By Nick Desatnick & Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/12/11
Zach Rego tallied three goals and visiting Haverford School tallied the final three goals of the game to earn a 7-4 victory over Malvern Prep today in a rain-soaked Inter-Ac League showdown of last year’s co-champions.
The Fords improved to 9-0 overall and 2-0 in the Inter-Ac, while avenging two defeats to the Friars (6-2, 2-1) last year.
Haverford School, ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN RISE, Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse and MaxPreps, saw the Friars tie the game before halftime on a goal by Joe Carlini.
Haverford School took a 4-3 lead to open the second half when Grove Stewart (two goals) took a feed from Carl Walrath (one goal, two assists). But Malvern Prep responded in the fourth period as defenseman Wes Pancoast went coast-to-coast to tie it.
With 9:11 to play, Stewart scored again off a dish from Walrath and then Hup Hupfeldt fed Rego for a 6-4 lead with 3:05 to play. Rego added one more late in the game to seal it.
Drew Kennedy won 10 of 15 face-offs for Malvern Prep.
Conor Kelly finished with 10 saves for Haverford School, which spoiled the bid by Malvern Prep coach David Metzbower to beat the squad he coached last year as an assistant under close friend John Nostrant.
“We knew we had to come out hard today,” Rego said,. “Malvern is a great team and all of us were excited for the game.
“We came out strong and played well as a team, but the rain was an issue that we hadn’t counted on. We had some sloppy play and some dropped passes, but we focused on what we had to do and the got the big win.”
Keith Dreyer and Colin Farrell also scored for the Friars.
“For us, the first thing is the league,” said Nostrant. “Malvern is our rival and we knew they would certainly be well-coached.
“We felt on paper we had the advantage; we just needed to go out and play and play hard and we felt if we stayed within ourselves we’d be fine.”
On his friendly rivalry with Metzbower, Nostrant said, “It’s awful tough to coach against your buddy. Obviously, you want to win and you want your kids to be happy. He’s got a young team and one that’s going to be better in two weeks, three weeks and next year.”
Haverford School 7, Malvern Prep 4
Haverford School 2-1-1-3- 7
Malvern Prep 1-2-9-01 – 4
Haverford School
Zach Rego 3g
Hup Hupfeldt 1 g
Carl Walrath 1g, 2a
Grove Stewart 2 g
Conor Kelly 10 saves
Malvern Prep
Keith Dreyer 1g
Joe Carlini 1g
Colin Farrell 1g
Wes Pancoast 1g
Ryan McDevitt – 5 saves
Matt Barrett – 5 saves
