By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/5/10
The wins and losses may not have added up the way he would have liked, but coach Mike Friel (Springfield-Delco) said the Philadelphia boys’ squad had a successful weekend at the
Under Armour Underclassmen Games at Towson University (Md.).
Team Philly, which suffered two heartbreaking overtime losses in the first day of action Saturday, settled for sixth place in the eight-team tourney after bowing to Washington, D.C., 10-6, in the consolation game.
Team Philly had opened play Sunday morning with a convincing 13-7 triumph over New England and was hoping the victory would advance the squad (1-2 in pool play) into the third-place consolation game against New Jersey at 3:30 p.m. Instead, due to a tiebreaker using goals against, Team Philly was dropped into the fifth-place game immediately after the win.
“I think the most positive thing is how great all 24 players worked together,” said Friel. “Obviously, if they were on the team, they are great lacrosse players. But they were so respectful to the coaches and they all got along.
“That was the best part of my weekend – just being around the kids. Sure, we would have liked to have won more. I look back and we hit the crossbar in overtime against Baltimore and if that shot goes in, we probably would have come back for the second game with more energy.
“We still played well, but we lost another tough one. Then on Sunday we dismantled New England and then found out we are going to the fifth-place game. We were playing in steaming heat and I think when they learned it was a fifth-place game it was a little less motivating.”
Friel noted that the attack was led by Penn Charter’s Joey Sankey (rising senior/ nine goals, six assists) and Haverford School’s Matt Walters (rising senior/eight goals). He praised the defense and the goaltenders, Haverford School’s Conor Kelly (rising senior) and Downingtown West’s Dustin Keen (rising senior).
