Hun rallies to beat rival PDS in season opener

PRINCETON » Competition is at its highest when Hun and Princeton Day School square off in boys lacrosse, where the last eight annual meetings have been split 4-4 — seven decided by two goals or less.

Another chapter in the crosstown rivalry was written Wednesday as Hun rallied from a three-goal halftime deficit to storm past PDS, 10-8, in both teams’ season opener at Jan Baker Field.

For many Raiders players, the win avenged a doubleovertime loss at home to the Panthers in last year’s opener.

“These guys are always great competition right down the road,” said junior Devon Cowan, who netted a teamhigh three goals for Hun. “A lot of guys are friends on both teams, so it’s nice to play against your buddies and it’s good to start off with a win.”

Cowan’s sixth career hat trick included an unassisted strike which extended Hun’s lead to 9-7 late in the fourth quarter. Jacob Keller added the finishing touches when he scored with 59 seconds left after corralling a ground ball and sprinting coast to coast.

Devon Tavani and Trevor Deubner added two goals apiece. Grant Hanson and Jake Wright scored one goal each in the second half, where the Raiders finished the final 10 minutes on a 5-1 run.

“Throughout the game we just kind of made sure that we had what we call ‘FIC’ — focus, intensity and composure,” Cowan said. “All we had to do was keep our composure. We weren’t really too nervous because we’ve been performing all year throughout Arizona. All year long we’ve been practicing ... we do a lot of team building. We always hang out. We’re such a tight group of kids.”

Princeton Day’s Elon Tuckman tallied a gamehigh four goals, including the 100th of his career. The senior attackman currently leads all active area players with 181 career points.

“He just brings talent and poise and great leadership to us — as a captain and then also as a locker-room guy, and then certainly on the field,” PDS coach Rich D’Andrea said. “He’s just one of the smartest kids that I’ve coached, and so in part he’s out there kind of coaching the offense.”

The Panthers controlled the tempo well early on. They scored the final three goals of the second quarter including a near buzzer-beater when Jake Bennett assisted from behind the net to Cal Caputo, who finished with two goals.

“Hun made some nice in-game adjustments there, came out in the zone in the second half,” D’Andrea said. “For us it’s a game of adjustments. We didn’t execute in the way that we could’ve. So again, as a coach, it falls on me to have these guys be ready for that.”

Hun next welcomes Springside Chestnut Hill to town on Tuesday, while PDS will host Princeton High on Monday.

The Panthers are competing in Prep A this season after winning the last two Prep B state tournaments, so there’s a chance they’ll see the Raiders again down the road.

“We haven’t lost a whole lot of lacrosse games the last couple years, and so there’s a lot of value in learning from losing,” D’Andrea said. “We’re trying to get better by the end of the year. There’s a lot of things to extract from this one.”

Hun (1-0) PDS (0-1) Goals —

Cowan 3, Tavani 2, Deubner 2, Hanson, Wright, Keller (H), Tuckman 4, Caputo 2, Auslander, Konopka (PDS). Barletta, Wright (H), Caputo, Bennett, Auslander (PDS).

16 (H), 13 (PDS). Craven 5 (H), Green 6 (PDS)

Assists — Shots — Saves — 2 2 1 4 2 5 — 0 2— 10 8