Verszyla responds with OT goal in Rams’ victory
Pine-Richland rallies late in 3rd, forces overtime on Lanyard goal
HAVERFORD, Pa. — A.J. Verszyla spent a lot of time in the penalty box during the Pennsylvania Cup championship game against LaSalle.
And he wanted more than anything to make up for putting the Rams in a quandary so many times.
“It just motivated me,” Verszyla said. “I was getting a little bit of pressure and it was good to respond.”
Did he ever. Verszyla scored the state-championship-winning goal at 7:07 of overtime to give Pine-Richland a 5-4 victory on Saturday against LaSalle at Skatium in Haverford.
“It was amazing. It went so fast. It was laying in front of the net and I roofed it,” Verszyla said. “That was huge. I’ll remember that the rest of my life.”
It’s the fourth state championship for PineRichland and first in Class 3A. The Rams won their most recent title in Class 2A in 2019.
“It means everything. The team worked so hard and it’s deserving,” PineRichland coach Jordan Yoklic said. “Everything that they have worked for has paid off.”
Although Verszyla scoredthe game winner, he wouldn’thave even had the opportunity had it not been for a clutch tally by Josh Lanyard, who finished off a hat trick with the game-tying goal with Rams goaltender Brett Sudac on the bench for the extra attacker with 1:37 remaining in regulation.
“The state championship game, you’ve got to leave it all out there,” Lanyard said. “The puck was in front, I got a good shot and put it 5-hole.”
Early on it didn’t appear Pine-Richland would need overtime. The Rams couldn’t have gotten off to a be-tter start.
Lanyard opened things up for the Rams with a goal 5:57 into the game, then Colten Andrighetti poked one home past Rossi during a scrum in front at 12:06 to stake them to a 2-0 lead. It got even better early in the second period when Lanyard popped home his second of the game at 2:34 and, all of the sudden, Pine -Richland was up 3-0 and had LaSalle on the ropes. That was when things changed.
Just 45 seconds after Lanyard’s second goal, Julian Tarsi beat Sudac to get the Explorers back within striking distance, 3-1.
Pine-Richlandthen took a string of penalties and two of them turned into the powerplay goals. Alistair St. Hilaire got the first at 6:12, then Patrick Brace knotted it up, 3-3, at 12:23. LaSalle finished its scoring when James Carpenter scored what appeared to be a backbreaking short-handed goal at 1:53 of the third period to give the Explorers their first leadof the game, 4-3.
That was how it stayed until Lanyard sent it to overtime.