By Tom Peace
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/31/13
TOWSON, Md. – St. Joseph’s Prep coacj Eric Gregg offered no excuse after his Hawks suffered a disappointing 13-5 defeat to host Loyola Blakefield on Saturday.
“This was definitely not the result we wanted,” said Gregg. “Give credit to (Loyola) coach (Jack) Crawford; they run a great program.
“They just caught us flat footed defensively and couldn’t stop anybody. We couldn’t figure out schemes. We started fine offensively, but we just couldn’t keep grinding and we didn’t have the ball much.”
Villanova-signee Devin McNamara sparked a 10-0 run with four goals and added four assists to spark the Dons (4-2). St. Joe’s Prep (2-1) entered play ranked No. 25 by Under Armour-Inside Lacrosse.
“We came out played as a team and moved ball well,” said McNamara, who finished with four goals and four assists.
The Hawks took an early 3-2 lead thanks to strong work at the face-off X and a potent attack. But Loyola’s Kevin Jackson (four goals, two assists) and Ryan Conrad (two goals) scored late in the first quarter and the Dons ripped off seven straight tallies in the second quarter to seize an 11-3 lead.
The Hawks had not used the new college rules that private schools are using until Saturday.
“It was good for our guys to come out and play with this rules,” said Gregg. “We just didn’t have it today. Credit to them – they beat us all over, face offs, shooting and offense and defense.”
The Hawks have no time to sulk. They play two top Inter-Ac League squads this week, Tuesday at Haverford School and Friday night at Episcopal Academy.
Crawford said his team capitalized on its scoring chances.
“They are a very good team and very unselfish early on we weren’t rotating and moving quickly on defense to disrupt their ball movement,” said Crawford. “We adjusted on defense and faceoff and we created good scoring opportunities.
“Today we cashed in on a lot of those.”
Tyler Cliggett had two goals to lead the Hawks.
Crawford credited McNamara and Jackson.
“They have been playing well all year and they certainly feed off each other well,” he said. “But I think the result of those goals today were a result of movement of ball coming from our D through the neutral zone.”
Crawford said his team is prepared for the rigors of the MIAA season after defeating three Philly teams (The Prep, Haverford School, Penn Charter) and losing to Malvern Prep.
“These Philadelphia teams are very good teams and you have to play hard to beat them,” he said. “We have three wins and one loss against Philly area teams and all four teams are very good. We feel well about that. Bottom line is you have to be operating on all cylinders when you get into the league season.”
Loyola-Blakefield 13, St. Joseph’s Prep 5
LB 4-7-1-1 -13
SJP 3-0-0-2 -5
Loyola Blakefield
Devon McNamara 4 G, 4 A
Kevin Jackson 4 G, 2 A
Tyler Llewellyn 1 G
Tim Nordbrook 1 G, 2 A
Ryan Conrad 2 G, 1 A
Cole Williams 1 G
Acie Newton 9 Saves
Kevin O’Toole 11/19 Face offs
SJP
Tyler Cliggett 2 G
Pat Walsh 2 G
Anthony Marini 1 G, 1 A
Joe Walsh 2 A
AJ Simon 3 saves
Mike Marchese 6 Saves
