Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/3/23 – Staff Report
David Schlesinger, who guided Owen J. Roberts to its first PIAA girls’ lacrosse championship last month, has stepped down as head coach.
Schlesinger’s Wildcats defeated Penncrest, 17-9, in the Class 3A final at Penn State’s Panzer Stadium to cap a 27-1 campaign that included a Pioneer Athletic Conference title and a District 1 crown. His mark in four seasons and five years (no games were played in 2020 due to the pandemic) was 90-12. His teams reached states all four times and won three PAC championships.
This year’s squad lost only to 2A champion Archbishop Carroll and was ranked in the national polls much of the year.
Schlesinger, a 1976 Harriton High grad who also has been head coach at Wissahickon and Central Bucks East, resides in Moorestown, N.J., and said the commute is a major reason for leaving the job. Also, he said the Wildcats’ 2023 season fulfilled all his goals.
“The nine OJR graduating seniors had amazing success in ’21 and ’22 (back-to-back undefeated regular seasons), but were not mentally ready to get past the quarterfinals of Districts and States,” said Schlesinger, whose career mark is 185-72. “We saw the advantage Radnor had against us in 2021 (in the PIAA tourney) with their 14 seniors against our talented sophomores.
“This year, we had the talent and physical and emotional maturity to be confident that this was our year. So we established three ambitious goals at the beginning of the season: win the PAC, D1, & States. The sense of accomplishment and validation is incredible. It still feels surreal. But we did it and I’m so incredibly proud of my team and the community that has supported us for the past 5 years.”
