By Russ Atkinson
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/2/11
Central Bucks East rebounded from a 4-2 third quarter deficit and defeated Ridley, 6-5, Wednesday in the first round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) boys’ lacrosse playoffs at Henderson High School.
The District 1 runner-up Patriots (21-2) will meet District 11 champion Allentown Central Catholic in the quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined. ACC defeated Wyomissing, 13-7, and already defeated CB East, 10-8, in the first game of the season.
Ridley closed its season at 19-5.
After being stymied for three quarters by a tenacious Ridley defense led by sophomore goalie Tom McDermott (11 saves), CB East opened the fourth quarter by going on a four-goal binge in two minutes
Chris Vetter scored at 9:32 to draw the Pats within one goal and 19 seconds later Parker Self capped off a stellar three-goal performance by intercepting an errant clearing attempt to tie the game at 4-4. CBE’s Ryan Whitney scored at 8:29 with an assist by Blake Ament,, while Vetter scored the eventual game winner at 7:30 to put the Pats up 6-4.
Ridley senior captain Ryan O’Kane (three goals) scored unassisted to get the Green Raiders within one, but CBE ran out the clock.
Patriots junior goalie Harrrison Holak (11 saves) made two spectacular saves on his doorstep late in the third and early in the fourth quarter to keep his team within striking distance at 4-2 entering the the fourth.
“We were flustered there in the beginning of the third,” Holak said. “Once we had a couple stops we settled in and the offense started to contriol the ball.
“We are a fourth quarter team and we condition all year for that. Once we got to the fourth we shot well and started to outplay them.”
Ridley’s defense got East out of rhythm early while a patient Green Raider offense got goals from Vetter and Eric Streicher to take a 2-1 lead at halftime. Self tied the game at 9:41 in the third, but Ridley’s Sean Reilly scored at 6:41 unassisted and O’Kane scored on a nifty feed from Streicher with six seconds left in the third.
Central Bucks East 6, Ridley 5
CB East 0-1-1-4- 6
Rldley 1-1-2-1-5
Central Bucks East
Chris Vetter 2g
Parker Self 3g
Ryan Whitney 1g
Blake Ament 2a
Matt Heim 1a
Harrison Holak 11 saves
Ridley
Eric Streicher 1g, 1a
Ryan O’Kane 3g
Kyle Bush 1g
Dalton George 1a
Tom McDermott 11 saves
