Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/30/21
Yes, the lacrosse season has begun!
Visiting Bellarmine got two goals from sophomore midfielder Jesse Roth (West Chester East) and 10 saves from goalie Ian Reilly (Haddonfield-NJ) and toppled host Mercer, 9-7, this morning in a Southern Conference game – the first Division I contest in 325 days.
Senior defenseman Collin Murray, another WC East grad, added a groundball as the Knights’ defense and Reilly’s handiwork helped them overcome a poor performance at the faceoff X – Mercer won 18 of the 19 draws.
Mercer was led by junior face-off specialist Ashton Wood, who won 18-of-19 at X, and collected 11 groundballs while scoring the game’s opening goal just seven seconds into the season.
Reilly, a grad student, was a art-time starter last year before the pandemic hit.
Roth (Team Man Up), a key member of WC East’s Ches-Mont League title squad in 2019, added two groundballs. Senior LSM Bryce Vaxman (St. Augustine Prep) had to fill in some at the X and won 1 of 5 faceoffs.
For Mercer, senior midfielder Jack Lamb (Springside Chestnut Hill Academy) had four groundballs and a caused turnover.
