By Tom Peace
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 3/31/13
TOWSON, Md. – Senior Devin McNamara sparked a 10-0 run with four goals and added four assists Saturday to spark the host Loyola Blakefield (MD) boys’ lacrosse team to a surprisingly easy 13-5 conquest of St. Joseph’s Prep (PA).
St. Joe’s Prep (2-1) entered play ranked No. 25 by Under Armour-Inside Lacrosse. The Dons improved to 4-2.
The Hawks took an early 3-2 lead thanks to strong work at the face-off X and a potent attack. But Loyola’s Kevin Jackson (four goals, two assists) and Ryan Conrad (two goals) scored late in the first quarter and the Dons ripped off seven straight tallies in the second quarter to seize an 11-3 lead.
“They are a very good team and very unselfish early on we weren’t rotating and moving quickly on defense to disrupt their ball movement,” said Loyola Blakefield coach Jack Crawford. “We adjusted on defense and faceoff and we created good scoring opportunities.
“Today we cashed in on a lot of those.”
Crawford also was impressed with his team’s defense, which held down a squad that rallied from an 8-2 deficit Tuesday to stun three-time defending PA state champion Conestoga.
“Defensive coach Tim Sullivan does a great job with our defense,” said Crawford. “The thing he does well is have our guys move well off the ball and on ball to support each other.”
Tyler Cliggett had two goals to lead the Hawks.
“This was definitely not the result we wanted,” said St. Joe’s coach Eric Gregg. “Give credit to coach Crawford; they run a great program.
“They just caught us flat footed defensively and couldn’t stop anybody. We couldn’t figure out schemes. We started fine offensively, but we just couldn’t keep grinding and we didn’t have the ball much.”
The Hawks had not used the new college rules that private schools are using until Saturday.
“It was good for our guys to come out and play with this rules,” said Gregg. “We just didn’t have it today. Credit to them – they beat us all over, face offs, shooting and offense and defense.”
Crawford credited McNamara and Jackson.
“They have been playing well all year and they certainly feed off each other well,” he said. “But I think the result of those goals today were a result of movement of ball coming from our D through the neutral zone.”
Crawford said his team is prepared for the rigors of the MIAA season after defeating three Philly teams (The Prep, Haverford School, Penn Charter) and losing to Philly’s Malvern Prep.
“These Philadelphia teams are very good teams and you have to play hard to beat them,” he said. “We have three wins and one loss against Philly area teams and all four teams are very good. We feel well about that. Bottom line you have to be operating on all cylinders when you get into the league season.”
Loyola-Blakefield 13, St. Joseph’s Prep 5
LB 4-7-1-1 -13
SJP 3-0-0-2 -5
Loyola Blakefield
Devon McNamara 4 G, 4 A
Kevin Jackson 4 G, 2 A
Tyler Llewellyn 1 G
Tim Nordbrook 1 G, 2 A
Ryan Conrad 2 G, 1 A
Cole Williams 1 G
Acie Newton 9 Saves
Kevin O’Toole 11/19 Face offs
SJP
Tyler Cliggett 2 G
Pat Walsh 2 G
Anthony Marini 1 G, 1 A
Joe Walsh 2 A
AJ Simon 3 saves
Mike Marchese 6 Saves
