by Tom Utescher

Stepping outside of Inter-Ac League lacrosse competition in the middle of the week, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy travelled to Bryn Athyn and the Academy of the New Church last Wednesday. There, the Blue Devils found an ANC team that is dominating the boy’s lacrosse scene within the Friends Schools League.

Things didn’t start off badly for SCH, which was leading 2-0 late in the first quarter. The host Lions got on the board with just eight seconds left in the opening period, and the Blue Devils didn’t score again that afternoon. New Church was ahead 5-2 by halftime, and then proceeded to a 9-2 victory that raised its record to 12-5 overall this season. SCH slipped to 3-11.

The Blue Devils were coming off of a 10-9 victory over Bucks County’s Pennridge High School the previous Saturday at the Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival. There, SCH received a hat trick from C.J. Sweitzer and two goals apiece from two other seniors, Joe Fabiani and Mac McLaughlin. However, an injury would keep Fabiani sidelined for Wednesday’s game at ANC.

Junior Bern Popky played the whole way in the goal for the visitors, logging eight saves on the day. ANC sophomore keeper Griffin McGinley made seven stops, and the Lions recorded a hat trick at the other end of the field for Dave Closterman, a senior who will play for the University of Vermont.

Springside Chestnut Hill’s McLaughlin, who will enter the U.S. Naval Academy, accounted for both of the Blue Devil goals. After his squad killed an early 30-second penalty, McLaughlin came from the rear of the cage on the right and squeezed in a low backhand shot.

Following this initial goal with 9:21 remaining in the first quarter, the Lions went up on offense for a few minutes but simply missed the cage on several shots, sending most of them just over the crossbar.

With the clock dropping below 90 seconds to go in the first frame, Blue Devils senior C.J. Sweitzer (Bryant University) was handling the ball at the top of the offensive set. He passed the ball over to McLaughlin on the left and the Annapolis recruit drilled a shot into the net with 1:13 on the clock.

From ANC’s perspective, it was important to get on the scoreboard before the end of the opening quarter, and with 8.1 seconds left the Lions did it with an outside shot by senior Erik Lindrooth.

Blue Devils freshman Mason Clemens runs the ball out of the defensive zone along the right sideline. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

New Church possessed the ball early in the second period, and with just over two minutes elapsed SCH’s Popky saved a shot toward the top left corner by the Lions’ Closterman. Springside Chestnut Hill then had the ball up on offense for some time in the middle of the period, but the ANC defense played well and the Blue Devils settled for a few low-percentage shots that failed to add to their 2-1 lead.

Once the Lions went back on the attack, the tone of the game changed considerably. First tying the contest, ANC then deposited three goals in the final two minutes of the first half. Closterman tied it up for the home team with 5:48 on the clock, and over the next few minutes each team took a time-out.

At 1:48, Academy of the New Church moved ahead for good, 3-2, when a nice transition sequence culminated in a goal for Joe Paterno (yes, that’s really his name).

More devastating for the Devils were two goals scored by Closterman in the last dozen seconds before halftime. On the first, the ball was stopped by SCH’s Popky, but rolled across the goal line with 11.9 seconds showing. The Lions then charged down off of the subsequent face-off and Closterman sank a low shot just as time expired.

After Paterno put ANC up 6-2 in the third minute of the second half, his club killed a 30-second penalty. The Blue Devils were not as fortunate when they had to play shorthanded for two minutes; an SCH turnover was recovered by the Lions’ Closterman and he assisted Jeb Brenfleck on the home team’s seventh goal with 6:46 remaining in the third.

The Blue Devils weren’t back to even strength for long before they were hit with a one-minute penalty. With 4:44 to go Kevin Vandegrift cashed in for the Lions, taking them into the fourth quarter with an 8-2 advantage.

Most of the final period was taken up by several long possessions on offense by the Lions. With 8:19 to go they put up their final goal as John Veit came from behind the cage to score. After that, SCH’s Popky made two saves to keep the leaders from reaching double figures.

Just after the clock fell below the two-minute mark the Lions were penalized 30 seconds for a push. A shot by Blue Devils sophomore Ethan Gyllenhaal was saved by ANC’s McGinley, and soon the final score was locked in at 9-2.