PENNSBURY:Falcons show Colonials the door

The Pennsbury boys lacrosse team kicked off their 2009 campaign March 20 with a 13-8 home victory over the visiting Plymouth-Whitemarsh Colonials.

With the score a thin 6-5 margin for the Falcons early in the third period, Pennsbury went on a 7-3 roll spanning the third and fourth quarters to pull away with the win.

The game saw freshman attacker Calvin Hopkins not only score his first varsity goal, but put up a hat trick. The Pennsbury team used quick ball movement and unselfish passing to create scoring opportunities and control offensive possession time.

Attackman Kenneth Warren had five assists and one goal, and middie Shawn Caven had four assists and two goals to lead the Falcons in scoring.

The Falcon offense also featured a second middie line consisting of three freshmen, Ryan McDonald, Evan Caterson and Luke Matthews, who had helped lead their Lower Bucks Blue Wave A-1 team to the 2008 SEPYLA championship last year. Evan also scored his first varsity goal and also contributed at faceoff.

In a battle of the Shawn (Shawn Caven--PHS, and Shawn Kaplan--P-W), at the faceoff, Pennsbury won 18 of 23 of the contests 'at the X' against the Ohio State bound Kaplan.

With the score 6-3 Pennsbury at the half, Plymouth-Whitemarsh came out strong in the second half with two quick goals, the first on a man-up opportunity and the second starting with a win from the faceoff leading to a quick shot and score.

Digging down deep, Falcon goalie David Cutler then made consecutive saves on the Colonials’ next two shots to cut short the P-W team's momentum and start the next Falcon scoring surge. Shawn Caven fed attacker Peter Sweetland (4 goals, 1 assist) on an athletic leap-catch-and-score, and then Ricky Jutkiewicz (2 goals) regained the initiative with a rip from up top.

The Pennsbury defense was lead by super sophomore Dan Marr, who challenged every Colonial ball carrier, resulting in a number of strips and key turnovers.

Late in the game, senior Ryan Brim took a loose ball into the offensive end and passed off. After a quick shot and save, Ryan muscled into a scrum, came up with the ground ball, and ripped a bounce shot into the bottom right corner for a defensive score.

The Falcon defense played strongly throughout the game, with four of the eight Plymouth-Whitemarsh goals coming on man-up opportunities.

This is the second consecutive year that the Suburban One American Plymouth-Whitemarsh and the Suburban One National Pennsbury lax teams have kicked off the season together, with the Falcons winning the 2008 season opener at P-W in a close fought overtime victory.

Pennsbury holds a 3-0 lead over the Colonials in their all-time series.

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Box Score
Pennsbury 13, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 8
1 2 3 4 - Final
Plymouth-Whitemarsh 1 2 3 2 - 8
Pennsbury 3 3 4 3 - 13
(March 20 at PHS)
GOALS:
Pennsbury - 13; Pete Sweetland 3, Calvin Hopkins 3, Shawn Caven 2, Rick Jutkiewicz 2, Kenneth Warren 1, Ryan Brim 1, Evan Caterson 1
Plymouth-Whitemarsh - 8; Sean McLernan 2, Pat Nolan 2, Joe Hughes 1, Matt Collier 1, Chris McKinney 1, Colin Joka 1
ASSISTS:
Pennsbury - 11; Kenneth Warren 5, Shawn Caven 4, Peter Sweetland 1, Tim Considine 1
Plymouth-Whitemarsh - 6; Sean McLernan 1, Pat Nolan 1, Joe Hughes 1, Matt Collier 1, Zack Schulman 1, Colin Joka 1
SHOTS:
Pennsbury 27, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 14
SAVES:
David Cutler (Pennsbury) 4, Peter Orler (Plymouth-Whitemarsh) 1
RECORD:
Pennsbury (1-0)
Plymouth-Whitemarsh (0-1)