Rose, Garnet Valley rise to Rams’ challenge
RADNOR » Some 27 games of boys and girls lacrosse were played at the Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival Saturday, and as the day went on, it seemed all the rest were trying to live up to the competitive standard set by the morning’s first contest between two boys district and state title contenders.
Garnet Valley seized momentum right before halftime, then scored the first four goals of the second half before staving off a furious Spring-Ford rally to outlast the Rams, 8-7, in a seesaw contest at Radnor’s Creek Field.
Mitch Lachman led the victorious Jaguars (8-5) with three goals, but the game turned on goalie Jay Rose’s play with seconds remaining before halftime.
Trailing 5-3 at the time, and with only seconds remaining before the half, Rose fired a field-long pass that found the stick of Jags midfielder Nate Ominsky, who beat the buzzer to cut Spring-Ford’s halftime lead to a single goal.
“That’s a play where you’re just taking anything you can get,” Rose said. “That was a heads-up play by Nate, taking advantage of the defense relaxing, and using every second we had.”
“Definitely changed the momentum,” Garnet Valley Coach Frank Urso said. “I think we would’ve been discouraged going into halftime, instead we were upbeat, ready to go.”
Lachman knotted the contest at 5-all shortly after halftime, and attackman Danny Laird gave the Jags the lead for good with 40 seconds to go in the third quarter.
Lachman’s third goal along with a Danny Bradley tally expanded GV’s lead to 8-5, while the Jaguars’ defense stood tall at the other end, holding Spring-Ford without a goal for the first 20 minutes of the second half.
“That’s a great team with some top shooters,” Urso said. “But our biggest advantage, with Jay in the goal, is to limit them to outside shots.”
Spring-Ford (11-4) mounted a furious rally behind Jarrod Marenger (four goals) and a late score from Nicholas Teets, but Garnet Valley was able to maintain possession for the final minute and run out the clock.
For the Rams, the tough defeat came with the solace that they’d stood toe-to-toe with a state heavyweight.
“We’ve tried to put together a schedule that challenges us against the best teams this area has to offer,” said coach Kevin Donnelly, “and we’ve done that.”
“Now we need to take the next step and start grabbing some wins in these games.”