Lacrosse: Phantoms Win Battle, Lose the War With Vikings

The good news for Phantoms coach Joe Youngblood, in his first season at the helm of the U.S.S. Phoenixville, was that his Phantoms displayed composure and resilience in outscoring Perkiomen Valley by a 5-4 margin in the fourth period Wednesday night at Thomas J. Keenan Stadium.

Unfortunately for the Phantoms, who won the battle in the final frame, they had dug too deep of a hole to be able to salvage the war, succumbing to the Vikings by a 17-8 final.

“We did some great things in the second half,” said Youngblood. “We played a much better team game, which had been a problem all year. We have a lot of very skilled players but far too often we don’t play as a unit.”

Perkiomen Valley, which improved to 3-3 in league play and 5-3 overall, ignited the home crowd by jumping out to a 4-1 lead, paced two goals apiece from the sticks of senior Pete Sciafani and Shawn Laskey, with a tally by Phantoms junior attacker Dan Greenwood sandwiched in between to post a 4-1 lead after one.

The Phantoms, who are still in search of their first league win this season and dropped to 0-6 league, 1-6 overall, hung tough for the entire first half largely on the “Herculean” effort by goaltender Nick Lolli, who stoned Vikings snipers Ryan Boyd and Dennis Flynn who were all alone in the slot on consecutive trips down the field to keep Phoenixville within striking distance before the intermission.

“I try to get a read on their sticks and their hands in situations like that,” said Lolli. “I was able to get stick on 33’s [Boyd's] shot and 24 had me for a second, but hesitated so I was able to block the shot. As a goalie those circumstances are what I love. Our defense had played great all year and it’s my job to stop the ball if somehow they get by.”

The Phantoms were overwhelmed by the home club in the third period as Perk Valley tickled the twine seven times to coast to a 13-3 lead after three periods of play with the lone Phantoms goal being produced on a nice feed from Matt Randall, who had three goals and an assist, to attacker Evan Panepinto, who promptly put it behind Vikings goaltender Bryce Womack.

“We hung with them in the first half,” said junior attacker Brendan Bonner, who scored twice in the tilt. “Our defense and goalie played so well, like they have most of the year. We just seemed to run out gas to start the third period. We felt like we were really in the game until they got all of those goals in the third.”

“We need to play more like a team,” added Lolli. “Our guys work like crazy and never quit, but sometimes we get beat because the team we are playing works more as a unit, while we sometimes try to too much as individuals. It’s coming but we need to get it rolling now.”

Phoenixville did a much better job in the third period of exhibiting patience and possessing the ball in the Vikings zone, which led to scoring opportunities that Randall, with two fourth period goals, Vinny D’Innocenzo and Bonner, who posted two final period goals, took full advantage of.

“We are still building our program,” said Youngblood. “The bad news is that in the PAC-10 there is not much of a learning curve since it is a strong lacrosse conference with some beasts like Spring-Ford, Methacton and Owen J. Roberts. We will continue to take it a game at a time, but the effort is there. We just need to carry it over 48 minutes."  

Phoenixville                  1            1            1            5   - 8

Perkiomen Valley   4            2            7            4  - 17

Scoring

First period

7:38- PV   Laskey from Sciafani

6:37- PV    Sciafani

4:58- PX   Greenwood from Panepinto

3:31- PV    Sciafani from Bickel

  :38- PV    Laskey from Boyd

Second period

9:51- PV   Boyd from Lynn

6:35- PX   Randall from Levine

2:00- PX   Klemetisz from Bohan

Third period

10:00- PV   Sciafani from Lynn

 9:14 - PV   Sciafani from Dickey

 7:53 - PV   Flynn from Laskey

 5:32 - PX   Panepinto from Randall

 4:39 - PV   Boyd from Bohon

 2:34 - PV  Flynn from Boyd

 1:09 - PV  Lynn  (Man Up)

   :57 - PV  Scott 

Fourth period

10:58 – PV  Johnson

10:05 – PV  Boyd from Klementisz

  9:32 - PV   Dickey from Boyd

  8:39 - PX   Randall from D‘ Innocenzo

  6:07 - PX   Bonner from Levine

  4:17 – PX  Randall

  3:42 – PX  D’ Innocenzo

  3:18 – PV  Ruddy from Boyd

  2:47 – PX  Bonner from D’ Innocenzo