April 24, 2013

PDS Boys’ lax Drops Nailbiter to Hun, But Getting Steeled for Postseason Play

sports8The Panthers fought back from a 3-1 halftime deficit to make it 3-3 with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

In the waning moments of regulation, PDS found itself trailing 6-4 but didn’t fold. Senior star and Lehigh-bound Cody Triolo scored with 23.9 seconds left and then the Panthers achieved one last possession. They were unable to find the back of the net as they lost 6-5 in the April 16 contest.

While PDS head coach Rob Tuckman was disappointed to see his team fall just short against Hun, he saw no reason for his players to hang their heads.

“I think we take a couple of things from this,” said Tuckman. “Number one, we were two goals down and we came back. Our kids can play with any team on any level. I think they saw that today and we will go with that and move forward.”

Tuckman sensed that his team was in for a nailbiter when it played at its crosstown rival Hun.

“I knew this was going to be a tough one for us,” said Tuckman. “They have an outstanding program; they have some real good lacrosse players and real good athletes. They have got MV (new head coach MV Whitlow) and MV does a nice job.”

Although the Panthers only scored five goals against the Raiders, Tuckman thought his team did a good job offensively considering that it had trouble getting possession with Hun’s Zach Bicho dominating in the face-off circle.

“I would argue that our percentage in the offensive end was very, very good,” said Tuckman, who got three goals from Triolo with Taran Auslander and Jacob Shavel adding one apiece.

“We scored five goals and I would argue that we weren’t on the offensive end that much today.”

Tuckman was also pleased with his team’s work at the other end of the field. “I think they played great; we went at them with a game plan,” said Tuckman.

“Our guys held to the game plan. Our kids played some sound D. They have some real threatening kids; the Reynolds kid [Corey Reynolds], the Blacks [Brendan and Owen] and [Zach] Bicho can score. I thought our kids did really well with that.”

Junior goalie Nelson Garrymore helped snuff out some Hun scoring threats.

“Nelson has been solid,” added Tuckman. “He is getting strong as a distributor. I thought we did really well on our clears. When we stopped them, we were able to transition into the offensive end. We rushed the ball a couple of times but otherwise I thought we did a great job.”

In Tuckman’s view, going against tough competition will help PDS be strong when it matters most.

“For me, it is all about postseason play,” said Tuckman, whose team moved to 4-3 with a 16-8 loss to Somerville last Friday and plays at Chestnut Hill (Pa.) on April 25 before starting play in the state Prep B tournament.

“I think this is all in preparation for that. We have got a really tough schedule, by design, to get these kids ready. I think if you look at the county and the state Prep B tournaments, we have a good shot. I think by the time we get there, we will have plenty of reps.”