La Salle captures Catholic League lacrosse championship
With a slow start and a furious finish, the Explorers rolled past St. Josephs Prep, 13-3.
It wasn't the start La Salle junior Joe Burnham wanted, but it didn't take long for the Explorers to rally at Plymouth-Whitemarsh.
After giving up three early goals, La Salle steamrolled St. Joseph's Prep, 13-3, and won its second consecutive Catholic League championship.
Burnham, a junior defenseman, turned the ball over twice early, which resulted in two quick tallies for the Hawks.
The Prep took a brief 3-0 lead with 8 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first frame.
"We were a little too energetic," Burnham said. "We had too much energy coming in. We were all excited for the game and that kind of led to us playing not as smart as we normally do. The intensity was there but we weren't there with our minds."
An immediate timeout by coach Billy Leahy must have reunited their bodies with their minds, because 32 seconds later Brett Baskin scored and started the Explorers on a 13-goal run toward glory.
"It's always good to win your league, especially against your rival," said Leahy, who also praised the Hawks' early start and the play of their goaltender, Nick Cissone.
When asked, Leahy joked about a possible reason for his team's slow start. "Teenage boys," he said. "Can you figure that out?"
Later, he added: "I actually think they were so juiced . . . because we threw it away three times clearing and that's where they had their goals."
The team's first seven goals were each tallied by a different player. Baskin finished with three goals, while Joseph Taylor added three more.
Matt Clibanoff gave La Salle (19-1) the lead for good with exactly four minutes left in the first. The Prep (11-9) had scored its first goal at the 11:00 mark.
"We knew they're a great team," Burnham said. "We beat them earlier in the season, so we knew they'd come back even harder. We were ready for it, but we got down 3-0 early. But that just showed we can be resilient, too."
Burnham also heaped praise on the resilience of fellow defenseman Daniel Jordon, who missed time this season after having his appendix removed.
Jordon, a junior, could frequently be heard emotionally rallying his teammates, even diving for loose balls with reckless abandon when the game was no longer in doubt.
Jake Goss, Finn Monahan, and Pat Boyd tallied for the Hawks. Cissone was stellar in net, stopping 12 shots.
Michael Clibanoff stopped eight shots for the Explorers.
La Salle 6 2 2 3 - 13
St. Joseph's Prep 3 0 0 0 - 3
LS: Brett Baskin 3, Joseph Taylor 3, Christopher Hladczuk 2, Matt Clibanoff 2, Brendan Meagher, Ethan Masucci, Ethan LaMond.
SJP: Jake Goss, Finn Monahan, Pat Boyd Saves: LS - Michael Clibanoff 8; SJP - Nick Cissone 12
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