Spring-Ford’s late rally comes up just short against District 1 champs Garnet Valley in PIAA 3A lacrosse opener

GLEN MILLS >> Spring-Ford’s boys’ lacrosse team never said die. And it took a full 48 minutes for the District 1 champions from Garnet Valley to drive the stake through their hearts.

But in the end, it was the top seeds and District champions prevailing, 8-7, on Tuesday evening at Moe DeFrank Stadium in an opening round PIAA 3A contest.

Garnet Valley broke open a dead-even contest with a 4-1 third-quarter run, then held off a furious Rams rally, forcing the final turnovers with under 10 seconds to play as Spring-Ford fought desperately to tie.

Andrew Goldt led the Jaguars with a hat trick plus an assist – two of his goals coming in the decisive third quarter – and the GV defense held Spring-Ford scoreless for an 18-minute stretch in the second half.

It was the second consecutive one-goal victory for Garnet Valley, who topped Springfield-Delco 10-9 in overtime last week for the District title.

“We sure do,” said defender Mike Medici when asked if the Jaguars preferred close contests. “We keep it thrilling. Spring-Ford’s a really talented team, but we were able to hold onto this one.”

With apologies to La Salle College’s excellent 2024 squad, District 1 and the Central League in particular have a stranglehold on PIAA lacrosse in recent years. So fans familiar with other single-elimination postseason tournaments might expect Garnet Valley – who finished third in the Central but won District 1 all the same – to be handed a relatively easy first-round matchup in states.

What they got was quite the opposite. For most of the game, Spring-Ford appeared to be very much Garnet Valley’s equal, thanks in large part to a Herculean first-half effort from sophomore goalie Dylan Cyr (14 saves).

Four different times, the Jaguars claimed a one-goal lead only for the Rams to answer. Leading scorer Brady Welsh evened the score at 5 with 7:30 to play, the point at which Garnet Valley took control for remainder of the stanza.

Luke Migioni tallied at 5:06, with Goldt following with a quick pair including a back-breaker with 10 seconds to play in the stanza.

Garnet’s attempts to run clock were effective until SF’s Ian Evans drew a late penalty, wand Sean Hassis (11/19 faceoffs) quickly struck to bring SF within two with 1:52 to play. It was Evans’ own turn 19 seconds later, and when the Rams caused a turnover to gain possession with 12 seconds left, coach Kevin Donnelly called a timeout to set up a final attempt.

But it wasn’t to be, as Valley’s Billy Krause and Gavin Rossello caused a final turnover before the Rams could set up their offense.

It’s safe to say that Spring-Ford’s players’ fondest memories of their high school lacrosse careers won’t involve the games against Garnet Valley.

Tuesday marked the third consecutive year the Jaguars have ended Spring-Ford’s season. To Donnelly, the challenge is in advancing further in Districts and avoiding such challenging matchups at the start of the PIAA tournament.

“We need to get over the hump in the District quarterfinal so we can enter this tournament in better standing,” he acknowledged. “We know how good Garnet Valley is, how well they’ve been playing all year.

“One of our strengths all year has been riding and clearing the ball, but (Garnet Valley) beat us in those areas tonight.”

Fortunately, there are plenty of brighter moments for the Rams over the past three seasons – namely, the opportunity to play in Tuesday’s first round, only the second appearance in the PIAA tournament in school history.

Spring-Ford finishes the 2024 season at a record of 18-6, and the graduating class of seniors go out as three-time PAC champions and leaders of the first team in seven years to earn a berth in the state tournament.

After avenging their lone regular season PAC loss with a victory over Owen J. Roberts in the league championship game, the Rams dropped a tough District quarterfinal to Downingtown East before earning their spot in states with a playback victory over Ridley.

A spot in 3A states has eluded Spring-Ford in recent years despite splendid regular season performances. Last year, they ran into an under-seeded Garnet Valley squad in the second. The previous season, the Rams couldn’t capitalize against GV in a playback game.

This year, however, Spring-Ford rose to the occasion repeatedly when challenged, whether in league play by avenging the regular season loss to OJR or in outlasting both Perkiomen Valley and Upper Merion in overtime.

Come postseason, fighting those tough in-league battles proved valuable as Spring-Ford was able to outgun Ridley just two days after going to the wire with Downingtown East in the District quarterfinals.

Of course, those accolades didn’t ease the sting of Tuesday night, but with juniors including leading scorer Brady Welsh, faceoff/midfield stalwart Sean Hassis, top defender Ben Fish, plus sophomore goalie Dylan Cyr and attackman Gavin Roth among others returning, Spring-Ford has a great opportunity to make deep runs through the District tournament and regular appearances in states the new program standard in the future.

Donnelly also acknowledged a senior class that includes attackmen Preston Page and Ian Schweizer, midfielders Ian Evans, Mike Bendowski, Hayden Wedemeyer, Owen Wydro, Max Stadler, Luke Hall, and defenders Jake Rogers, Brody Gundel, and Liam Ferrell.

“They’re just tough. Grinders. They never quit. The PAC semifinals (against Upper Merion) – we shouldn’t have won that game. It was our seniors who said no, we aren’t losing.

“Our guys have been battling all year. We had two guys go down with ACL injuries early – if you had said we were going to be right now, I wouldn’t have believed you. The growth of this team and the senior leadership has been remarkable.”

Spring-Ford continues chasing the same standard that’s been going strong at Garnet Valley for almost a full decade now. The Jaguars have qualified for states each season since 2017, a streak interrupted only by the cancellation of the 2020 season. Last week, GV claimed their second District 1 championship in an overtime thriller against Central League rival Springfield-Delco.

Tuesday night’s contest was the first step on the journey to what Garnet Valley hopes will be that elusive first-ever state championship.

“I think we’re a great team on offense and defense, and our faceoff guy (Kai Lopez) is (first team All-Central League),” said senior middie Josh Graham.

Next up for Garnet Valley is a Saturday quarterfinal against the winner of District 10 champion McDowell and District 7 winner Mount Lebanon. The game will take place at a time and site to be determined later this week.

Garnet Valley players and coaches know continued improvement will be a requirement as they make their way through the PIAA 3A bracket.

“We know what we can accomplish, we just won a District championship,” added defender Ethan Cleaver. “We have a standard that we need to play to in order to continue playing.”