Boys Lacrosse: Slowing Haverford School proving to be a daunting task

HAVERFORD – Louie Atkinson took a beat to consider the question. The senior Haverford School defenseman would need a little time, if tasked with having to shut down the Fords offense, to figure out how he would want to go about it.

There aren’t obvious stress points to push in trying to shut down the Fords’ balanced attack. Even without their top midfielder still out injured, they had six guys score multiple goals Tuesday in an 18-9 romp over Episcopal Academy. It shows how daunting a task slowing Haverford down can be.

“I think our offense in the beginning of the year struggled to find itself, and as the season has gone on, especially now, we’re really starting to fire around and click,” Atkinson, a University of Delaware signee said. “Having not particularly one guy to match up against makes our offense really versatile, because anybody can dodge on anybody at any time on the field, so it brings our confidence up.”

That plethora of options gave the Churchmen fits. Ryan DiRocco led the parade with five goals and three assists. Younger brother Aydan DiRocco had two goals and three helpers. Wells Flinn and Brady O’Kane notched hat tricks, and Jack Long and Colin Zeller tallied twice each.

With middie Wills Burt working back from an injury, already the Fords (10-2, 5-0 Inter-Ac) are deep and dangerous. They have a little bit of everything in the attack, from speed and athleticism to beat defenders to feeders like the DiRoccos to a good sense of how to play together.

“I think our sum is greater than the whole as compared to last year,” Ryan DiRocco said. “We play a lot more fluidly and better together. As a whole, we’ve grown a lot more and we love to play with each other. It’s just great.”

It looks pretty great in action. Episcopal (9-6, 3-2) battled for a while. The Churchmen trailed 5-2 but evened the game with 4:16 left in the first half. The Fords replied with the final four goals of the half and rattled off a 5-0 run, keeping EA off the board for more than nine minutes.

EA again got close at 12-8 late in the third. But the response was even quicker with three goals in 38 seconds. In both cases, Long, one of the complementary pieces low on the scouting report priority list, started the runs, exploiting matchups with the weakest defender on the field.

Add in Flinn able to pick out corners at speed from up top, Zeller able to blast his left-handed shot on the wing or sweep on the dodge and Ryan DiRocco’s soft touch as a feeder behind the cage or a finisher on the crease … yeah, it’s a lot to try to keep a handle on.

“It’s awesome,” Ryan DiRocco said. “I love that we can rely on anyone to go and make a play. We work so well together, so it’s great to play together.”

EA presented fewer challenges defensively. Atkinson handled Dylan Jaszcz, who had a goal and an assist. The combination of long-stick middie Gavin Cooper and the face-guarding of short-stick defensive middie Connor Nolen effectively muted TJ Lamb, who paired a goal with two assists. Lucas Slate and Eddie Jones stepped up with a hat trick each. But that wasn’t enough to keep pace with the Fords, especially when they got rolling just before half.

“It all starts with how we come out,” Slate said. “We’ve got to come out swinging, we’ve got to come out scoring and playing hard. That changed the talk a lot because it was tied and they went up four. The momentum was in their sticks.”

Haverford’s offense is supercharged by a steady supply off the ball. The Fords won 21 of 30 draws, Ben McCarthy going 13-for-19 and Griff Meyer 8-for-11. EA effectively prevented transition offense most of the first half, but it snowballed in the third, with McCarthy setting up a Flinn goal.

Haverford scored in the final minute of each of the first three quarters. Flinn planted a bottom-corner goal on the run with five seconds left in the first. Ryan DiRocco snuck along the crease and deposited an Aydan DiRocco feed on the man-up with 39 ticks left in the first half, then Long, O’Kane and Aydan DiRocco piled on to cap the third. Only nine saves from Episcopal goalie Jack Guido in a solid performance prevented it from being more lopsided.

For the Fords, it’s part of a team that is maturing quickly. They’ve already won at Malvern Prep and make the turn for home in the Inter-Ac with a 5-0 mark. Losing to the Friars in overtime of the league final last year has been this team’s drive all season, which is paying dividends.

“I think everybody has the same mindset, and we know where we want to be at the end of the season come May,” Atkinson said. “Coming off of last year’s loss and playing with the majority of the same group of guys, all of our heads are in the same spot and we have very good chemistry with each other.”

In the Central League:

Ridley 12, Haverford 5 >> Owen Bosak scored four times, and Aaron Headley added three goals for the Green Raiders.

Curran Kranick led the Fords with two goals and an assist.

Marple Newtown 12, Penncrest 2 >> Ryan Keating pumped home five goals in a rematch of last year’s District 1 Class 2A final. Alex Chambers went 11-for-16 on draws, Joey Yukenavitch scored twice and Marco D’Alicandro stopped 11 shots for the Tigers.

Springfield 12, Harriton 3 >> Ty Gougler buried five goals to go with two assists as the Cougars rolled. Pat Flaherty and Jimmy Kennedy tallied two goals and two assists each. Lucas Aaron was 10-for-11 at the faceoff X.

Garnet Valley 11, Strath Haven 7 >> Kris Henning scored four goals to go with an assist, and Drew Goldt dished three assists and scored two goals to lead the Jaguars.

Austin Conner, Tate Gorman and Jamison Soeiro scored twice each for the Panthers.