By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/27/18
Malvern Prep is hoping that winning the Phillie Elite Invitational will again serve as a spark for next year’s high school season.
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Malvern Prep repeated as Phillie Elite Invitational
Malvern – which won last year’s inaugural Invitational title and went on to claim this spring’s Inter-Ac League championship – repeated as the Phillie Elite winner today at Maple Zone Sports Village with a 10-2 victory over Jags Lax (Garnet Valley).
Malvern finished 5-0 in the 16-team tourney, outscoring its foes, 53-10. Malvern Prep’s toughest game was a 7-3 semifinal win over Springfield-Delco.
The 2-day event, which also is held in the Fall (as a 1-day tourney), is co-directed by Tom Lemieux (Springfield-Delco coach) and Michael Friel (Radnor Athletic Director) as well as Heritage Lacrosse.
After topping Haverford School, 17-13, for the Inter-Ac crown and finishing No. 1 in the final Phillylacrosse.com Rankings, Malvern Prep lost a number of key seniors. But 2019 midfielder Luke DiGiacobbe, the team’s MVP in the tourney, said the performance at the Phillie Elite was an early showcase of the team’s returning talent.
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Luke DiGiacobbe
“I think playing in the summer with your high school team is a lot better than just playing with club teams,” said DiGiacobbe, a Penn commit who had three goals in the title win. “You create a chemistry that you’re going to have in the spring. Also, graduating the (senior) class we had last year, there’s going to be a lot of roles and shoes to fill.
“Getting these guys used to playing varsity high school lacrosse and the speed we play at is really good. Hopefully, we can get them on the ground running in the spring.”
Also playing key roles for Malvern were: 2021 goalie Chris O’Grady, 2021 attackman Will Peden, 2019 defenseman Ryan Twohig and 2019 midfielder Matt Civitella.
DiGiacobbe said tourney should help the confidence of many of the young players, who he said have great potential.
“I think we just have to get these young guys confident enough to know we can do what those guys did last year,” DiGiacobbe said of the senior class. “They were all great lacrosse players, but there are a lot of great lacrosse players here that may not be as known as some of those guys. They just need to be out there playing together.
“We graduated a lot, but we’re bringing a lot back on defense. Our defense was playing really well. The offense has to clean it up a little. I think the seniors did a good job making sure everyone was working and running through our sets. We were keeping it simple, but getting the job done.”
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Mitch Lachman
Jags Lax, meanwhile, also can use its success as a springboard for the 2019 season. In 2018, Garnet Valley was one of the year’s top stories in Philly lacrosse, as it blossomed from an up-and-down Central League season to defeat defending champion Conestoga for the District 1 Class AAA title while also reaching the PIAA semifinals where it fell to eventual champ Manheim Township.
The Jaguars will return most of its team. Jags Lax Tourney MVP Mitch Lachman, a 2020 attackman who played a key role on this spring’s Garnet Valley team, said the carryover of the high school team’s success was evident in the Phillie Elite.
“It was awesome, we played really well yesterday, going 3-0, and played well against Rustin,” he said of the 6-3 semifinal win over the Golden Knights (West Chester Rustin). “We are bringing back our entire starting offense and the defense is pretty strong.
“We started off pretty rough in the regular season, but we got together as a team and started playing well. We had a very good defense and a very good scheme. We came together as a team and played really well.”
Does Lachman see the success from the playoffs carrying over?
“For sure,” he said. “It’s pretty much same team graduated six or seven seniors and everyone else is back. We all have the chemistry.”
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