Wissahickon inches past La Salle in PIAA-3A opener after dramatic finish

FAIRLESS HILLS >> The margins of winning or losing a state playoff game are a matter of inches.

Had Brody Myers put his final shot a few inches higher or a few inches wider, it may have caught enough of Luke Hreshko to get turned away from goal. The same was true on the other end, had Charlie Huntley put his shot a few inches differently, perhaps it doesn’t clatter off Scott Pfeiffer’s helmet and finds a way in to tie the game.

Wissahickon’s first trip to the state playoffs came against a postseason heavyweight in La Salle, but the Trojans inched by the Explorers 10-9 in a thrilling PIAA 3A boys lacrosse first round game at Conwell-Egan on Tuesday.

“Best goal of my career,” Myers, the senior Wissahickon midfielder said. “Easily.”

Brody Myers. Wissahickon 10-9 32.2 Q4 pic.twitter.com/wHrqt5caAg

— Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3) June 1, 2021

Myers’ tally, off a perfect feed by Jackson Intrieri with 32.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter was the only goal the Trojans scored in the final quarter and just their third total in the second half after a dominant first half effort. It also quelled a furious rally by the Explorers, the 2019 PIAA champions who were dethroned with Tuesday’s loss, and moved Wiss a few inches closer to a win provided the defense could get one last stop.

For much of the second half, that was a difficult task with La Salle finding a second gear equal parts desperation and fervent will. There weren’t a lot of guys on the field for the Explorers who played in that 2019 final, but even with a year lost to the COVID-19, the expectations of the program remained steadfast in the pursuit of a state title.

Standing between any chance of that pursuit continuing and the end of the season was Pfeiffer, the Wissahickon senior goalie. He was presented a familiar scenario as the Explorers exited their final timeout with 17.2 seconds on the clock, as La Salle ran the same play in had scored on a few minutes prior to tie the game.

“Our coaches said ‘the season’s on the line right here, are we going to go out and make a stop?,'” Pfeiffer said. “We did what we had to do. They ran the same play they had scored on, it actually worked again but the shot ended up hitting me in the helmet. I ended up making that save and we won the game.”

Lacrosse begins with a game of inches on the faceoff X where two players line up in close proximity and duel for control of the ball. The Trojans have one of the best around in winning those duels in senior Matt Fritz, the Ohio State recruit who was again brilliant on Tuesday going 17-of-23 on the draw.

It was Fritz, the 5-foot-6 midfielder with a wrestling background and mentality who lined up on the X with 3:13 on the clock and La Salle in the midst of a seven-goal run that had turned a 9-2 Trojans lead into a 9-9 deadlock. While he had won most of the faceoffs on the day, Fritz tipped his cap to La Salle freshman Stevie Davis who refused to back down or give up the fight.

This was one faceoff that Fritz was not going to let himself lose.

“I was trying to cool myself down a little bit, my heart wasn’t really racing too much at that point because we were already so deep into the game,” Fritz said. “I’m a wrestler. I’ve been in a bunch of those situations before, not that it dictates the outcome but you know it’s a huge point in the match so it’s a big-time moment where the lights are one and that helped me a lot.”

La Salle scored the game’s first two goals, then Fritz got going on faceoffs and the Trojans offense started translating those possessions into goals. Myers and senior Jackson Intrieri, who provided the assist on the game-winner, proved to be a troublesome tandem for La Salle’s defense as they ran the Explorers ragged in a nine-goal run that spanned the remainder of the first, entirety of the second and into the third quarter.

Intrieri, bound for Ursinus, showed more proof the Bears got a steal with a four-goal, four-assist day with the highlight score being a one-man drive through La Salle’s defense for a 6-2 lead. Myers finished with four goals, none bigger than the last while Kyle Lehman added a goal and assist and Dean Wolfe chipped a goal on the scoresheet.

“This is the first time we’ve ever been in states, so to get a win like that, it’s huge for our program,” Myers said. “We can take any team. We saw them in preseason and even though it was a shorter game and it’s not official, we still beat them so we had all the confidence in the world. We know we can hang with any team in the state.”

After Lehman scored off a Fritz faceoff win to put Wiss ahead 9-2 with 9:04 left in the third, it felt for a moment like the SOL American champions were poised to run away with it. Wiss, which doesn’t a lot of depth, did start to slow the game down from there and Pfeiffer admitted they may have let off a little too much and left the door open a few inches wide enough for La Salle to push through.

Push through the Explorers did with plenty of fire behind them. Senior goal Luke Hreshko, the PCL’s MVP, made a big stop that seemed to ignite his defense and also the rest of his team.

“I think even though we started off slow and everyone was a little flustered, we needed to take a step back and settle down a bit and that’s when we came back ready,” Hreshko said. “Our coaches said we needed to make one ‘juice’ play and I felt like that was the play. We got a stop, gave it to the offense and they started scoring.”

La Salle also got after it after the faceoff. Fritz said the Explorers went to a more defensive draw and it allowed them to aggressively pressure whoever came up with the ball, whether it was Fritz or one of his wingers in Myers, EJ Schreiner or Jake Licata. It all started rolling as La Salle went on a run, getting five goals in the final 5:39 of the third quarter to make it a 9-7 game going to the final frame.

The Explorers carried the momentum over, with the defense getting a stop with short-stick midfielder Colin Wakefield scooping the ground ball, flipping the field and setting up a laser from Jack Pilling to close within a goal. La Salle’s tying tally would come a few minutes later but the game of inches had fully tilted the Explorers’ way.

“We came out like we had nothing to lose down by seven,” La Salle’s Franky Fix, who scored twice and assisted another goal, said. “We played our hearts out, got back to 9-9 and it just didn’t go our way. I think early we were a little antsy, it’s a state playoff game so maybe a little bit of nerves, but the second half we came out ready to play.”

La Salle was down a key piece on offense with senior Mason Lasasz sidelined due to injury but Huntley helped pick up some slack by moving to midfield and creating with movement. Pfeiffer actually made a save on the game-tying sequence, but Fix was able to hustle to the ground ball, allowing La Salle to reset and Huntley to score.

The Explorers project to return many of their key players but their senior class will leave gaps in production and leadership that need to be filled. For his part, Hreshko was confident that would happen and said he hopes to be at the state final as a spectator next year watching his guys lift a trophy.

“They were great leaders, they kept our heads up when things didn’t go our way and were a big part of our comeback today,” Fix said. “We have a lot of guys coming back, this was a good experience. We know what we have to do now and we’ll come back ready next year.”

Wiss called a timeout with 1:31 left to set something up to try and break the tie.

“We wanted to get Jackson on a different matchup, so we ran a little two-man game behind and when it sort of fell apart, I just back-cut my guy and he saw me,” Myers said. “It was a broken play that ended up as a goal.”

The Trojans will face Kennett, District 1’s fourth seed and a 15-10 winner over Hempfield, in Saturday’s quarterfinals. All Wissahickon cared about Tuesday was the fact they get to come back together to try and keep inching their way through the postseason.

“For us, the respect we have for (La Salle) and the name they’ve built in the PIAA is huge, we know this is a huge win,” Fritz said. “It means a lot to us because, I don’t know, it’s just another game I get to play with my guys. I love this group, we have such a special group and it’s just fun to be out there.”

WISSAHICKON 10, LA SALLE 9
WISSAHICKON 4 3 2 1 — 10
LA SALLE 2 0 5 2 — 9
Goals-Assists: W – Jackson Intrieri 4-4, Myers 4-0, Kyle Lehman 1-1, Dean Wolfe 1-0; L – Franky Fix 2-1, Jack Vandergrift 2-0, Andrew Kelly 2-0, Jack Pilling 1-1, Charlie Huntley 1-0, Anthony Rossi 0-1, Colin Wakefield 0-1. Saves: W – Scott Pfeiffer 9, L – Luke Hreshko 6.