New-look La Salle off to fast start

WARMINSTER >> Last spring La Salle won its sixth straight Philadelphia Catholic League championship and its 25th title in the league’s 28-year history.

The 2022 Explorers were a senior-heavy group that dominated the Catholic League. Two seniors earned first team All-League at attack, two seniors were first team All-League defenders and three seniors were first team All-League midfielders. The midfield also graduated two second team All-League selections and three third team All-League selections.

While the 2023 team might not have a ton of varsity experience, it’s off to a good start. After hammering Archbishop Ryan and Cardinal O’Hara, La Salle improved to 3-0 in PCL play with a 17-1 win over Archbishop Wood Monday afternoon at Archbishop Wood High School.

This year’s team may feature plenty of players who didn’t see significant minutes last season, but they did take practice very seriously and benefit from going against the strong class of 2022.

“Personally, no I didn’t get a lot of time last year,” senior Leyton Bracken said. “We had a lot of seniors at my position. I tried to work as hard as I could at practice to make them better and make the team better off the field and on the field. That was pretty much my part last year.”

“Same thing with me,” senior Evan Golato said. “I agree with Leyton, we were just trying to work our hardest, help out others, pushing them to work their hardest and it led us in the right way.”

The Explorers scored at least 13 goals in each of their three PCL games this spring, averaging 16 goals per game. Eleven different players scored against Wood, led by Bracken’s three goals while Jack Vandegrift, Paul van Bastelaar, Jackson Trymbiski and Dylan Malone each scored twice. Stephen Davis, John Faliveno, Darryl Kuriger, Cooper Heilig, Tom McCook and Golato each scored once.

“Everyone is playing,” Golato said. “Everyone is going around, doing great out there. Everyone is swinging the ball. We’re all playing as a team this year, like usual. We’re just hoping to keep it going.”

“It definitely helps us a lot having a lot of guys that we can trust out there being able to go and score the ball and make a play,” Bracken, who added three assists, said. “I feel like everybody on our team has a role and knows their role. We’re just starting to get that and pushing it into our offense and being able to connect on levels that we weren’t able to connect on at the beginning of the year. Now it’s starting to fall. We’re playing a lot better.”

Vandegrift and Golato each had two assists.

The Explorers will face Bonner-Prendergast on Wednesday, but their most anticipated matchup of the season is against St. Joe’s Prep on Friday. The rivals are typically the top two teams in the PCL, but the meeting later this week takes on an even bigger importance. Both sides will be supporting the HEADstrong Foundation.

“Their coach, his son is battling cancer,” Bracken said. “We’re wearing green laces on our shoes and we’re all going to represent the foundation on social media and stuff like that. It’s a great cause. It’s more than just a game against them, it’s fighting against cancer. I’m excited to go out there and put on for our school and also the HEADstrong Foundation.”

Brian Nangle scored Wood’s goal in the fourth quarter and Vikings goalie Ean Waltrich made 12 saves.

La Salle 17, Archbishop Wood 1

La Salle 6 5 3 3 – 17

Archbishop Wood 0 0 0 1 – 1

Goals: LS: Leyton Bracken 3, Jack Vandegrift 2, Paul van Bastelaar 2, Jackson Trymbiski 2, Stephen Davis, John Faliveno, Darryl Kuriger, Dylan Malone 2, Cooper Heilig, Tom McCook, Evan Golato. AW: Brian Nangle.

Assists: Leyton Bracken 3, Jack Vandegrift 2, Jackson Trymbiski, Dylan Malone, Evan Golato 2.

Saves: LS: Matthew Nelson 2, Philip Goldfarb 1, Joshua Reno 2. AW: Ean Waltrich 12.