The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
LC falls short in state quarterfinals
Crusaders blanked by Lewisburg
MANCHESTER >> Lansdale Catholic ran into quite an opponent on Saturday.
“If they don’t win the state title, I’m gonna be very surprised,” Crusaders coach Casey Farrell said of Lewisburg.
The Dragons sped away to a 2-0 victory over LC in the PIAA 2A Quarterfinals at Northeastern’s Bobcat Stadium. The win advanced Lewisburg to Tuesday’s state semis against New Hope Solebury.
A tremendous season came to a close for Lansdale Catholic.
Lewisburg broke a scoreless tie seven minutes into the second half, off the foot of Anthony Bhangdia. Threading the needle with flawless passing and using its speed on the outside, the Dragons doubled their lead to 2-0 with 18 minutes to play, with Bhangdia again finishing the deal.
“They had speed all over the field,” Farrell said. “We didn’t get here based on scoring 50 goals a game. What we hang our hats on is defense. And I think it’s one of those things where they came out in the second half firing on all cylinders. They kind of caught us off guard here and there and we were trying to pick up the pieces.”
The Crusaders couldn’t quite put together that right combination to cut the lead in half.
Goalie Kellan Ward made some nice stops for the Crusaders to keep the team within striking distance. Jimmy Alff, C.J. McNally, Cory Toburen, Declan MacKay, Matt McDougal, Eric Fernandez, Evan Senour, Owen Webster, Brendan McKay and Seal Cole battled one last time this year for the Crusaders on a windy, cold day on the turf.
“The season we’ve had, where we got to from where we started, with all of the ups and downs we’ve had, I couldn’t be