BOYS LACROSSE: Welsh’s 5 goals help Spring-Ford hold off Souderton for 3rd straight win

FRANCONIA — No matter the elements, Braden Welsh is confident the Spring-Ford boys lacrosse team can come through.

“Doesn’t really matter if we’re playing in snow, sleet, rain, 90 degrees,” Welsh said. “If we put our best lacrosse out there we know we’re going to probably most likely come out on top.”

The Rams had to contend with some wet weather along with host Souderton Wednesday night, as a light rain during the non-league contest grew steadier approaching halftime and continued into the third quarter.

But the conditions did little to throw off Welsh, the junior riffling a pair of shots through the raindrops and into the top of the net in a span of 50 seconds to extend Spring-Ford’s lead to 7-3 early in the second half.

“It definitely doesn’t get much easier – stick gets heavier and stuff – but you have to also think they’re dealing with the same thing, goalie’s dealing with the same thing,” Welsh said. “So I’ve spent a lot of time working on my shot and like I said I have a ton of confidence in my teammates, if I don’t have the shot then they’re going to take the shot and they’re probably going to score.”

Welsh shrugged off a few hits to score with 5.7 seconds remaining in the third to have Spring-Ford back up four at 8-4. Ian Evans’ tally with 10:21 in the fourth pushed the lead to five and the Rams held off the Indians’ late charge to earn a 10-8 victory.

“I think our biggest thing is just confidence,” Welsh said. “We came in here with a ton of confidence, we started off 0-2 and we knew we didn’t play our best lacrosse. We think we have the guys this year and we definitely do. We think we can go ahead and win games and that’s what we just did tonight.”

Welsh, a junior who has verbally committed to play at Bellarmine University, finished with a game-high five goals while Evans scored three times as Spring-Ford (3-2) won its third straight after starting the season with losses to Avon Grove and defending District 1-3A champ Springfield-Delco.

“Great learning experience,” Welsh said. “We unluckily had one of our starting attackmen go out with an ACL injury, another one of our faceoff midfielders went out with a knee injury, another defensemen went out with another knee injury. So we kind of just got unlucky.

“But like I said, I mean one to 30 on our roster we know everyone on our team can play. We have confidence in everyone to step up if their name’s called, number’s called.”

Seth Grossman paced Souderton (2-2) with three goals while Jaden Knize and Sean Landis both found the back of the net twice as the Indians had their two-game win streak snapped. John Martin Vince added a goal and two assists while Gavin Landis collected two assists.

“I think through the second half we played the way we’re supposed to play, right, and I think if we play like that in the first half maybe we don’t end up four behind,” Indians coach Craig Hunsberger said. “So I think it could’ve been a little bit more energetic, a little bit more aggressive throughout the first half.

“And I think maybe if we play that type of game throughout the entire game we end up with a little bit closer (deficit) and we don’t have to continuously chase from four behind or something like that, maybe it’s two, and we can get back into the game there.”

Both teams begin league play with road games Tuesday. Souderton visits Council Rock South for a Suburban One League National Conference matchup at 5:30 p.m. while Spring-Ford is at Upper Merion for a PAC contest at 6:30 p.m.

“I knew this was going to be a tough team, they’ve got a lot of good players and I designed it like this,” Hunsberger said. “I knew we had a team and we’re trying to play in the playoffs and we’ve got to play playoff teams in order to play in the playoffs. So that’s what we were kind of looking for throughout this season.”

Spring-Ford, which has won PAC title the past two seasons, never trailed Wednesday. Hayden Wedemeyer scored at 11:19 in the opening quarter with Welsh striking for his first of the night to make it 2-0 at 1:59.

A Welsh tally at 6:35 in the second quarter had the Rams up 3-1 before back-to-back goals from Sean Landis pulled the Indians even with 5:14 left in the half.

Gavin Roth gave Spring-Ford back the advantage at 3:16 while Evans came around the net and connected on a jump shot at 1:38 to send the visitors into the break leading 5-3.

In the third, Welsh stepped forward into space then ripped a shot into the top left corner, increasing the margin to three with his third goal at 7:15. Welsh then added a fourth at 6:25, Evans sending a pass from behind the net to the junior up top for a shot sent into the top of the cage.

“I give a ton of credit to Ian Evans behind, drawing men and finding the open guys and it just happened to be me,” Welsh said. “But not really changes, like I said we don’t have to rise to their level, we know that if we stay even keeled, stay steady, we’re going to score goals, it’s not a problem.”

Grossman cut the Indians’ deficit to 7-4 at 2:08 but Welsh notched his fifth and final goal in the third’s final moments, battling through a few hits to deliver a shot into the net at 5.7 seconds.

“I saw we had the flag and I had the ball, it’s kind of just whirlwind – a bunch of people coming after me,” Welsh said. “Somehow I just freed my hands and just had an open shot and tried my best to bury it.”

The rain lessened as the second half continued with Evans giving the Rams their largest lead at 9-4 with his goal at 10:21 in the fourth. But Souderton responded with a three-goal run, Knize striking at 9:02 then again at 6:20 while Grossman put a shot in at 5:19 to have Big Red within 9-7.

“We were attacking in their short sticks from behind, we were moving the ball well and when we did that we found open looks on the crease, Hunsberger said. “And that was our goal from the start. And when we stuck to the gameplan, our gameplan worked, it was just sometimes we strayed from the gameplan and then that led to some turnovers or to some saves that they ended up flipping on us. And then when you give that team the ball they can put goals in.”

Evans, however, scored to complete his hat trick, giving the Rams back a three-goal edge. A Vince tally had Souderton again down two at 1:28 but the home side could not pull any closer.