Kyle Lehman leads Wissahickon past Upper Dublin

UPPER DUBLIN >> Kyle Lehman did a lot for Wissahickon Tuesday night. The senior scored four goals, tallied an assist and was the focal point of the Trojans offense, but it was another play he made that may have determined the outcome against rival Upper Dublin.

With a one-goal lead early in the fourth quarter, the Trojans lost the ball behind the Cardinals net. Upper Dublin was in position for a groundball with a lot of space in front to move into the offensive end and have the chance to tie the game.

Lehman didn’t let that happened. He came out of nowhere, dove and kept the loose all on the ground. Classmate Nick Donofrio ended up with the groundball and eventually scored later in the possession.

The two-goal lead doubled over the next eight minutes and the Trojans moved into first place in the Suburban One League American Conference with a 7-3 win at Upper Dublin High School.

“Coaches at the high level, the college level, say groundballs win games,” Lehman, a Penn State commit, said, “and that’s exactly what happened there. Really tight game and that goal got us the step we needed to put the game away. We went up two and we just kept scoring from there on out.”

“The guy was just forcing me to my left all the time,” Donofrio said of the game-swinging score. “That’s what they usually do and a lot of other teams think I’m only a right-handed player. I just took what I had.”

“I think that was where we started to have to push a little bit more, press a little bit more,” Upper Dublin coach Pat Lacon said. “Whenever a team has to press, it leaves more seams available for opportunities for the other team to score.”

After Donofrio’s second goal of the game made it 5-3 with 10:31 remaining, he found classmate Andrew Slackman for a score to extend the advantage to 6-3 with 6:39 left in the game.

“I saw somebody on the back pipe,” Donofrio said, “and then I saw Andrew all alone up top and took the sliver. I just swung it over the top.”

Lehman sealed the deal with 2:21 left. He bounced off multiple defenders behind the net and circled in front to score his fourth goal of the game and put the Trojans (8-0, 4-0 SOL American) ahead, 7-3.

“In my head I was like, ‘open goal,'” he said. “I’m going right to the goal. I don’t care if I have to run through five guys. Put one guy on the ground and then rolled inside and the cage was pretty open. It was a good feeling to put some more on the board and then I turned to the fan section. It was a good game, it was a lot of fun.”

It was a 4-3 game at halftime and after the third quarter.

Upper Dublin’s Dom Paone made a defensive play late in the first half with the Cardinals (7-3, 4-1 SOL American) trailing, 4-2, and Wiss looking to add on. He knocked the ball loose, scooped it up and advanced it into the offensive end. The possession ended with a Will Bailey goal with 19.5 seconds left in the half to send the teams to the intermission with the Trojans leading 4-3.

Cardinals goalie Nate Fechter did his best to keep it a one-goal game. He made five of his seven saves in the third quarter, stopping Wissahickon’s top shooters from spots they usually score from.

“I thought we did really well at the faceoff x,” Lacon said of the first three quarters. “We were moving well in that region. We rode really well.

“(Fechter) has been like this the last four years. Unfortunately his freshman year was shut down due to COVID and after that he’s just continued to build momentum. He’s one of our better players.”

Bailey had two goals and an assist for the Cardinals while Will Hoffman scored the other goal.

The win puts Wissahickon in the driver’s seat for the SOL American title. The Trojans are the only undefeated team remaining and they already won head-to-head matchups against one-loss Upper Dublin and Hatboro-Horsham.

“It was basically us and Upper Dublin,” Lehman said. “We pretty much showed the league who’s number one. It was a pretty good score, obviously I think we wanted a little more on the board. Their defense – a lot of respect to their defense. We were not expecting that. They definitely showed out tonight, but our team overall was able to play better tonight.”

Wissahickon 7, Upper Dublin 3
Wissahickon 3 1 0 3 – 7
Upper Dublin 1 2 0 0 – 3
Goals: W: Kyle Lehman 4, Nick Donofrio 2, Andrew Slackman. UD: Will Bailey 2, Will Hoffman.
Assists: W: Andrew Slackman, Kyle Lehman, Nick Donofrio. UD: Al Eby, Will Bailey.
Saves: W: Kyle Crump 5. UD: Nate Fechter 7.