This is one of a regular-day series of boys’/men’s and girls’/women’s stories looking back on this date in lacrosse history)
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/20
5/21/08 – Phillylacrosse.com Boys’ Rankings: EPSLA playoffs heat up with first round of play on Friday
By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/08
On Friday the Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association (EPSLA) playoffs heat up with first-round play as 16 teams go for the final EPSLA crown and Keystone Cup title. The 10th Phillylacrosse.com Scholastic Boys Top 10 Poll:
1. Malvern Prep (18-2) – The Inter-Ac League champion Friars – winners of 10 straight – host Central Bucks East Friday in the first round of the EPSLA playoffs. They look like the team to beat. Last week: No. 1.
2. La Salle (26-2) – The Catholic League champion Explorers host Garnet Valley Friday in the first round. Last week: No. 2.
3. Haverford School (15-6) – The Fords, who have not scored more than eight goals in each of their last five games, host Radnor in the first round. Last week: No. 3.
4. Ridley (18-2) – The Central League champion Green Raiders host league rival Penncrest in the first round Friday. Last week: No. 4.
5/21/08 – EPSLA playoffs: Episcopal Academy stays hot, routs Unionville, 16-3
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/08
Richard Craft tallied three goals and 11 others scored at least once as host Episcopal Academy routed Unionville, 16-3, Wednesday in an Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association pigtail game
The Churchmen (14-11), ranked 10th by Phillylacrosse.com, move into the first round Friday at sixth-seeded Downingtown East.
Episcopal led, 8-1, at halftime and held the Indians to less than 10 shots. Junior goalie Matt Larman posted four saves.
“We really dominated, it was a total team effort,” said Episcopal coach Andy Hayes. “We’re playing real well defensively and playing even better offensively.”
The Churchmen have won their last five games and allowed only 27 goals in ther last eight games.
“We have a great group of seniors that has worked really hard,” Hayes said. “They worked hard in the off-season and we’ve played a tough schedule. It’s starting to pay off, and the kids are starting to believe they can win.”
5/21/09 – Haverford School gets final say in Inter-Ac by topping Malvern Prep, 9-5, in postseason championship game
By Adam C. Warner
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/09
The Haverford School-Malvern Prep boys’ lacrosse rivalry has produced some epic battles over the years.
From the 2006 Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association finals that witnessed the Friars upset the Fords in overtime to the ’04 regular season when Haverford took down Malvern in a three-OT thriller, whenever these two national lacrosse powers go head-to-head, anything goes as the intensity level is often cranked to the maximum.
And as expected on Wednesday night, with the chance for one of these squads to be crowned the first playoff champion of the Inter-Ac League, a new chapter was added to the storied rivalry.
Behind the inspired play of its defense and an efficient offense that found the back of the net in big spots, Haverford School defeated Malvern Prep, 9-5, in the inaugural Inter-Ac League postseason tournament championship at Cabrini College’s Dixon Field.
5/21/10 – District 1 boys: Smyrl helps Garnet Valley past Penncrest, 8-6
By David A. Willauer
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/10
Steve Smyrl tallied the game-winner and had three goals overall to lift host Garnet Valley to an 8-6 victory over Central League rival Penncrest Thursday in the second round of the District 1 lacrosse playoffs.
The win advanced the fifth-seeded Jaguars (15-4) into Saturday’s quarterfinals against fourth-seeded Central Bucks East at Henderson High (noon). East edged Downingtown West, 6-5, to advance. Penncrest closed its season at 12-7
Garnet Valley led, 6-3, at halftime, but the Lions rallied to tie it, 6-6, on third-period goals by Matt Maser (two goals), Andrew Caldwell (two goal) and Craig Kashner. In the fourth quarter, Smyrl put his team ahead for good off a feed from Mike Montella and then Montella notched his 50th goal off a Smyrl assist for insurance.
“Steve Smyrl is an outstanding player,” sad Garnet Valley coach Frank Urso. “His quickness and change of direction are his assets.
“Penncrest played well today and played with a lot of heart. They made good personnel moves and moved well off the ball. In the fourth quarter I told our squad they had to step it up a notch and our seniors made some big plays.”
5/21/11 – District 1 boys’ lacrosse: Downingtown West claims 14-4 victory over Spring-Ford; Conestoga routs Abington
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/11
From Staff Report and PAC-10Sports.com
Zach Logan fired in four goals and Eric Renkel added two goals and three assists while helping his team dominate at the face-off X to power third-seeded Downingtown West to a convincing 14-4 victory over No. 11 Spring-Ford in a District 1 quarterfinal boys’ lacrosse playoff today at Harriton High.
The third-seeded Whippets improved to 19-1 and advanced to a semifinal matchup with No. 2 seed Central Bucks East Tuesday at Plymouth Whitemarsh (6 p.m.).
The loss drops the Pioneer Athletic Conference champion Rams (20-3) into a Tuesday play-back game at fifth-seeded Avon Grove (time TBA), which was upset 4-3 in double-overtime by Pennsbury.
5/21/13 – District 1 boys’ semifinals: Avon Grove topples Conestoga, 6-5, on Russo’s late goal
hillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/13
Staff Report
Eric Russo scored with 1:04 to play to give Avon Grove a 6-5 win over Conestoga Tuesday at Radnor, advancing the Red Devils into their first District 1 boys’ lacrosse final in school history.
The Red Devils (18-3), the tourney’s 10th seed, ended Conestoga’s four-year grip on the title and will face Garnet Valley in the championship Thursday at Henderson at 6:30 p.m. Garnet Valley advanced with a 7-6 overtime win over Radnor. Conestoga plays radnor in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m. at Henderson.
How the Red Devils got there, though, was unlike anything they’ve seen all postseason. Red-hot Tanner Peck, who came in with 11 goals and five assists in his first three games of the playoffs, was shadowed all day by the Pioneers’ Nick Prestipino. Prestipino held Peck to two assists and barely allowed him any clean shots at the net, so Avon Grove turned elsewhere.
Freshman Beau Kush fired home a hat trick, but it was someone else who had the chance to be the hero. Held off the scoresheet all game, Eric Russo came around the net and snapped a shot past Robbie Zonino (eight saves) for the game-winning goal.
5/21/13 – District 1 boys’ semifinals: Garnet Valley rallies past Radnor in OT thriller
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/13
Staff Report
When Jonathan Vandenberg knotted up Tuesday night’s District 1 semifinal game with seven seconds to go, Matt Taulane had a pretty good feeling that Garnet Valley would be able to handle business in overtime.
“I did get that feeling (that we would win),” Taulane said. “We’re a second-half kind of team. That second half, we really turned it on. Everyone comes together as a team and it’s awesome how we play.”
It was fitting, then, that Taulane was the one making magic happen in overtime. After Zach Jones scooped up a ground ball off of a Zach Penfil faceoff win to gain possession and the ability to call a timeout, the Jaguars got to work.
Vandenberg came around the back of the net and threaded a pass to Taulane, who found himself staring down at Radnor goalie Brendan Manderack. His shot lodged itself into the upper part of the net to seal a dramatic 7-6 come-from-behind win for the Jaguars.
5/21/14 – District 1 boys’ semifinals: Ches-Mont’s Avon Grove, Bishop Shanahan will meet for title
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/14
Staff Report
When pressed to recap his day Tuesday, Bishop Shanahan goalie Jason Yoquinto didn’t need any prodding about the highlights of his Eagles’ 10-8 win over No. 3 seed Radnor at Henderson in the District 1 semifinals.
Automatically, two moments jumped out. One was his stoning of McKenna Touey on the doorstep, stemming the tide of a two-goal run by the Raiders late in the second quarter where they could have tied the game.
The other came in the waning moments of the third quarter when he robbed Jack Norton at point-blank range.
“He got the ball near the crease, and he just faked, faked, faked and shot high, and I saved it,” said Yoquinto, who posted 13 saves in all. “My mind just blew. That was an amazing save to keep us in that game.”
The correlation was obvious to the Eagles: Each time Yoquinto made a big save, keeping or reclaiming the momentum, the team responded quickly, ultimately spelling the difference between the teams.
5/21/14 – Public League boys’ championship: Northeast wins fourth straight title over George Washington
By Mike Prince
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/14
After Northeast High lost 13 seniors and eight starters from last year’s Public League championship-winning team – the third in a row for the Vikings – it appeared its reign may end in 2014.
But thanks to the play of seniors Frank Doran and Eric O’Brien, a four-peat was still a possibility, no matter what the predictions were.
Doran and O’Brien, both All-League first teamers, combined for seven goals today in a 9-5 Northeast win over George Washington in the Public League championship game at Northeast High School’s SuperSite.
The win advances Northeast into the District 12 (City League) championship game Friday against La Salle, which defeated St. Joseph’s Prep, 8-7, in the Philadelphia Catholic League final on Wednesday. The game will be held at Northeast at 3:30 p.m.
In what was the fourth consecutive year in which the Vikings defeated the Eagles in the title game, it was Northeast playing from behind, eventually scoring seven of the game’s final goals, that keyed the victory.
5/21/14 – Catholic League boys’ championship: La Salle downs St. Joseph’s Prep, 8-7, on Drake’s late goal
By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/14
Zach Drake scored with 8.8 seconds to play to lift La Salle to an 8-7 victory tonight over St. Joseph’s Prep in the Catholic League boys’ lacrosse championship game at Neumann University.
The win advances the Explorers (13-7) into Friday’s District 11 title game vs. Northeast at the Northeast Supersite, at 3:30 p.m. The winner of that game moves on to the PIAA tournament as the lone district representative.
The title was La Salle’s third straight and 19th in 22 season of the Catholic League.
St. Joe’s Prep closes at 14-6.
But The Prep did not go down easily as it rallied from a 6-4 deficit in the fourth period and tied it, 7-7 on Pat Walsh’s third goal, a miraculous behind-the-back score with 51.3 seconds to play.
5/21/15 – Public League boys’ championship: George Washington downs Frankford for 1st title since 2010
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/15
After four losses in the championship game, George Washington finally had its day Wednesday.
The Eagles got a combined 11 goals from Connor McMonagle and Phelan Sweeney and defeated Frankford, 16-4, for its first Public League playoff championship at Northeast High. GW (16-3) won the round robin tourney championship played in the league’s first season, in 2010, and then fell to Northeast each of the first four years of the playoff tournament.
McMonagle had six goals and two assists and Sweeney added five goals and one assist. Matt Woods and Adrian Toro each had two goals, Nick Caraccio added a goal and two assists
“The seniors on the team that have been with me since their freshman year have gone through three consecutive championship losses until last night,” said GW coach John Creighton. “Every year we set a goal for this program and as a team we accomplished our goal of winning a Public League Championship.
5/21/17 – Rambo (@LaSalle_Sports), Garino (@EAboyslacrosse) help Maryland roll into Final Four again
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/17
From Press Release
The No. 1 Maryland men’s lacrosse team scored 12 first half goals and cruised to a 18-9 victory over Albany in the NCAA Quarterfinals Sunday afternoon at the University of Delaware.
The Terrapins (14-3) advanced to their fourth consecutive final four, and sixth in seven seasons under head coach John Tillman. Maryland will play square off against Denver Saturday, May 27, in Boston on ESPN2.
Senior Matt Rambo (La Salle, Dukes LC) totaled his career-high of eight points for the second consecutive game en route to becoming the first player in Maryland history to record 40 goals and 40 assists. Rambo also reached 153 career goals, tying Joe Walters (2003-06) for the program all-time goals lead.
Meanwhile, reserve face-off specialist Jon Garino (Episcopal Academy, Duke’s LC) won 12 of 14 draws and grabbed eight groundballs.
5/21/18 – .@VarsityLaxMP uses strong start to top @Fords_Lacrosse, 17-13, for Inter-Ac championship
By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/18
Malvern Prep used a blazing start and held off Haverford School, 17-13, tonight in the Inter-Ac League championship game at Cabrini University.
The second-seeded Friars (15-5) led 5-0 after one period and 11-2 at halftime as the top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Fords (16-4) were plagued by turnovers and and found their ace scorer, TJ Malone, blanketed by a staunch defense that sent a pole (Sam Sweeney) shadowing him the whole field.
The Fords pulled within 16-13 with just over a minute left, but Malvern won a key faceoff and ran out the clock as goalie Will Pettit scored with time running out off a long heave.
Jack Traynor (4G), Quinn McCahon (3g, 1a), Seamus Glynn (2G, 3A), Scottie White (2G, 1A), Jimmy Gabrielsen (2G) and Luke DiGiacobbe (2G) led a balanced attack while the Malvern midfield continually recovered loose balls and caused turnovers in the first half by a Fords team that had won 9 of the last 10 games against the Friars.