LIMERICK-In today’s world it is hard enough to start a high school sports team. To do it two years in a row would prove to be a monumental task for most, but Pope John Paul High School’s boys lacrosse program appears to have a plan.
Monday afternoon, Pope John Paul II High School etched another chapter in the school’s inaugural year, with its first win in boys lacrosse. Matt Bildstein posted four points, to lead the Golden Panthers to a 6-3 win over Phoenixville.
Phantoms head coach Joe Youngblood, in his first year at the helm of Phoenixville lacrosse, will undoubtedly feel his share of growing pains this season, as the young Phantoms are still in a learning curve, building a program.
Find out what's happening in Phoenixvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Phoenixville will have it's day in the sun but it seemed like Monday was just destined to be the day that the Golden Panthers claimed a win in the Pioneer Athletic Conference.
PJP2 had everything in their favor, coming off of two brutal PAC-10 games versus Boyertown and Spring-Ford. Things could only improve as the Golden Panthers played in front of their home crowd for the first time.
Find out what's happening in Phoenixvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
PJP2 fed off of the energy the home fans provided, jumping out to an early lead. With 10:18 remaining in the first period, James Salvo took a great feed from Matt Bildstien, which he promptly deposited behind Phantoms goaltender Nick Lolli, giving PJP2 a lead, which it would never relinquish.
Pope John Paul II (1-2) continued to pressure the Phantoms defenders with great cycling of the ball. Bildstein would again make his presence known as he hit Joe Dedrick in stride for a scoring chance that Dedrick cashed in on with 9:35 left in second period.
“This is big game for us as a team,” said first year head coach Brian Kilpatrick, who coached for three years previously at Lansdale Catholic. “We are here to work hard and establish ourselves as a program. This will go a long way to helping with that. Teams will know that they can’t take us lightly.”
The Phantoms' (0-2 league 1-2 overall) defense battled in their own end and sophomore net minder Lolli made several great saves to keep Phoenixville within striking distance.
“We are a relatively young team with only five seniors on the roster,” said Youngblood. “We will need to rely on some younger guys to step up and fill holes in our lineup. Our guys are gaining experience every time we take the field.”
On a man-up situation as the first quarter was concluding, coach Youngblood brilliantly called a timeout to set his strategy with his attackers.
Immediately following the timeout, junior Alex Clark Jr. broke free in the Golden Panthers' zone, taking a pass from Dan Greenwood which he ripped past Bildstein, cutting the lead to 2-1.
Clark, Greenwood and junior Brendan Bonner, coming off of a break out wrestling season, set the tone for the Phantoms offensively recording nine shots between them.
“Our coach has these players so motivated and ready to play,” said former Pius X coach Dan Mitchell. “He has gotten them to buy into the program and they are all playing so well together. It's been incredible to see their maturity as players and a team.”
A trio of Phantoms, junior Cole Dimascio, senior Macky Park and freshman Isaac Levine, worked the defensive end of the field exerting themselves physically in keeping the PJP2 attackers in check
James Salvo’s two goals and Nick Pollick’s hat trick proved to be too much for the Phantoms to cut into the two-goal lead that PJP2 built in the first half and Bildstien’s effort in net prevented Phoenixville from mounting a serious comeback threat.
Next up for the Phantoms, who defensively did not allow more than two goals in any period, is a match up with a very solid Boyertown Bears squad Wednesday.
“We are still finding our own identity,” added Youngblood. “This is a great group of young men who have continually risen to every challenge we have given them. Every game we continue to improve our playing together as a team.”
Phonixville 0 1 1 1 -3
Pope John Paul II 2 1 1 2 -6
