Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/2/12
From Press Release and Staff Report
Hank Altschuler (Lower Merion) stood out in goal as the Israel men’s national lacrosse team defeated No. 17 Slovakia, 11-8, today in their championship debut of the European Lacrosse Championships at Amsterdam Bos in the Netherlands.
Israel trailed 5-2 in the first half, but Richard Cheifitz and Ben Bretter combined for six straight goals to help Israel take the lead for good.
Altschuler, who graduated from Hill Academy but starred at Lower Merion in 2009-10, played the full 80 minutes in goal, making nine saves for the win.
Slovakia cut the deficit to 8-7 with a pair of goals, but Alex Jacobs and Michael Pffefer rallied for three straight scores for Israel, who was able to run out the last 20 minutes of the game relatively unscaved.
Cheifitz finished with four goals, while Alex Jacobs scored three times. Pfeffer and Bretter added two goals apiece.
Tomas Lichtner and Bradley Vrecko scored four goals each for Slovakia.
The win improves Israel to 1-0 in the Green Group of the European Lacrosse Championship, in a first place tie with Wales; the blue and white are 4-2 overall, including exhibition play.
Israel meets No. 27 France tomorrow at 1:30pm local time.
Israel also features Dickinson College rising senior Matt Cherry (Radnor), who has been one of the team’s top scorers.
