By Marc Narducci
(Photos by Mike Nance, James Quinn, Zack Beavers and Nick Schreder)
With a little less hype, Malvern Prep opens with strong Inter-Ac showing
Malvern Prep has recently been at the top of the Inter-Ac League, having won the last three league championships, but the Friars entered the year with some questions.
Hit hard by graduation, there was the feeling that Malvern Prep could come back to the pack after going 19-2 and beating Haverford School, 14-5 last year’s Inter-Ac championship.
The Friars had no chance of easing into this year’s Inter-Ac schedule since their first league game was last week at Haverford School.
Yet the team that many felt would be in a slight rebuilding mode, looked like the old Malvern Prep in its opener.
Final score: Malvern Prep 13, Haverford School 6.
While on paper this might have looked like a rout, in reality, Haverford School took it to Malvern Prep during the first half and led 5-4 at intermission.
Then came the third quarter and the game turned around for good, with the Friars outscoring Haverford School, 5-1. Malvern Prep then outscored the Fords, 3-0 in the fourth quarter in an impressive league opener.
The Friars had heard the preseason chatter that they might be down a notch and naturally, that provided even more incentive, as if they needed much to begin with.
Reporter Marc Narducci catches up with Malvern's AJ Nikolic, Joe Doherty & coach John McEvoy along with Haverford School coach Brendan Dawson after league opener,
“It motivated us a lot,” said goalie Joe Doherty, who made 12 saves, many of the spectacular variety.
“Last year everybody kind of knew we had the team and now everybody is counting us out and it pushed us so hard in practice every day and we have this chip on our shoulder and want to win every game."
Nobody was counting the Friars out, it’s just that there was the feeling that the gap had closed,
Neither team needs much additional motivation when these two titans meet and in the first game, a big crowd saw two of the top area programs compete.
“When Malvern and Haverford play, you can see there were a lot of people here and everybody wants to see this game,” said junior AJ Nikolic, a Cornell commit who had five goals and one assist to lead the Friars. “It’s just a great rivalry.”
One that is steeped in respect from both sides.
“At the end of the day I am friends with a bunch of their guys, we are all brothers,” Nikolic said. “It’s just a different atmosphere; it’s like a playoff game.”
In addition to Nikolic, junior Ennis Udo had three goals and one assist. Other goal scorers were senior Liam Timmons, senior Joseph Sheridan, junior Dylan O’Connor, sophomore John Majka and freshman Michael Ortlieb.
It was Ortlieb who drew high praise afterwards from Nikolic.
“We have a bunch of freshman and sophomores who are super talented,” Nikolic said. “You saw one of them, Mike Ortlieb, a freshman. Nobody knew about him, but they do now, stepping up in a big way and the young guys are going to get better and better and we hope they stay healthy and keep growing.”
Malvern's Ennis Udo scores 9th goal in game vs. Haverford School. (video by Marc Narducci for PSD)
Long-time Malvern Prep coach John McEvoy kind of enjoyed entering the season as not being a prohibitive favorite (even though nobody was picking against the Friars either and for good reason).
“The worst thing you want to be is a favorite, right,” McEvoy said. “I know it sounds cliché, but we are just focused on getting better each time and learning from each game we play.”
It looked like the lessons were learned in the second game because two days later the Friars beat Episcopal Academy, 16-7.
“The young kids who hadn’t been on the field before are learning a lot,” McEvoy said after the opening win. “It’s good to play teams like Haverford who are well coached, smart, tough and athletic. You learn a lot by playing them and hopefully we will be even better the next time we face them.”
That will be April 29 at Malvern Prep.
Offense clicking for Malvern Prep in second game
Leading the way in Malvern Prep’s 16-7 win over Episcopal Academy was Jack Irish who had four goals and one assist.
The Friars were in command from the onset, jumping to a 5-1 first quarter lead.
Majka scored a hat trick while Nikolic had two goals and two assists and Timmins and Ryan Falkenstein each had two goals and one assist. Sheridan and Udo each had a goal and Ortlieb added three assists.
Malvern Prep's Jack Irish in game vs. Haverford School. (Photo by Mike Nance for PSD)
Haverford School saw positives in opener
While Haverford school coach Brendan Dawson was naturally disappointed in the result of the Malvern Prep game, he did see some positives, all coming in the first half.
“Coming out and starting the way we did was encouraging,” he said about the 5-4 halftime lead. “It is about learning and figuring ourselves as we go.”
One of the impressive performers against Malvern Prep was sophomore Ben McCarthy, who was 15 of 19 on faceoffs.
Griff Meyer was 2 of 4 on faceoffs.
Offensively, Avi Mehl had two goals, while Teddy Malone added a goal and two assists. Willis Burt contributed a goal and an assist and Ryan DiRocco and Wells Finn each had a goal.
Dawson is looking forward to the second go-around with the Friars.
“The good thing about our schedule is you play everybody in the league twice and get a chance to kind of redeem ourselves and we look forward to getting back to work,” Dawson said.
And work they did.
Two days later, Haverford School defeated Penn Charter, 12-8.
Colin Zeller led the way with a hat trick. DiRocco added two goals and two assists while Burt had two goals and one assist and Sam Gerber added two goals. Malone had a goal and two assists and Mac Childs and Meyer each had a goal.
McCarthy and Meyer were a combined 10 of 23 on faceoffs.
Haverford School in Home Opener vs. Malvern Prep. (photos by Mike Nance)
Haverford School in game vs. Penn Charter. (Photos by Mike Nance)
Inter-Ac standings (through Monday, April 18)
Malvern Prep 2-0, 8-2
Germantown Academy 1-1, 7-2
Haverford School 1-1, 5-4
Episcopal Academy 1-1, 4-5
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy 1-1, 3-5
Penn Charter 0-2, 6-6
Impressive opening Inter-Ac win for Springside Chestnut Hill Academy
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy opened Inter-Ac action with two nail-biters, a 9-8 win over Penn Charter and a 12-11 loss to Germantown Academy.
In the win over Penn Charter, the headliner was sophomore goalie Hayes Schreiner, who made 24 saves.
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy opened Inter-Ac action with two nail-biters, a 9-8 win over Penn Charter and a 12-11 loss to Germantown Academy.
In the win over Penn Charter, the headliner was sophomore goalie Hayes Schreiner, who made 24 saves.
“Schreiner was unbelievable,” coach Brian Dougherty said.
Junior Drew Bown had a hat trick, including the game-winner with two minutes left.
Brendan Dundas had two goals and one assist and Neil Hutchinson added one goal and one assist. Single-goal scorers were Alex Pilling, Stevie Pileggi and Cole Carberry while Alec Tulio contributed two assists.
Ross Prince was 11-20 on faceoffs.
In the loss to Germantown Academy, Prince was 16-27 on faceoffs, had 10 ground balls, along with one goal and one assist.
Springside Chestnut Hill vs. Penn Charter. ( photos by James Quinn for PSD)
Brendan Dundas had three goals and one assist, while Bown (2 G, 1 A) and Carberry (2 G) were the other multiple goal scorers.
Churchmen open with impressive Inter-Ac win
Episcopal Academy kicked off its Inter-Ac schedule with an 11-6 win over Germantown Academy.
Senior Tristan Whittaker, a Vermont commit, led the way with three goals and two assists, while Dylan Jaszcz added two goals and two assists. Other multiple goal scorers were Lucas Slate (2 G, 1 A) and Paul Buckley (2 G).
Charlie Kraftson had a goal and an assist, Charlie Maier scored one goal and Andrew McMeekin added two assists. Eddie Jones and Sam Mally each had an assist while Nash Womack made nine saves.
McMeekin was 12 of 19 on faceoffs, while Will Hohn was 1 for 2.
That win was followed by a 16-7 loss to Malvern Prep.
Episcopal Academy vs. Germantown Academy. (video by Nick Schreder)
In the loss to Malvern Prep, Buckley had three goals, Whitaker added two and Jaszcz had a goal and one
Split for Germantown Academy
Germantown Academy split its first two Inter-Ac games, losing 11-6 to Episcopal Academy but bouncing back for a 12-11 win over Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.
Josh Gibbs scored the game-winner against SCH, his second of the game.
Rocco Ippoldo had three goals and two assists, while Josh Lee, and Joey Delello joined Gibbs as the other two-goal scorers.
Adding single goals were Walker Schwartz, Declan Connaughton and Jack Luviano, who also added two assists.
Senior goalie Brendan Donnelly, a Drexel commit, made 19 saves.
In the loss to Episcopal Academy, Donnelly made 16 saves. Gibbs and Ippoldo each scored two goals, while Delello and Luviano each had a goal, with Luviano also adding three assists.
Germantown Academy vs. Springside Chestnut Hill. (photos by Zack Beavers for PSD)
Before beginning its Inter-Ac schedule, the Patriots beat Westtown with Gibbs scoring four goals and Delello adding a hat trick along with one assist. Luviano contributed two goals and two assists, while Lee and Anthony Lara each had a goal and an assist.
Donnelly made 12 saves.
Quakers bounce back in non-league action
William Penn Charter bounced back from two competitive Inter-Ac losses with Saturday’s 9-7 win over Parkland.
Noah Dacanay had 13 saves and Colin Michener contributed two goals and three assists, while Gavin Michener had two goals and Chet Kempinski added two goals and one assist.
George Glomb was 7-12 on faceoffs while Russell Fitzgerald was 4-8.
Penn Charter in game vs. Springside Chestnut Hill. (Photos by James Quinn for PSD)
The Quakers were competitive in their 12-8 loss to Haverford High, with the Michener brothers combining for five goals and two assists. Colin, a senior who is a Villanova commit, had four goals and one assist, while younger brother Gavin, a sophomore, added a goal and an assist. Owen Black, Kempinski and Nick Walter each scored goals.
Fitzgerald was 9-12 on faceoffs while Glomb went 4-7 and Dacanay was strong in goal with 11 saves.
In the 9-8 loss to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Colin Michener had four goals, Black added two and Gavin Michener and Walter each had a goal.
During a 12-11 win over Manheim Township, prior to beginning Inter-Ac play, Colin Michener led the way with four goals and three assists while Peter Malitas had three goals and one assist and Kempski added two goals and two assists. Gavin Michener scored twice.
Fitzgerald was 16-21 on faceoffs.
Penn Charter has a key Inter-Ac game on Tuesday when the Quakers visit Episcopal Academy.