the right guys on and off the field quickly when it was time to transition into the ride.
Keeping LC pinned helped La Salle to continue building its lead and the Explorers had a 6-0 lead after the first quarter and a 12-1 edge at the half.
“We’re always focused on our ride during practice,” midfielder Tom Vandergrift said. “We want to get as many turnovers on the ride as possible because that just gives us more opportunities on offense and if we get the ball back, the other team can’t score.”
Devon Prep knocked off Father Judge on Thursday, leaving the Tide (4-0) as the only other unbeaten team in the PCL behind La Salle. The Explorers still have to play Devon Prep and Judge while LC has games with the Tide, Judge and St Joe’s Prep (4-1 PCL) before the regular season wraps.
LC has a four-game week on tap with PCL games against Archbishop Ryan, Judge and Conwell-Egan before hosting Upper Moreland on Saturday, May 1. It’s an opportunity to turn the trend of losses but only if the players correct what set them back in their last two contests.
“What’s valuable for these guys is they can take what they’ve learned in these losses and grow from that,” Princehorn said. “A loss is really only a loss if you don’t learn from it so the challenge is can you get better, can you do the things that make our team better and if you can, then we’re in a really good spot. But, it’s one thing to say it and actions speak louder than words.”
La Salle visits Devon Prep on Tuesday and heads to Judge on Friday but also has nonleague games with Academy of the New Church and District III power Manheim Township on deck next week. Thursday’s game with ANC will pit Forster against his brothers Jack and Kevin, who serve as head coach and assistant respectively for the Lions.
The Explorers want to play beyond May and they look at each day as a chance to get better, whether there’s an opponent in front of them or it’s a day of practice.
“We practice as hard as we play in the games,” Vandergrift said. “We have gotten better every single game and everyone on the team has improved a lot.”
“Everybody on the team sees how good we are and that comes from connecting before games and even out of lacrosse, we’re all best friends,” Michalak said. “That’s just a plus to how we’ve been so successful.”
LA SALLE 18, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 3
LA SALLE 7 5 4 2 – 18
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 0 1 0 2 – 3
Goals-Assists: L – Jack Pilling 2-3, Mason Lasasz 3-1, Andrew Kelly 2-2, Charlie Huntley 2-2, Franky Fix 2-2, Jack Vandergrift 2-0, PJ Oppenheimer 1-0, Tom Vandergrift 2-0, Tim Mehlmann 1-0, Harry Sweitzer 1-1, Colin Wakefield 1-0; LC – Connor Mann 1-0, Bobby Lombardo 2-0.
