PC boys' lacrosse tested by tough opponents

Posted 4/2/18

Penn Charter junior Gavin Tygh drives down from midfield. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher After a road trip to Virginia, the boys of Penn Charter played on their home lacrosse field for the …

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PC boys' lacrosse tested by tough opponents

Posted

Penn Charter junior Gavin Tygh drives down from midfield. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

After a road trip to Virginia, the boys of Penn Charter played on their home lacrosse field for the first time last Wednesday, taking on the Big Red of Lawrenceville School. The Quakers came back from an early deficit to tie the game at 8-8 in the middle of the third quarter, but the visitors then put together a 4-0 run that extended into the final period.

PC scored the final two goals of the afternoon, but still slipped to 0-4 on the season as Lawrenceville took a 12-10 win back across the Delaware.

The Quakers are adjusting to the loss of nine players who graduated from the 2017 team.

"We have some guys playing real varsity roles for the first time, and other guys who have changed their position," explained longtime head coach Pat McDonough after Wednesday's match. "The best way to get better is in actual games, but the teams we're playing are good, and they make you pay for your mistakes. You end up on the down side of a 9-8 loss or a two-goal loss like today."

It doesn't help that an ACL injury has sidelined veteran senior defenseman Terence Thompson, but McDonough does have junior Sam Keyser and sophomore Noah Evans back as starting defenders, along with junior Carson Marano in goal.

Another 11th-grader, Gavin Tygh, is back to perform on face-offs, and McDonough noted that sophomore defensive mid Kyle Jones is now a long-pole player. Two freshmen who are already seeing time are Conor McKee, whose older brother Sean is a former PC goalie ('16), and Antonio DeMarco.

The younger McKee, an attackman, scored twice in last week's home opener. The Quakers' attack was led by senior Blake Target, who logged four goals and one assist. Charter also received two goals apiece from Tygh and senior Ryan Dickson (one assist).

In the fourth minute of last Wednesday's contest, an opening goal for Lawrenceville was matched almost immediately by PC's Dickson. During a man-up stretch in the middle of the period, Target scored off an assist from junior Jayce Dyer. The resulting 2-1 advantage would be the Quakers' only lead of the afternoon, though, as the Larries responded with three consecutive goals to end the quarter ahead 5-2.

Quakers senior Luke Brogan (left) gets acquainted with Zander Kurowsky of Lawrenceville School. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Strikes by Target and Tygh helped the hosts trim one point off of their deficit early in the second quarter, but with the score at 6-4 near the middle of the period the Quakers committed penalties that would leave them two men down for 49 seconds. Two Lawrenceville goals in half-a-minute spread the score out to 8-4 with 4:56 left in the half.

On another penalty called on them later on (non-releasable), things worked out much better for the Quakers. In a span of just 12 seconds, McKee and Tygh each put a shot in the net, and Penn Charter was back within two points by halftime, 8-6.

Just over three minutes into the third quarter, PC's Dickson fought his way out from behind the goal on the right side to score. On a shot from the other side, Target tied the game, 8-8, with 7:33 left in the third.

A few minutes later, Lawrenceville got a goal from right on the PC crease. The Big Red continued to attack, but had one strong shot saved by Marano and had another bounce off a pipe. The Quakers were still just one goal behind (9-8) for the start of the final period.

The visitors controlled the ball early in the fourth quarter and went up by two goals with 10:38 remaining. PC came up on the attack briefly, but after a shot by Tygh struck a pipe, the Larries went back on the offensive. Marano turned aside two shots, then the visitors found the net to make it 11-8 with 7:34 to go.

With just over four-and-a-half minutes left to play, Marano blocked a Big Red shot, but an attacker got to the ground ball in front of the cage and flicked it into the goal. This was Lawrenceville's last goal of the day, and in the final 63 seconds the Quakers were able to close up the score from 12-8 to 12-10 with markers from McKee and Target.

It was a close outcome, especially in light of the fact that Lawrenceville took 46 shots to PC's 24. Marano made 16 saves for Penn Charter during the contest.

UPDATE - Back on the road on Thursday, Penn Charter earned its first victory by beating host Garnet Valley, 4-3. Dickson, McKee, Target and sophomore Dean Bleiler did the scoring, and Marano made 15 saves.