By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/24/18
La Salle got lucky after its first scheduled opponent, St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes (VA) had to cancel Friday’s opener due to the Spring snow.
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La Salle’s Ethan Masucci (3 goals)
Fortunately for the Explorers, St. Stephen’s also had its Wednesday game at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy called off. So La Salle coach Bill Leahy and rookie SCHA mentor Brian Dougherty quickly scheduled their teams to meet this morning at La Salle.
Ethan Masucci (Monmouth signee) scored thee goals while Matt Clibanoff (Ohio State) had two goals and an assist and Chris Mockaitis (2019 UMass commit) added a pair as La Salle toppled the Blue Devils, 9-3.
The Explorers led, 5-1, at halftime, and were never threatened by the youthful Devils (1-1), who were hit hard by graduation but opened Friday with an impressivce 14-5 win over St. Joseph’s Prep.
Masucci admitted that his team, loaded with D1 talent, has high expectations for the 2018 season – especially after last year’s quarterfinal exit in the PIAA Class AAA tourney and a tight loss to Springfield-Delco in the 2016 PIAA title game. But Masucci said the team’s mental approach is grounded.
“We think about that (competing for a state title); there has been upset after upset the past couple years,” he said. “We’re just trying to move forward every day and win the day at practice and win every game. We want to just go out and have fun and win. Today was just like old-fashioned lacrosse; we were trying to make a big statement.”
What were the day’s positives?
“We shot well and and we kept hustling and rode out of our minds,” Masucci said.
La Salle coach Bill Leahy said his team looked strong for opening day.
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SCHA coach Brian Dougherty
“It was a strong disciplined opening game,” said Leahy. “We were pleased with our work ethic, our time of possession, and how we managed multiple defensive looks. We were grateful to SCHA for making this game a possibility.”
Dougherty said it was tough to take his first loss as a high school coach – estimating his team committed 30 turnovers while struggling mightily on clears – after 7 years as coach at Chestnut Hill College and many more as a college assistant at Haverford and Penn.
“I am still trying to figure it out,” said the Hall of Famer who starred as a goalie at Episcopal Academy and Maryland as well as the US National Team. “Obviously, I liked yesterday (the win) better than today.
“But it’s all kind of the same. The kids here are great, we have a good team and the kids play hard. We have some good players and it’s been fun switching gears. The hardest thing is that in college they are all there to play – I have to find a way to (motivate some of the kids in high school).”
Dougherty said playing a PIAA state favorite like La Salle was the perfect barometer for his young team.
“That’s why I wanted to play this game, to see where we’re at,” he said. “We play in the toughest league in the country with teams like Haverford School, Malvern Prep and Episcopal.
“We are playing at St. Mary’s (Tuesday) and Bullis (Thursday) next week and they are great challenges. La Salle is a good team – you see the way they play confidently and very controlled and they don’t make mistakes.
“But we probably turned the ball over 30 times and that’s unacceptable. We failed on 10 or 11 clears. We have good pieces; we have to play smarter.”
La Salle 9, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy 3
La Salle
Matt Clibanoff 2g, 1a
Ethan Masucci 3g
Chris Mockaitis 2g
Brendan Meagher 1g
Brett Mallee 1a
Joey Taylor 1a
Greg Osborne 1g
Mike Clibanoff 5 saves
SCHA
Mac McLaughlin 2g
Ethan Gyllenhaal 1g
Bern Popky 15 saves
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