By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/8/13
Gavin McBride collected four goals and four assists and host Haverford School used a 7-0 run in the second quarter to break open a tie game en route to a 14-6 victory over Penn Charter today in an Inter-Ac League boys’ lacrosse opener.
The Fords (5-3), ranked No. 5 by Phillylacrosse.com, won their fifth straight game. Penn Charter (8-4), ranked No. 4, had its eight-game win streak snapped.
The game was tied, 3-3 after one quarter when the Fords kicked into gear. Junior defenseman Connor Keating (two goals) got the run started, followed by Reilly Hupfeldt (two goals), Keating again and then Drew Supinski (two goals, one assist) and Grant Ament to make it 8-3. McBride and Brendan O’Neill scored to make it 10-3 and the Quakers never threatened despite a strong game in goal by freshman Sean McKee (18 saves).
“We always know coming into the league that every game will be tough no matter who we are playing,” said McBride, who has committed to Princeton. “We focused on the fact that once we get into the Inter-Ac we wanted to turn it on.”
Junior attackman Drew Murray (Fairfield) led the Quakers with three goals. Penn Charter also is young, but coach Pat McDonough made no excuses.
“It was 3-3 and we didn’t play very well in the first quarter,” he said. “I thought we’d be OK, but then t we let them go on a run. We made a lot of mental mistakes.
“There is a certain way we need to play in big games and we didn’t play that way today. They came out and outhustled us to groundballs and normally we’re the team that outhustles people. I thought that was the part that hurt us the most today.”
McDonough’s Quakers now prepare for an Inter-Ac game Friday at undefeated Malvern Prep.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” he said. “We will watch tapes and get get ready for Malvern.”
The youthful Fords, who have won four straight Inter-Ac crowns, started the year with three losses to powers from the MIAA. Since then, using a lineup that has a lot of freshmen and sophomores, Haverford has began to jell.
“It was tough in the beginning with so many young guys,” said McBride. “We have a complex system and getting acclimated to high school sports in general is different. Once we got settled in, and took a few on the chin, and got focused and now I like where we are headed.”
Haverford School coach John Nostrant is pleased with his team’s improvement since the early games.
“We’re getting better at facing off so we are getting more possessions,” he said. “We did not shoot the ball in the first quarter and we paid for that. We are pretty good if we play patient and look for the second shot.”
Haverford School 14, Penn Charter 6
Haverford School 3-4-4-3- 14
Penn Charter 3-1-2-0-6
Haverford School
Gavin McBride 4g, 4a
Grant Ament 1g, 1a
Timmy Brooks 1g
Drew Supinski 2g, 1a
Connor Keating 2g
Rielly Hupfeldt 2g
Brendan O’Neill 1g
Luke Desperito 1g
Jake Landman 4 saves
Alex DeMarco 2 saves
Elliot Avis 1 save
Penn Charter
Ray Vandegrift 1g, 1a
Charles Giunta 1g
Kevin Murphy 1g, 1a
Drew Murray 3g
Sean McKee 18 saves
