By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/18/15
Player of the Game Phil Poquie scored four goals and Alex deMarco made 17 saves as Haverford School (PA) defeated Hun School (N.J.), 15-8, tonight to claim the Inter-Ac Challenge championship at PPL Park.
The win moves the Fords – ranked No. 1 in the Epoch Lacrosse North America Rankings – to 25-0 with just a game left Friday at home against Culver Military Academy.
Third-ranked Hun School suffered its first loss, falling to 18-1.
“We certainly want to win on Friday but at this point in time there is no doubt in my mind – regardless of what happens on Friday- it’s not even close; this is the best team in the country and I would play anyone anywhere,” said Haverford School coach John Nostrant.
“It’s just a great group of guys.”
Poquie said the seniors remembered the Haverford School team of 2011 that went undefeated and won the “national title” and felt even then they were looking to this day for a long time.
“You have kids that had gone to middle school and saw the 2011 team and were saying then, “That’s going to be us and that’s what we want out senior year’ – and it came pass.
“You couldn’t have asked for a better atmosphere; the energy level was high it was awesome. It was a fun win, a good win.”
Dox Aitken and Dew Supinski each added three goals, Forry Smith had a pair and Grant Ament had a goal and three assists as the Fords led the entire way and iced it with five straight goals at the end of the third period and the start of the fourth.
Jake Hervada won 15 of 23 face-offs and defensemen Noah Lejman and Chris Sabia also scored for Haverford School, which solidified its hold on the No 1 spot in every national poll.
“It’s fun to see every part of the game being played we from defense to faceoff,” Poquie said. “You have guys that are craftsmen at their job; it’s fun to watch? That’s first-class lacrosse for the most part. It’s fun to be a part of it.”
Said Ament: “I think everybody played well today, whether it was the last guy on the bench or the first guy on the field. Phil ran through seven guys, Dox played out of his mind, Sabia had his first goal, deMarco stood on his head. We played unbelievable, but like our mentality on Feb. 21, when we first started playing, we’re still trying to get better every day so we have to still have a little more juice for Culver on Friday.
“I love playing in those big games; it’s great, it helps everybody get better as a team and helps us get closer as a team.”
DeMarco was brilliant and Haverford’s depth was again the key.
“The depth is huge and every time we get in trouble, Demi (deMarco) had a tremendous year,” said Nostrant. “If you get steady faceoff play and good goalie play you can beat anybody and we had that all year.”
Chris Donovan had two goals and four assists ad Robert Kuhn had three goals and an assist, while Brendan Rooney scored twice for Hun.
“I think we wore them down, No. 2 (Donovan) is the best player we’ve seen all year,” said Nostrant. “(Hun coach) MV (Whitlow) does a great job. And like with most of our wins, we always say a team can hang with us for a quarter or a half, but if you wear them out … I think we wee down a man six or seven times, but the kids are resilient.
‘It’s a little different for us because we have to play Friday. Culver is very good; we’re all exhausted but we have to find some energy. I think it’s great we’re doing it and this is a deepest team I’ve had and we’re together for four more days and that is pretty special.”
Haverford School 15, Hun School 8
Haverford School 2-6-2-5- 15
Hun School 1-4-2-1- 8
Haverford School
Phil Poquie 4g
Grant Ament 1g, 3a
Noah Lejman 1g
Forry Smith 2g
Dox Aitken 3g
Drew Supinski 3g
Chris Sabia 1g
Tucker McBride 1a
Alex deMarco 17 saves
Jake Hervada 15 of 23 FO
Hun School
Chris Donovan 2g, 4a
Owen Black 1g
Brendan Rooney 2g
Robert Kuhn 3g, 1a
Jon Levine 7 saves
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