By Chris Mueller
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/22/12
Ian Strain had three goals and an assist to earn Game MVP honors while Jon Garino scored a goal and won 14 of 19 face-offs as Episcopal Academy defeated Lawrenceville School, 11-4, Monday in the Inter-Ac Invitational semifinals at Cabrini College.
Strain was named the YBH Audi-Volkswagen MVP as the second-seeded Churchmen (17-5) earned a date with No. 1 Haverford School for the championship Thursday night at Cabrini at 7 p.m. Click here for Kudda.com telecast of games.
“Today was a great win,” said Strain. “My teammates really set me up for some nice plays today; credit goes out to them.”
Tyler Odell scored three times and Trupert Ortlieb tallied twice as Episcopal broke open a 3-3 halftime game with five straight third-quarter goals. Connor Haab had a goal and two assists and Sam Lawlor added a goal and an assist, while Henry Coote made eight saves for the Churchmen.
EA fell to Haverford School twice in the regular season in close games, 9-8 in overtime and 9-6.
“Haverford and us are bitter rivals,” said Strain. “We have a lot of respect for them, but we just need to come out with a lot of energy and match them.”
“This was our best total game we’ve played all year.” added EA coach Andy Hayes. “If we can play with this energy Thursday night, I think it’s going to be an incredible game.”
For Lawrenceville (17-4), Brendan Newman scored 2 goals while Walker Kirby and Steffen Gratch each tallied a goal. Matt O’Connor played well in net with 10 saves.
“I think we got beat in every aspect of the game today,” said Lawrenceville coach Allen Fitzpatrick. “Episcopal is a great team, their fast, tough, hard, and well-coached.”
Episcopal Academy 11, Lawrenceville School 4
EA 2-1-5–3 – 11
LS 1-2-0-1- 4
EA
Ian Strain 3g, 1a
Tyler Odell 3g
Jon Garino 1g, 14 of 19 FO
Sam Lawlor 1g, 1a
Trupert Ortlieb 2g
Conor McCann 1a
Connor Haab 1g, 2a
Henry Coote 8 saves
LS
Brendan Newman 2g
Walker Kirby 1g
Steffen Gratch 1g
Nick Minnow 1a
Matt O’Connor 10 saves
