Pfeiffer, Wissahickon hold the line to outlast Downingtown East in District 1-3A 2nd round
LOWER GWYNEDD >> Scott Pfeiffer was chasing after the season.
Wissahickon’s senior goalie, with his defense down a man, made a mad break from his crease with about 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Trojans clinging to a two-goal lead. On a night where he’d already stood on his head for his team, Pfeiffer made one more play, winning the pursuit following a shot to earn back possession and all but seal the deal.
Thanks to just enough plays like that, No. 7 Wissahickon edged No. 10 Downingtown East 10-8 in a superb District 1 3A boys lacrosse second round game Thursday night.
“It’s a little intense with it being such a close game, they scored three quick ones to come back on us but eventually, we hunkered down and were determined to get a stop and win the game,” Pfeiffer, one of nine Wiss seniors, said. “I don’t do that much running as a goalie obviously but when I needed to, I had to put the burners on.”
Thursday’s score wasn’t surprising given the close game the two teams played just a few weeks ago in the regular season. That one, won by the Cougars, caught Wissahickon a couple days off an emotional win against Upper Dublin and having just lost Sam Baker to injury.
Senior Jackson Intrieri was eager to get another shot at Downingtown East, both because he knew the quality of the opponent but also for his guys to show they weren’t at their best the first time.
“We watched a lot of film, my dad and I watched the game probably twice on our own, got a lot of clips and put them together, worked in some new plays and tweaked some stuff we missed the first time around,” Intrieri said. “We came out dead the first time, so being here and having fans helped us a lot, they made sure we came out with a lot of energy and we executed our plays.”
East struck first on a nice goal by Bryson Kolinsky but it would be all Wissahickon from there until the end of the first half. Intrieri, who will be playing at Ursinus, had a big night offensively leading the Trojans with four goals and three assists. His second goal, which came with 1:15 left in the first quarter, gave Wiss its first lead and one his team would hold, at times perilously, until the final horn.
Matt Fritz, Wissahickon’s standout faceoff man heading to Ohio State, capitalized on the momentum, winning the next draw and sprinting down the field to score eight seconds later for a 3-1 lead.
Intrieri bracketed assists to Dean Wolfe and EJ Schreiner around a second goal by Kolinsky and throw in a couple early saves by Pfeiffer, Wissahickon was up 5-2 at the break.
“Getting out to a good start is everything in lacrosse,” Intrieri said. “With Fritz, sometimes it’s ‘make it, take it’ depending on how he’s doing. When you get down three, four goals, it’s really hard to come back because you really have to execute on every possession.”
The Trojans kept building the first half of the third quarter, going ahead 8-2 with 6:22 left in the frame on a goal by Andrew Slackman.
After a first half where they were thwarted by Pfeiffer and hurt themselves with some turnovers, the Cougars got things going the right way over the latter half of the third quarter. Downingtown East coach Joe Horvath called the first half frustrating but he and his assistants kept that frustration from splintering the team on the sideline and instead focused it on being better between the lines.
“We tightened things up defensively, forced a few turnovers of our own and started to clear better,” Horvath said. “We started to spread our players out, string a couple passes together once we got over the midline and allowed our offense to get some possessions. I wish we’d shot a little better and got a couple more possessions but at the end of the day, I know they left it all out on the field.”
Bo Horvath kicked off a quick string of three goals for the Cougars in less than a minute in the third, chopping the lead to 8-5 and getting plenty of fire back on the visitor’s side of the field. Fritz, who went 15-of-22 on faceoffs for the game, stymied some of the momentum by winning the next draw and Intrieri gave his guys a shot in the arm by ripping a goal with 6.5 left on the clock for a 9-5 lead going to the final 12 minutes.
Downingtown East, which listed 11 seniors on its roster, also played plenty of young guys in key spots Thursday. Horvath said losing last spring was a hit to the team’s development but following the seniors’ lead, he saw a ton of growth from his group and felt the experience of being in a nail-biter playoff game would pay off in the coming years.
“It’s been a great year,” Horvath said. “We were playing a lot of catch-up, so getting back this year, being on the field, it really meant a lot to us. Especially for our seniors, we at coaches were happy to get it in and we fortunate to be here.”
Pfeiffer came up with a huge save on the doorstep two minutes into the fourth quarter, one of 11 on the night, but the Cougars were just getting started. Junior NJ Caglioti gave Fritz a fight on the faceoff X and the Downingtown East draw man came up with a couple crucial wins during both of his team’s second half rallies.
“(Fritz) is a top-shelf face-off kid we’ve had to prep for twice and it’s not an easy thing to do,” Horvath said. “NJ Caglioti really stepped up today. We told him it was going to be a street fight and he made it one.”
An outrageous behind-the-back goal by Mike Ostertag kicked off another three-goal East run, although Pfeiffer snuck in another massive denial in that run and the Cougars cut the lead to 9-8 with 3:12 to play.
Fritz shook off his losses and came up with the next draw, allowing Brody Myers to go down and score to make it a two-goal game. Then, it was all about holding on. With the way Pfeiffer was playing, the Trojans knew they didn’t have to be perfect to get to the finish line.
“I think it helps to know they can make a mistake and it’s not going to be the end of the world,” Pfeiffer said. “Having confidence is everything on the field.
“It’s an opportunity to keep playing and that’s all we want to do.”
Wissahickon will face No. 2 Radnor in Saturday’s quarterfinal round.
“We didn’t want our season to end today,” Intrieri said. “We were going to do whatever it took, we have nine seniors on this team, we didn’t want to lose our last game on our home field.”
WISSAHICKON 10, DOWNINGTOWN EAST 8
WISSAHICKON 3 2 4 1 – 10
DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1 1 3 3 – 8
Goals-Assists: W – Jackson Intrieri 4-3, Dean Wolfe 2-0, Andrew Slackman 1-1, Matt Fritz 1-0, Brody Myers 1-0, EJ Schreiner 1-0, Kyle Lehman 0-2; DE – Bryson Kolinsky 3-0, Bo Horvath 2-1, Luke Wetzel 2-0, Mike Ostertag 1-0. Saves: W – Scott Pfeiffer 11, DE – Evan Milon 5.
