Mt. Lebanon competes for WPIAL lacrosse titles
Wins over USC, NA thrust Blue Devils into championships
With wins against Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny, respectively, the Mt. Lebanon girls and boys lacrosse teams advanced to the WPIAL championships to defend their titles.
The Lady Blue Devils were scheduled to play Pine-Richland in the Class 3A final while the Lebo boys challenged Shady Side Academy for their trophy on May 22 at USC stadium. (Results were unavailable for this edition of The Almanac.)
In their semifinal match played May 19 at Confluence Stadium on the Peters Township Middle School campus in McMurray, the Lady Blue Devils toppled the rival Panthers, 12-9. The win avenged a regular season overtime loss to USC that prevented Lebo from claiming the section banner.
The victory also was significant in that twice in the match the Blue Devils opened up commanding leads, 8-2 at halftime and 11-6 with 13:24 remaining in the match.
“We knew it was going to be tough because the last time we played them they were up 9-4 and lost to them in overtime,” said Lebo skipper Brian Kattan. “I kept reminding them that this happened early. It could happen again.
“The second time was a little more nerve wracking because it was later in the game and they were on a pretty good run there but I was confident that we would not overreact and stay calm and bring it home.”
After Anna Capabres scored her fifth goal of the game to narrow the margin to 11-9, Quinn Murdoch brought it home for the Blue Devils. Her sixth score of the game provided a three-goal cushion while Lebo whittled time off the clock with crisp passing on offense as well as key draw controls after USC’s previous goals by Riley Powell.
“The difference was we took our time on offense and calmed it down,” Kattan said. “We worked the clock but still looked to shoot. We were able to kill the last six minutes or so with some nice offensive plays and by winning those big draws by Quinn and Cali (Green).”
Defense also played a role in Lebo’s success against USC. Freshman Aubrey Betler shadowed Capabres and limited the Pitt commit’s chances. In goal, Nina Crago anchored the defense provided in front of her by Sloane Wilson, Rainiah Turnbull and Chloe Shea.
“Anna is going to get her goals but Aubrey did a tremendous job on her and limited her numbers,” Kattan said.
“Nina was tremendous in goal. We’ve talked two years about being a goldfish and forgetting what happened in the past and she has done a great job of that,” Kattan continued. “If she lets up a goal, she doesn’t let it bother her. She goes and gets the next save. She did a great job as did our other defenders. Sloane, Rainiah and Chloe made some big plays.”
For the boys, Joey Hetz, Keegan Green, Garrett Cramer, Andrew Pinella and Max Prezioso made the big plays during Lebo’s 9-4 win against North Allegheny. With the match tied, 4-4, each scored a goal during the final seven minutes to clinch the victory.
Of the five-goal uprising Lebo head coach Mike Ermer said that “the boys stuck to the plan. They believed in each other.
“We did a great job of sharing the ball,” he added. “We had some upperclassmen step up and make upperclassmen play.”
In addition to his fourth-quarter tally, Hetz had a hat trick in the first half. The senior’s third goal of the game provided a 4-2 advantage before NA scored at the buzzer to end the second quarter.
“Joey is an absolute animal. He’s a warrior. A team leader,” Ermer said. “I don’t think there are enough superlatives that I can throw out there to describe him.”
Ermer also noted the play of Pinella and Mason Prettyman.
“I did not have that one on my bingo card,” Ermer said of Pinella’s tally. “He and Mason have been doing a great job at the face off. They are so selfless. They just want the win.”
Lebo posted the win in part to the goalkeeping of Zach Lynam. A junior, he was voted by the team as its MVP after filling a void caused by an off-season injury to the heir-apparent starter.
“Zach has exceeded expectations,” Ermer said. “We knew he was going to be good but he’s been great. A 75 save percentage is unheard of in high school lacrosse.”
NOTES: In Class AA boys semifinal action, South Fayette returned to the championship game to face top-ranked Mars after beating Peters Township, 12-5.
The girls final matchup also featured the Fighting Planets. They faced off against Chartiers Valley, a 10-8 winner against Quaker Valley.
The Class AA finals were scheduled for May 23 at USC stadium. (Results were unavailable for this edition of The Almanac.)
The Upper St. Clair boys lost to Shady Side Academy, 13-8, in the semifinal round of the Class AAA tournament. The Panthers battled NA for third place in the district and a spot in the PIAA tournament.