Pillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/15/16
Staff Report
Visiting Loyola Blakefield (MD) built a seven-goal lead and held off second-ranked Haverford School, 16-14, today to snap the Fords’ 27-game win streak.
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Forry Smith (four goals) heads downfield fro Haverford School (Photo by Lane Shima)
Loyola was making its season debut under first-year head coach Ben Rubeor, who led St. Mary’s Annapolis to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association “A” Division championship last year.
Haverford was No. 1 in the Phillylacrosse.com Rankings and No. 2 in the C2C North America Rankings, having handled MIAA power St. Paul’s, 12-8, in its opener. Loyola was unranked.
Cole Williams (Johns Hopkins signee) had three goals and four assists while Nick Goles (Dickinson) had three goals and two assists, Brendan Doyle (Mount St. Mary’s) had three goals, and Phil Wies (Furman commit, 2017) added two goals and two assists for the Dons.
The Dons led, 8-5, at halftime and stretched the lead to seven in the third period before Haverford rallied.
“It was an overall team effort for sure,” said Williams. “We played strong defensively and offensively throughout the game.
Williams said that Haverford’s late surge (five straight goals) was thwarted by a key tally from LSM Nate Leishear with less than 2 minutes remaining.
“Overall, the coaches put us into the right position to win with our schemes,” said Williams. “And I think that we found out that we are a resilient team who likes to play together.”
Rubeo, a Loyola grad who was named National Coach of the Year by USA Today,took the new job in the summer.
Forry Smith (Johns Hopkins signee) had four goals and Dox Aitken (Virginia) had three goals and an assist for the Fords.
Loyola plays another Philly power from the Inter-Ac League, Malvern Prep at Homewood Field Friday night.
“It was definitely not our best lacrosse which is exciting for us knowing that there is always room for improvement,” said Williams. “We are already preparing for the Malvern game. And can not wait for another opportunity to play at Homewood on Friday night.”
This article will be updated with more comments from Rubeor and Doyle.
Haverford School scoring
Brendan O’Neill 1g
Johnny Nostrant 2g
Forry Smith 4g
Keyveat Postell 1a
Dox Aitken 3g, 1a
Tommy McNamara 2g, 1a
Alec Haas 1a
Joel Trucksess 1g
Alex Demarco 1g
goalie Alex Demarco 9 saves
Loyola Blakefield
Nick Goles 3g, 2a
Phil Wies 2g, 2a
Cole Williams 3g, 4a
Luke Hurley 2g, 1a
Brendan Doyle 3g
Liam Bateman 1g
Robbie Olson 1g
Nate Leisher 1g, 1a
Jake Stout 10 saves