Patience pays off
BUTLER TWP — For Seneca Valley, patience truly was a virtue.
The Raiders overcame a stellar effort by Butler goaltender Owen Angerett and outlasted the Golden Tornado, 9-6, in a key boys lacrosse showdown Tuesday night at Art Bernardi Stadium.
The win lifted the Raiders (11-5) into the third-seed for the WPIAL playoffs out of the North Division. Butler (8-7) will be the fourth seed.
“We've faced a lot of zone defenses, so we're used to having to be patient offensively,” SV coach Peter Tumbas said. “Butler plays a good one.
“We took 19 shots in the first quarter or so. If a few more of those go in, we might have put the game away earlier.”
The Raiders managed a 6-4 lead by halftime, but the Tornado tied the game in the third period on goals by Nico Cicco and Nick Balestrino. SV took the lead for good on Dan Rupert's third tally of the night with 25 seconds left in the period.
Angerett made 12 saves in the game, a few from close range. Seneca Valley had 21 shots on goal to Butler's 11.
“Owen played a tremendous game,” Butler coach Michael Courteau said. “He held us in this game. He definitely gave us a chance to win it.”
But the Tornado offense faded late. Butler managed just two shots on net in the fourth quarter — both stopped by SV netminder Brady Moze — in getting blanked the rest of the way.
“We just got too anxious offensively. We tried to rush things too much,” Courteau said. “We never settled into an attack.”
Adam Galovich scored a key goal for the Raiders with 4:42 remaining while Butler was serving a penalty. Rupert killed off the game's final seconds by circling behind the Butler net and flipping a shot past Angerett just before time expired.
Rupert had four goals and an assist on the night. He leads the Raiders with 55 goals on the year. He was stopped by Angerett on three other quality scoring chances. Nick Salvatore, who scored twice, is second on the squad with 33 goals.
“Those two guys generally take most of our shots,” Tumbas said.
Grant Alexander had a goal and three assists for the Raiders while Eric Barbe scored a goal.
“We figured this would be a well-played, close game and it was,” Tumbas said. “But we need to finish more plays.”
Justin Jablonski scored three of Butler's four goals in the first half, Connor Bachman scoring the other. Jablonski, Bachman and Ben Kranbacher are the Tornado's leading scorers this season.
“We play a bit of an attacking zone and I thought it was effective at times,” Courteau said. “This was an evenly played game for the most part. The score indicates that.”
Butler hosts Central Catholic on Thursday night. Seneca Valley travels to Moon to play the second half of a suspended game today before taking on Quaker Valley Thursday.
