Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/12/24
Staff Report
The subject came up at Marple Newtown practice a time or two in the last week.
A year ago, Marple Newtown lost to West Chester Rustin in the District 1 Class 2A final, then exacted revenge 10 days later in the PIAA semifinal on the way to a state title.
This year, Marple did the winning in the District 1 final, decisively over Rustin. If it needed a reminder of the difference two weeks could make, the Tigers’ coaching staff was all too happy to oblige.
But how often?
“All day at practice, every day for the past three days,” Marple All-EPLCA LSM David Bertoline said. “They just kept reminding us that obviously they (Rustin) wanted to do that to us because we did it to them.”
The message was heeded Tuesday, if with a significant in-game bobble. But with Bertoline as the difference maker on both ends, the Tigers prevailed, 6-3, at Garnet Valley High School, earning a chance to defend their state title at Penn State’s Panzer Stadium against District 7’s Mars Area.
Marple Newtown (21-3) and Mars (20-3) will meet for the title at noon. The two teams have met in the state final the past two years with Mars winning in 2022 and the Tigers prevailing last year in overtime.
Marple led 3-0 less than seven minutes in, threatening a repeat of the 14-5 rout in the District 1 final. But Rustin rebounded, keeping the Tigers off the board for more than 16 minutes to get into halftime even.
Evan Kostack scored all three goals in the third quarter, the first two with a sizeable influence from Bertoline, and neither team scored in the fourth to send the Tigers back to State College.
Bertoline, a High Point signee, was outstanding. First and foremost was the defensive work. The district final was not close thanks in large part to Alex Chambers going 17-for-19 at the X. Rustin adjusted, throwing a pole on draws to approach parity, Chambers 8-for-13, though just 3-for-8 in the first half.
So the Marple defense stepped up. A senior-laden bunch led by Bertoline and fellow captain Jake McGowan, there was plenty of glory to share on the day. Fellow poles Jude Jelus and Chase Egan made big plays, with the aid of d-middie Brett Wolski. Rustin had just one shot in the third quarter, Marco D’Alicandro was forced to make just four saves total and Rustin didn’t score for the final 28:34, from when Jimmy Boland knotted the game at 3.
“I think a big part of our team has been our lockdown defense and not letting teams score,” Bertoline said, “with our poles and Marco and our short-stick d-middies as well.”
Bertoline also supplied the offensive spark. That might not shock, as he entered with 13 goals and 13 assists on the season. He set up d-middie James Kirby to make it 3-0 at 5:12 of the first quarter.
But Rustin adjusted with a zone defense that lulled Marple to sleep. With Joey Paine and Gavin Seaman up top to disrupt, Marple ground to a halt in the second quarter after 17 goals in the first five frames.
“We work off each other, so if he presses out, I know I have a chance to pick off a pass,” Paine said. “If I press out, I know he has a chance to pick it off. So we work well together.”
The Golden Knights turned the momentum with a torrid 30-second stretch to end the first quarter.
Down 3-0, Jackson Lamb scored with 27 seconds left just after a penalty expired. Just 21 seconds later, Jack O’Hora found a loose ball on an extended faceoff battle, emerged from a scrum and buried one. Then goalie Will Brockett stoned Evan Kostack as the horn sounded, one of 12 saves.
“He really locked in this game,” Paine said of Brockett. “He played his tail off.”
The key to Marple piercing the zone was transition offense. Bertoline collected a GB and tic-tac-toed through Brian Box to Kostack to break the tie at 7:08 of the third. After Marple came up empty on a man-up, Bertoline picked a pass and fed Kostack directly for a goal at 1:22.
“He’s a huge weapon,” Kostack said of Bertoline. “He does a great job on defense, and he’s able to scoop the ground ball and bring it down to our offense to set us up.”
Kostack added his third with one second left in the frame, a curl cut off the crease that finally found the zone’s soft spot off a feed from Jace Kostack.
Rustin let itself down with too many mistakes. Three times it took shots that weren’t covered to lose possession. Twice it had too many men in the attacking half. Rushed clears, forced passes – it added up.
It not only gets Marple back to where the Tigers were last year, but it means job done for the main emphasis of practice this week.
“We obviously let up a little, but we didn’t let up enough to where we couldn’t come up in the game,” Bertoline said. “We had a lot of leaders pick us up in that second quarter and third quarter. It was definitely emotionally up and down.”
PIAA class AA semifinals
Marple Newtown 6, WC Rustin 3
MN – 3-0-3-0= 6
Rustin – 2-1-0-0=3
Marple Newtown
Brian Box 1g, 1a
Joey Yukenavitch 1g, 1a
David Bertoline 2a, 2CT
Evan Kostack 3g, 1a
James Kirby 1g
Jace Kostack 1a
Chase Egan – 3CTO
Jake McGowan – 2CTO
Jude Jelus- 1 CTO
Alex Chambers 8/13 FO
Marco D’Alicandro 4 saves
W.C. Rustin
Jackson Lamb 1g, 1a
Jack O’Hora 1g
Jimmy Boland 1g
Nate Pechin 1a
Patrick Maychak 4-for-10
Will Brockett 12 saves
