STATE COLLEGE (8-6) at HERSHEY (12-2) 4:00PM
* Postponed due to weather
- The Little Lions come to Derry Township to play the Trojans in the early game today at 4:00pm. Having dropped two of their last three and facing Hershey and Carlisle back to back this week will be a defining moment for the Lions. Last week with an upset of Trinity they would have had a clear shot at Carlisle and the Commonwealth. After a 10-5 defeat by the Shamrocks and a loss to Bishop Shannon (15-3) they are hoping to pull off an upset and avoid a losing four out of five down the stretch.
Brady Franks and Luc Michaels will continue to need to get Sam Schwab going to be an effective offense. The two man game won't work against superior teams like Hershey. And even if they get Schwab more involved, Franks and Michaels will need to produce to keep up on the score board. If State College can take notes from the Herd's dominant victory it is this, get controlled longer possession on offense and play great transitional lacrosse.
For Hershey they have already bounced back nicely from the Carlilse game with a 13-6 defeat of Warwick and look to run the table with State College, Mechanicsburg, and Chambersburg all representing winnable games. Victories matter to the Trojans in order to move up from a 6 seed in districts. As far as stats go Coach Schein's attack is a very talented group. Jake Wilson is on the verge of a 50 goal season (47 goals) with George Briggs approaching 50 assists (49 currently). Logan Calhoun seems to be a blend of those two players with 40 goals and 19 assists. Keep an eye out for Dave Sickler in transition. An excellent LSM he demonstrates an uncanny knack for clearing the ball and isn't afraid to shoot.
BISHOP MCDEVITT (3-10) at CENTRAL DAUPHIN (7-5) 4:30PM
- CD is currently 17th in district rankings and this represents a must win for a Rams squad who is surging late. CD looks to push it to 7 wins out of their last 8 games (an 11-12 loss to CV was their only blunder) as they are in an excellent position to make the district playoffs. Two challenging games await them with Northern and Trinity after this. If the Rams can finish at 10-5 Coach Driscoll deserves serious consideration for Coach of the year in the Mid Penn. Look for CD to continue to play excellent defense and lean on leading scorers Eli Hudson (24 goals), Nate Beard (17 goals), and Colton Nye (17 goals) to run an offense by committee.
After a 0-6 start the Crusaders have gone 3-4 and seem to be playing better. The question of course is will it be good enough to defeat a really good Rams squad? They must play great defense and their best game of the year offensively to get the W. LD showed that you can slow the rams offense down but you must be able to score to make this plan effective. Griffin Hanes is stepping into the spotlight (19 goals) with his brother Jackson (14 goals) close behind.
CARLISLE (11-2) at PALMYRA (7-7) 5:00PM
* Rescheduled from 4/23
- No rest for the weary. Both squads are coming off of disappointing Mondays for this rescheduled game. No one likes postponements especially when they must be squeezed in after a loss. Palmyra is the best 7-7 team out there and if anyone represents a Mid Penn loss threat to the Herd they are it. Carlisle is looking to not slip to far from their 2 seed for districts and this represents a must win if they want to set up a long and successful post season run.
We always expect all time leading scorer Max Breschi to be involved for the Herd offense but after that there a plethora of good players who can hurt you await and it just depends on the given night. Faller (23 goals), Mundell (18 goals), and Amsley (18 goals) are capable scorers and extremely unselfish. On most other MP squads these three would be leading scorers with much higher goal totals. Clearly Carlisle has great team first attitude and all four of the aforementioned players are much more satisfied with wins than goals.
Joey Hess will need to get more involved in the scoring. There is little doubt the Herd defense will focus on him. If he is to be a truly dominant MP player he needs to rise above the defensive game plan and will his way, and his team, to goals and victory. Nick Mazzocca had been a nice compliment to Hess but is now tied with him as the leading scorers with 28 goals. Sam Wasson should also be a real concern for Carlilse as he is an excellent goalie with the capability of taking over the game.
LOWER DAUPHIN (6-7) at CUMBERLAND VALLEY (8-7) 5:30PM
* Game time has been changed to 5:30pm (from 7:00pm)
- CV currently sits at 15 in district seeding with LD back at 27. It's probably to far back for the Falcons to get in. The Eagles are in must win mode to maintain their top 16 status.
LD had been on tear winning six of their last eight until a heartbreaking defensive battle with CD ended 4-3. If they want to be a contender in the Keystone and Mid Penn beating CV would serve as notice that this squad is not be taken lightly. A .500 season is well with in reach and a win here would set that up as a relative sure thing. Mike Mattis has an excellent shot and can score from a variety of spots. He will garner a lot of attention from the Eagle defense tonight. If he can get free or find the open man LD should have success. Garrett Schug is the number two scorer with 16 goals and Coach Vickory will need him and others to step up in this one.
The Eagles four game winning streak seems a long time ago as they have now lost three of four games making this a very up and down year for Coahc Boagzyck and crew. All three of those losses came out of conference and we applaud CV for taking shots against difficult opponents to improve their team and make a stronger case for districts. Against Mid Penn opponents they have won four straight and a win here would set up an excellent end of season finish in conference play. We expect Nick Zumbrum (31 goals) and Tommy Lehman (27 goals) to continue to play well on offense. Logan Fazakerly (26 goals) has slowed down a bit on attack for the Eagles and we imagine they are hoping to get him back in rhythm and more involved. Nic Brown has been excellent in goal since taking the starting position coming off his injury. We expect him and Justin Guevarez to be large factors in this game all night.
CHAMBERSBURG (6-6) at TRINITY (11-2) 7:00PM
* Postponed to 5/5/14
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