By Chris Mueller
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/27/12
Tyler Odell scored the game-winner late in the third period and visiting Episcopal Academy held off a strong rally today in an 8-6 non-league boys’ lacrosse victory over Downingtown East.
The Cougars (1-1) had rallied from a 5-1 deficit with four unanswered goals in the middle periods. Morgan Westby and Ian Strain, who led the Churchmen with two goals each, scored the final tallies as the Churchmen improved to 5-0.
“We definitely battled through adversity today.” said Strain, the Lehigh bound junior. “We crossed a lot of problems but we came together in the end and got through it.
“We were struggling a bit on the offensive end and I hadn’t taken too many shots. I just thought I’d take a chance and luckily it went in.”
Episcopal coach Andy Hayes credited his defense, but left big room for improvement.
“Our defense had some timely stops in the third and fourth quarter, but I think the biggest key was that Downingtown East ran out of time,” he said. “We need to play a lot harder and be smarter all over the field.”
Downingtown East (1-1) made a spirited comeback attempt and tied it, 5-5. Aaron Murphy (three goals) and Ryan Poole (one) led the 4-0 spurt to tie it up, 5-5, late in the third period.
Henry Coote made eight saves to earn the win for EA and Connor Haab had two goals and one assist while Tyler Odell scored twice. Sam Weiss had 12 saves for the Cougars.
“We had a lot of turnovers today,” said Downingtown East coach Tom Cliggett, “There were too many turnovers for playing against a team that good. You need to take advantage of your opportunities and we turned the ball over way too much.”
Cliggett said a little good came out of the defeat.
“This was a learning experience today,” he said. “We’re playing these games to get better for when May comes around.”
Next up for Episcopal is a showdown at 1-0 La Salle College High School on Friday. Going into the game, Episcopal was ranked 5th in the Phillylacrosse.com rankings, one spot behind La Salle.
Episcopal Academy 8 Downingtown East 6
EA 3-2-1-2-8
DE 0-3-2-1-6
EA- Connor Haab 2G 1A, Morgan Westby 2G, Ian Strain 2G, Tyler Odell 2G, Curtis Zappala 2A, Tupert Ortlieb 1A
DE- Aaron Murphy 3G, Kyle Lauletta 1G 1A, Brandyn O’Connel 1G 1A, Ryan Poole 1G, Scott Allison 1A
Saves
EA- Henry Coote-8
DE- Sam Weiss-12
