Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/5/21
Courtesy of SuburbanOneSports.com
It had been 11 years since Wissahickon had defeated Suburban One American Conference rival Upper Dublin.
So Tuesday night’s 19-4 Suburban One American Conference victory over the Cardinals was equally savored for revenge and its impact on the league standings. The Trojans (11-3) are the only undefeated team left, at 7-0, in the league; Upper Dublin (6-6) is 4-1.
Wissahickon – ranked no, 11 by Phillylacrosse.com – wasted little time getting ahead Tuesday, with senior Matt Fritz winning the opening faceoff, taking it down and scoring just 13 seconds in.
“It’s a team that’s had our number since I’ve been here,” Trojans coach Matt Conway said. “It’s my first win over them and the first win over them for any of our players. We know what the game is going to mean coming in, so I thought we executed really well.”
Wissahickon senior attackman jackson Intrieri led the onslaught with seven goals and one assist. His first goal gave the Trojans a 3-0 lead less than two minutes into the game, and he had a hat trick before the first quarter expired.
He punched home his third goal with just 0.6 on the clock in the first quarter, giving Wissahickon a 6-1 lead and capitalizing on a late Cardinals turnover near the end of the quarter.
“It’s just being patient on offense, and overall, through the season, I’ve just tried to get better using my body,” Intrieri said. “I was trying to use my shoulders and elbows to turn guys and get where I wanted to on the field, take my time and not let them speed me up.”
Intrieri often does most of his work from behind the goal, setting up teammates or going in for goal, but Tuesday, he just had it going. UD tried several different defenders on him, but the senior just kept taking the ball in close and putting the ball in the right spot.
His back-to-back goals sent Wissahickon into the half leading 10-2 and the senior had scored or assisted on more than half of the Trojans’ scores.
In an offense that also features potent scorers like Kyle Lehman, Brody Myers, Sam Baker and Dean Wolfe, the Trojans have the luxury of being able to play the hot hand.
“We all can get hot at any time. Whether it’s Brody sweeping over the top, Kyle (Lehman) coming around from X, Dean Wolfe from the wing, we use up picks, down picks,” Intrieri said. “I wouldn’t say we’re un-guardable, but I do think we’ve shown we’re a hard team to defend.”
Upper Dublin would get within 3-1 on a man-up goal by Vijay Foster, but the Trojans defensive unit kept the Cardinals under wraps the rest of the way. With Wissahickon focusing on closing down attackers Andrew Sowers and Brett Rama, UD was limited to just one goal in each of the four quarters.
“(Sowers) and (Rama) are really good players who make everything go for them, so I thought Jake Picata and Quinn Fonash were huge in that they could play one-on-one with them so we didn’t have to slide too much,” Conway said.
Ethan Glass, Joey Connolly, Scott Pfeiffer, Alex Solomon, Sam Baker and EJ Schreiner were excellent all evening as well
Intrieri faced extra defensive attention in the second half, but added a goal in each quarter after intermission. Brody Myers had three goals and four assists to back up Intrieri, while Baker also had a hat trick, Lehman scored a pair and Fritz finished with two goals plus a 20-of-25 showing on the faceoff X.
Dean Wolfe also added two goals for the Trojans while EJ Schreiner and Joey Connolly added assists.
“This senior class, they keep us focused and do a really good job of that,” Conway said. “We’re a senior-laden group, which is a lot of the reason for our success.”
Wissahickon 19, Upper Dublin 4
WISSAHICKON 6 4 3 6 -19
UPPER DUBLIN 1 1 1 1 -4
WISSAHICKON
JACKSON INTRIERI 7G 1A
BRODY MEYERS 3G 4A
SAM BAKER 3G
MATT FRITZ 2G 20/25 F/O
DEAN WOLFE 2G
KYLE LEHMAN 2G
EJ SCHREINER 1A
JOEY CONNOLLY 1A
UPPER DUBLIN
VIJAY FOSTER 1G 1A
ANDREW SOWERS 1G 1A
BRETT RAMA 1G
BRETT CALLAHAN 1G
STEVE PILEGGI 1A
