The excitement expected at a league opener dissipated fairly quickly at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy last Tuesday, when the Blue Devils hosted the Germantown Academy Patriots to launch the 2024 boys' lacrosse season in the Inter-Ac League.

The SCH squad came into the game with a solid 7-2 record while the Patriots, who had graduated nine seniors off of their 2023 roster, arrived with a 0-4 mark.

Thanks to an early goal by senior Finn Dougherty, the Blue Devils held a 1-0 edge five minutes into Tuesday's tilt, but from there things went downhill rapidly for the Patriots. By the end of the quarter, Springside Chestnut Hill led 9-0, and the tally was 19-0 at halftime.

As SCH aired out its bench in the second half and GA showed some improvement, the scoreboard moved more slowly toward a 22-4 final.

After the Blue Devils' early surge, starting goalie Hayes Schreiner (a senior who'll play for Penn State) retired to the sideline and freshman Moe Sobel (eight saves) took over in the cage. Germantown Academy finally got on the scoreboard early in the third quarter, with a marker by junior Sean Walsh.

Senior Alec Tulio led the winners' offense with four goals, and sophomore Sebastian Small recorded a hat trick. Two goals apiece were provided by Dougherty, junior Griffy Whitman, sophomore Cole Carberry, and freshman Read Goodwin.

Tulio will continue his lacrosse career at Drexel University, and his classmate Stevie Pileggi is also staying local, joining up with St. Joseph's University. Dougherty is headed north to Fairfield University while Ross Prince travels south to Georgetown. Fellow seniors Jake Olin and Alex Pilling plan to play for Dickinson and Franklin & Marshall, respectively.

GA head coach Billy McKinney, a Penn Charter graduate, is now in his ninth year as the Patriots' skipper, while Brian Dougherty, an Episcopal Academy product, took charge of the Blue Devils in 2018.

In their next league outings, both teams would face stiff challenges, with SCH tackling 2023 Inter-Ac champion Haverford School and GA facing runner-up Malvern Prep.

Below the SCH lacrosse field, on the softball diamond, another encounter with Germantown Academy took place last Tuesday. Playing only their second official game due to a series of recent rain-outs, the Blue Devils improved to 2-0 with a 7-1 victory. Previously, they had beaten Penn Charter in their Inter-Ac opener.

Tuesday's contest was the first league game for Germantown, and the Patriots came away with an overall mark of 1-2. They'd beaten Lawrenceville School and had lost to Conwell-Egan in non-league contests.

SCH got all the offense it would need for the win in the bottom of the second, thanks to a three-run double by sophomore Sadie Friedman. Senior Kama Bode churned out a double in each of her four appearances at the plate during the afternoon, and junior Morgan Risnychock went two-for-four.

Freshman pitcher Sami Snyder recorded the win with 13 strike-outs. GA avoided a shutout when sophomore Zoey Clark led off the sixth inning with a double and then scored on an error.