BOYS LACROSSE: Peddie almost toppled Lawrenceville, the sixth-ranked team in the nation, Tuesday afternoon, but lost, 11-9.
By: Kyle Moylan
It has been called a great win for the Lawrenceville boys’ lacrosse team by several people and publications this past week. In truth, Lawrenceville’s 11-9 win this past Tuesday was a lot closer to being a tremendous upset for Peddie.
The trouble is, people tend to forget high school players graduate. Peddie had a tremendous squad last season and finished as the 17th ranked team in the nation. But most of that team graduated. Forget about the fact Peddie has dominated the meetings in recent years, Lawrenceville is ranked sixth in the country.
"We don’t have the name recognition we did in the past," Peddie Coach Tris Wood noted. "I think people forget we graduated our top three scorers, all of our starting defense and an All-American goalie. We’re working with a skeleton crew this year. I’m happy with the way the kids are playing. I’m proud of them."
Dave Bauer scored 4 goals for Peddie against Lawrenceville. Jackson Kiniry and Rob Leming (assist) added 2 goals each. Tim Weigand scored the other goal for Peddie. Mike Cumming, Ryan Spitz and Brian Jacobi had assists.
"It’s almost expected that we will do well," Wood said. "I don’t think people realize the holes we needed to fill. In my mind, if we had won, it would have been incredibly impressive."
In some respects, Wood was even more pleased with Peddie’s loss than its win last week. Peddie’s 12-2 win over Mercersburg. Peddie was expected to defeat Mercersburg and took care of the job in a nice, clean professional manner.
Peddie scored 5 goals in each of the first two quarters and built a 10-0 lead at the half. Peddie just added 1 goal in each of the final two quarters of play.
"We came out and played hard in the first half," Wood noted. "In the second half, I told certain guys they couldn’t score anymore. I wasn’t going to do that earlier. I don’t call off the dogs until the game is over."
Bauer (assist), Leming and Cummins scored 2 goals each for Peddie. Jacobi (2 assists), Mike deLaurentis, Weigand and Grayson Connors added a goal each. Mark Getchis and Ryan Spitz had assists.
Ed Switzer recorded the win in goal, making 6 saves. Peddie outshot Mercersburg, 46-13.
Peddie was scheduled to face Princeton Day School yesterday. Next week Peddie will take on Moorestown and Bridgewater in key Pit Division games.
On May 13, Peddie will begin play in the prep tournament with a semifinal game against Hun. Lawrenceville and Blair will face off in the other semifinal game. Another Peddie-Lawrenceville game is a possibility. Don’t expect too much from Peddie, though. Leave that to the Falcons. Graduations or not, the 8-2 team expects to win. And they usually do.