By Mike Prince
For Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/16/13
It may have been a battle of No. 8 vs. No. 9 and a matchup of teams with identical records, but once the game began Abington was completely overmatched by host Great Valley tonight.
The Ches-Mont League co-champion Patriots opened up the game by scoring all four first-quarter goals and cruised to a 9-5 win over the visiting Ghosts in a District 1 second-round playoff.
Thanks to two goals apiece by junior Greg Merrill and senior Timmy Lamb, along with one apiece by Tyler Haines and Dillan Buettner, the No. 8 seeded Patriots (16-4) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first half and advanced to a quarterfinal matchup with No. 1 Radnor (a 10-5 winner over Central Bucks South) on Saturday.
“We got an early 6-0 lead, which was awesome, and in the locker room, we were all amped up and ready to go,” Merrill said. “We knew Abington was a good team and once we got that lead, we kind of kept it rolling. They made a couple pushes back, but we fought back and won.”
After the Ghosts (15-5) got two goals back late in the first half – both by Will Dulin – the Patriots came out in the second half and took a 7-2 lead as Merrill tallied his third goal. After 9:57 of scoreless lacrosse, the Ghosts began to make a push as Joey Lomady scored two quick goals in the opening 3 ½ minutes of the quarter.
But Great Valley came back with goals from Jon Fuydal and Noah Joseph to put an end to any Abington comeback attempt.
“We didn’t come out firing,” said Dulin, a junior. “We didn’t have enough momentum or anything to go into the game with enough confidence to beat this team.
“We came in thinking it wouldn’t be that tough a game after tying them in the preseason, but they came out early and threw punches in the throat and we couldn’t come back.”
Dulin led Abington with two goals and one assist, while Lomady added two goals and two groundballs. Hunter Jones scored a late goal and added an assist, while Brian Gallagher also added an assist.
Matt Gormley and Austin Pifani led Abington with four and three groundballs, respectively, while goalkeeper Eric Goldsborough stopped 10 shots and collected three groundballs.
Fuydal led Great Valley with four groundballs, while goalkeeper Peter Hayes stopped 11 shots in net.
“By far, the defense we played in the first half was our best of the year,” Merrill said. “And it continued. Our defense was just great.
“Now, we want Radnor. We lost to them by two in a real close regular season matchup, but we want to take down number-one. That’s the goal.”
Great Valley 9, Abington 5
Abington 0-2-0-3—5
Great Valley 4-2-1-2—9
Abington
Will Dulin 2 goals, 1 assist
Joey Lomady 2 goals
Hunter Jones 1 goal, 1 assist
Brian Gallagher 1 assist
Eric Goldsborough 10 saves
Great Valley
Greg Merrill 3 goals
Timmy Lamb 2 goals
Noah Joseph 1 goal, 2 assists
Dillan Buettner 1 goal, 1 assist
Tyler Haines 1 goal
Jon Fuydal 1 goal
Peter Hayes 11 saves
