By Chris Mueller
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/5/12
Connor Frisina scored three goals – including the 100th of his career –and Jake Scott tallied the game-winner with 3:40 to play as host Conestoga earned a hard-fought 5-4 triumph over La Salle today in a game featuring two of the top-ranked teams in the state.
The Pioneers (ranked No. 1 in PIAA in state media rankings) improved to 14-3 as they gear for their season finale Tuesday at Garnet Valley. They have clinched at least a tie for the Central League title.
La Salle (ranked No. 2 in PIAA) is now 11-4 and is in first place in the Catholic League.
“Our defense and goalie play was really well today,” said Conestoga coach Brian Samson. “We did a great job on some of the hustle plays, and made some key groundballs when needed.”
Samson had high regard for the play of Frisina as well. “Connor’s a special player,” said Samson. “He can hurt you in a lot of different ways. He’s adjusted his shot and his last goal was exactly what we wanted him to do.”
Coming out of halftime, Frisina scored his second goal of the game and stretched their lead to 3-1. La Salle responded with an unassisted goal from Matt Rambo (two goals, one assist), which ignited the comeback going into the fourth quarter. Out of the break, La Salle then capitalized on a beautiful feed from Brian McNamara to Adam Schaal to tie the game at 3-3.
The momentum was starting to turn in the Explorers’ favor until Frisina tallied his 100th career goal and off a pass from Tyler Brooke, making it 4-3.
La Salle had one last offensive possession and a chance at tying the game up with 30 seconds left. Coming out of a timeout, Matt Rambo was stripped of the ball by defender Carson Scott, who then picked up the groundball and cleared it to secure the Pioneers’ victory.
“It was a pretty cool experience today,” said Frisina. “I wasn’t trying to focus on my goals and was just happy we got the win. It’s an awesome feeling though to score 100 goals in my career.”
La Salle head coach Bill Leahy felt there was a lot to take from the loss.
“If there is such a thing as a good loss, this was it,” he said. “We played well, but just didn’t finish out shots in the 2nd half. We just need to be more clutch in tough situations.”
Conestoga 5, La Salle 4
Conestoga 2-0-1-2-5
La Salle 0-1-1-2-4
Conestoga
Connor Frisina 3g
Tyler Brooke 1g, 2a
Jake Scott 1g
Brad Lord 1a
Jordan Klunder 1a
Brody Sea 2 saves
Robbie Zonino 4 saves
La Salle
Matt Rambo 2g, 1a
Adam Stefanowicz 1g
Adam Schaal 1g
Brian McNamara 1a
Cory Shaffer 7 saves
