May 26, 2015 By Eleanor Bailey 3 min read

Poor choices prevented Canon-McMillan from capturing its first lacrosse championship and enabled Hampton to claim its fourth WPIAL Division II title in seven years.

“Hampton deserves credit,” explained Craig Schleifstein after the Big Macs dropped a 15-12 decision in the title tilt played May 22 at Highmark Stadium. “We were up by three goals with all the momentum and we made some bad decisions.”

After Reese Ruscello tallied C-M’s fifth goal in a row, providing the Big Macs a 9-6 cushion 48 seconds into the third quarter, the Talbots erupted for eight of the next nine goals. Three straight tallies by Nicholas Grabowski afforded Hampton a 14-10 advantage with 6:02 to play.

“Lacrosse is a game of runs,” expounded Schleifstein, “and we just didn’t stop it.”

On the other hand, the Talbots stopped the C-M attack. The Big Macs averaged 17.4 goals per game and produced 20 scores in a first-round playoff win against Aquinas Academy.

“My hat’s off to their goalie,” said Schleifstein regarding Chris Geraud’s play in the nets. “He did a great job stopping some of our top shooters, including our Ben Ward, who is the Division II player of the year.”

Ward did, however, recorded a hat trick. His third goal of the contest provided the Big Macs a two-goal cushion, 10-8, with 4:09 to play in the third quarter.

Ruscello also recorded a hat trick. In the first minute of action, the senior scored the game’s first goal. His second score came with a second left on the clock and tied the match, 3-3, heading into the second stanza.

Though Hampton opened up a two-goal lead, 6-4, a string of scores from Isaac Miles, Zachary Moore, Nick Carr and Ruscello swung the match back into C-M’s favor, 8-6, by halftime.

Though Dominic Tolomeo and Carr cut Hampton’s margin to 14-12, Issaac Capezzuti iced the Talbots’ triumph with his fourth goal, coming with nine seconds remaining in the contest.

Dante DiBucci also registered four scores. Steve DiBucci was Hampton’s other multiple-goal scorer with two tallies.

“There were two really good teams, two very good offensive teams out there, but I thought we would be fine,” Schleifstein said. “I thought it would come down to who made the most mistakes.”

C-M made few mistakes in reaching the finals. After easily dispatching Aquinas Academy, 20-1, the Big Macs dispatched Mars, 10-8, in the semifinals. Hampton needed overtime to quell Indiana, 14-13, in the playoff opener. The Talbots then defeated defending champion, Quaker Valley, 12-5, in their semifinal.

With the win, Hampton finished 14-6 overall and snapped C-M’s 13-game winning streak. The Big Macs, who finished the 2015 campaign with a 16-2 slate, graduate 14 of the 20 players on their varsity roster, including Alex Paulina. The senior defender is a Pitt football recruit.

Other seniors on the club included: Jordan Pantely, Tolomeo, Ruscello, Josh Minor, Carr, Lucas Potochar, Sean Herman, Ward, Matthew Smutney, Moore, Jonathan Balog, Lane Collar and William Graziani.

The returning veterans include: Miles and Mark Bowers, both juniors; sophomores Doug Kotar, Brady Ruth and Colin Torpey as well as freshman Mike Davis.

“We are going to miss our seniors but we have a big freshman class like our senior class,” Schleifstein said. “So, hopefully in two years, we will be back.”