Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 8/27/20 – Staff Report
The Philadelphia boys’ Highlight (2021-22) team finished 4-0 and allowed just 8 goals in a dominant round robin effort today to earn the top seed in Friday’s All America Underclass East Super Regional at Maple Zone.
Team Philly will play the winner of Friday’s 11 a.m. New Jersey/CONNY winner at 2 p.m. for the Regional title and a berth in the championship round slated to be held this fall. Four Super Regional winners will meet for the overall title in all four age divisions.
Meanwhile, the Philly girls’ Highlight team went 2-2 and will face CONNY (1-3) in the play-in game at 11 a.m. In the Command Division (2023-24), the Philly girls went 2-2 and will meet in the play-in game (11 a.m.), while the Philly boys’ Command squad went 1-3 and will meet CONNY in the play-in game at 11 a.m.
The Philly boys’ Highlight team got strong defense from Zack Brenfleck (Academy of the New Church), Evan Bullotta (Central Bucks East), Pup Buono (Malvern Prep), Henry Bard (Lower Merion), Sam Morin (Garnet Valley) and Ryan O’Connor (Springfield-Delco) as well as short-stick middies Christian Mazur (Strath Haven) and Charlie Box (Marple-Newtown). Goalies Nate Yi (Academy of the New Church) and Christian Cacciutti (Haverford School) were standouts in goal and strong play at the face-off X by Matthew Riley (Salesianum School) and Matthew Fritz (Wissahickon) was another jey.
Offensively, Eric Spanos (Malvern Prep) was a force with 11 goals, including the game-winner in the only close game,a 5-4 overtime win over New Jersey in Game 2. Also, Antonio DeMarco (Penn Charter) paced the attack along with Colin Zyck (Saucon Valley).
“If we keep attacking the ball on the ground and keep winning the faceoffs, we will be in good shape,” said Philly head coach Tom Lemieux (Springfield-Delco). “We are playing as a team, not as individuals. Everybody is sharing the ball.”
The Philly girls’ Highlight team knocked off No. 1 New Jersey (3-1), 11-10, in their second matchup. But then Team Philly fell to CONNY (1-3), 6-4, in the finale.
Round Robin Standings
Boys Highlight
Team W L GF GA
Philadelphia 4 0 40 8
New Jersey 1 3 23 29
CONNY 1 3 14 40
Girls Highlight
Team W L GF GA
New Jersey 3 1 34 28
Philadelphia 2 2 27 31
CONNY 1 3 25 27
Boys Command
Team W L GF GA
New Jersey 3 1 29 22
CONNY 2 2 23 25
Philadelphia 1 3 22 27
Girls Command
Team W L GF GA
CONNY Girls 4 0 40 16
Philadelphia 2 2 26 25
New Jersey 0 4 13 38
