TOWAMENCIN- Last year, the North Penn boys’ lacrosse team blew a five point lead against Pennridge; a game that all but shut the door on any shot of a district title. This year, the team ensured that history would not repeat itself.
In an exciting league matchup Friday afternoon, the Knights took down Pennridge by a score of 11-9 to earn their first league win of the season.
“As long as I played at North Penn we have never beaten Pennridge, and losing to them after having a five goal lead last year really hurt,” said senior goalie and captain Mike Tappen. “Its good to get them back.”
Senior attacker and captain Chris Young started off the game with two unanswered goals in the first. After a goal by Pennridge, North Penn answered with a goal from senior Ryan Dwyer. By the end of the half, North Penn had all of the momentum, leading 7-4.
In the second half, Pennridge played much better while North Penn players and fans were hoping this game would not be a déjà vu of last year. But the Knights maintained their composure and never surrendered the lead Young gave them to start the game.
“The team played well today,” said Young. “We came together and that’s the biggest thing. We play as a team and win as a team. If you play as individuals, someone is going to pick your individuals apart, and that causes problems.”
Young finished the game with five goals.
Head Coach Rick Smith was pleased with what he saw from his team and hopes the team can build from this win.
“I think as a whole they did great,” said Smith. “They played as a team; all 26 players came together and fought for four quarters. Lacrosse is like a war. There are times when you are up and times when you are down. We got knocked down by Pennridge a lot. They came after us and we went after them. The good thing for us is that we came out on top.”
“We have a really important stretch right now. We have CB West on Tuesday the we go East the CB South, so we have a lot of really important league games that we need to play as an entire unit and program. We need the team ready to play and get after these league games.”
Right now, the Knights are using the win as a boost of confidence for the rest of the season and to raise their expectations a little higher.
“We definitely have a shot at districts,” said Tappen. “This win proves that we can run with anyone in the league and we are planning to do so.”
“The firstt league win is always a big one,” added Young.
Smith believes hard work in practice will be the key to success in winning the next few games on the schedule.
“We need overall to come every single day and keep practicing. They need to bring their work boots everyday. And our guys work so hard and as long as we keep working and get 25 guys to practice we are going to be in really good shape.”