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NORTH ALLEGHENY 
VARSITY BOYS' LACROSSE

2005 NORTH ALLEGHENY TIGERS VARSITY LACROSSE TEAM

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MT. LEBANON ENDS TIGERS' SEASON, 12-7

The Tigers were defeated by top seed Mt. Lebanon, 12-7, at Mt. Lebanon on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the WPSLA Tournament.  The loss eliminated NA from the tournament and ended their season.  The Tigers finished with a final record of 10-12 overall.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOLASTIC LACROSSE ASSOCIATION
2005 PLAYOFFS

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TIGERS STOP PETERS TOWNSHIP, 16-6, IN WPSLA PLAYOFF OPENER

The Tigers had no trouble with Peters Township at Newman Stadium on Tuesday night as they defeated the Indians, 16-6, in the first round of the WPSLA Playoffs.  Sophomore attack Jose Rodriguez paced the Tigers with five goals with juniors Jason Faber and Blaine Simmer adding three goals each.

In the first quarter, the Tigers dominated play as they took a 7-0 lead after one period of play.  NA was never threatened after the opening quarter, and head coach John Rullan substituted liberally for the remainder of the game.  The Tigers increased the lead to 9-3 at halftime on their way to the ten-goal victory.

The Tigers got contributions from a number of players with sophomore midfield Andrew Rullan scoring a pair of goals and winning a majority of the faceoffs.  Junior middie Brandon Hoskinson added a pair of goals with senior midfield Conor McGrann also scoring for the Tigers.  Simmer recorded two assists with sophomore Brian Viletto also assisting on a Tiger goal.

With the win, the Tigers improved their record to 10-11 on the year and advanced to the quarterfinals against top seed Mt. Lebanon.  The game will be played on Thursday night with game time set for 7:30 pm.

(Thanks to Mark Stypula for the information in this report!)

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FOX CHAPEL FALLS TO TIGERS, 16-7, ON SENIOR NIGHT

To listen to a replay of the game, click here!

It was Senior Night at Newman Stadium on Tuesday night, and the Tigers responded with a 16-7 drubbing of the Fox Chapel Foxes.  Sophomore midfield Andrew Rullan scored four times to pace NA with senior midfield Conor McGrann and sophomore attack Jose Rodriguez adding three goals each for the winning Tigers.

The Tigers took control of the game from the outset with seven goals in the first quarter.  McGrann started things off right on Senior Night with a blistering shot from twelve yards out to give NA a 1-0 lead just 2:56 into the contest.  Junior attack Jason Faber made it 2-0 when he converted a pass from junior attack Glenn Stanzione at the 7:58 mark.  Stanzione then hooked up with Rodriguez who scored two consecutive tallies to give the Tigers a 4-0 advantage with 4:15 remaining in the period.  On a delayed penalty, Ruland raced down the middle of a porous Fox Chapel defense to make it 5-0.  Rodriguez set up junior attack Blaine Simmer for the sixth NA goal with 1:24 left, and Faber's second goal with just nine seconds remaining gave the Tigers a commanding 7-0 lead after one quarter.

In the second quarter, the Tigers continued to apply pressure and it paid off again.  Ruland's second goal, on an assist from McGrann, gave the Tigers an 8-0 lead 2:30 into the period.  Rodriguez scored his second goal on a pretty underhand shot that went over the shoulder of Fox Chapel goalie Neil Englehardt as NA took a 9-0 lead.  An apparent goal by junior midfield Steve Richard was disallowed at the 7:00 mark.  The Foxes came back to score a pair of goals as Dan Uminski and Tyler Keenan cut the lead to 9-2 with 4:28 left in the half.  McGrann tallied his second goal, converting a pass from sophomore midfield Brian Viletto with 1:46 remaining.  The Tigers took a 10-2 lead to the intermission.

Coach John Rullan continued to use his entire bench in the third quarter.  After Matt Quigley scored a transition goal to cut the lead to 10-3, McGrann completed the hat trick with a bounce shot at the 9:09 mark to push the margin back to 11-3.  Goals by Ryan Leininger and the Foxes leading scorer, Neil Chrisman, cut the margin to 11-5 as the third quarter ended.

In the fourth quarter, the starters were back for the Tigers, and they immediately took control.  With a man-up advantage, junior midfield Brandon Hoskinson scored on an assist from Simmer to push the lead back to seven at 12-5.  Rullan scored the next two goals as NA upped the margin to nine at 14-5.  Simmer set up Rodriguez at the 7:40 mark, and the Tiger sophomore drove home his third goal to give the Tigers a 15-5 lead.  With the mercy rule invoked and the clock running, senior Pat Behrer scored on Senior Night to push the lead to 16-5.  Chrisman came back with a pair of consolation goals for the Foxes, but the Tigers came away with an impressive 16-7 victory.  

It was a good team victory for the Tigers with all team members contributing.  Senior goalie Brian Walsh played the first half in goal before trying his hand at attack in the second half.  Junior Matt Rahencamp was in goal for the entire second half.  For his efforts on Senior Night, the North Allegheny Sports Network selected Conor McGrann as the Player of the Game.

With the win, the Tigers improved their overall record to 9-10.  NA will complete the regular season on Friday when they travel to Trinity to meet the Hillers in an 8:00 pm Division I contest.  The Tigers will host a playoff game on Tuesday night at Newman Stadium.  The opponent will be decided after the regular season is completed.

GAME SUMMARY
NORTH ALLEGHENY - 16  FOX CHAPEL - 7

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

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TIGERS FALL TO SHADY SIDE ACADEMY, 17-9

To listen to a replay of the game, click here!

Shady Side Academy scored the last five goals of the game to pull away from the Tigers in a 17-9 victory at Newman Stadium on Friday night.  Sophomore midfield Andrew Rullan led NA with three goals while juniors Glenn Stanzione, Blaine Simmer and Jason Faber scored two goals each.

Shady Side took an early 1-0 lead as R.K. Galey scored the first of his five goals just 3:12 into the game.  Stanzione answered when he came from behind the goal to beat Shady Side goalie Mihir Patel less than a minute later.  The Indians got two quick goals from Galey and Mike Hootman to make it 3-1 at the 5:06 mark.  Senior Conor McGrann set up Faber as NA scored a quick transition goal to cut the lead to 3-2 with 9:16 left.  Galey's third goal of the quarter gave the Indians a 4-2 advantage after one period of play.

The scoring picked up in the second quarter as the teams combined to score nine goals.  Early in the quarter, Greg Allen picked up a loose ball on an errant clear to push the lead to 5-2 at the 1:53 mark.  Allen set up Mike Stern less than a minute later to push the margin to 6-2.  Simmer brought the Tigers closer when he intercepted a clear by Patel and beat the Shady Side  goalie to the net to cut the lead to 6-3.  Two more SSA goals, by Rory Cosgrove and Hootman, pushed the margin to 8-3 with 3:05 remaining in the half.  Rullan made a long run from midfield and scored from 10 yards out to cut the lead to 8-4 at the 9:09 mark.  Max Quinlan and Galey answered for Shady Side to increase the lead to 10-4 with fifty-nine seconds remaining.  Rullan's second goal of the game with just 34 seconds left gave NA life as he cut the deficit to 10-5 at the intermission.

After a rousing halftime performance by the NA Middle School teams, the Tigers came out strong early in the third quarter.  Stanzione scored his second goal of the game to cut the lead to 10-6 just 1:04 into the period.  The Indians came back, however, as Eric Hilberg scored a pair of goals to make it a 12-6 SSA lead with 7:11 still remaining.  Neither team was able to score in the remaining time in the quarter and Shady Side took a 12-6 advantage into the final stanza.

The Tigers made a game of it with three quick goals at the beginning of the fourth quarter.  Ruland won the faceoff and set up Simmer for his second goal of the game just eight seconds into the quarter.  Simmer found Faber open in front of the net and the Tiger junior scored his second goal to cut the lead to 12-8 just one minute into the period.  After a Shady Side time out, Rullan snared a high rebound and fired it back into the net putting the Tigers just three goals behind at 12-9 with 9:36 left.  At this point, the Indians regrouped and took control of the game.  Great individual efforts down the stretch gave SSA five straight goals.  Quinlin scored two goals and picked up two assists, Hilberg netted a pair of tallies, and Galey's fifth goal finished off the Tigers as Shady Side went on to a 17-9 victory.

It was a good effort by the young Tigers against a quality opponent.  In the end, too much individual talent did in the Tigers along with some problems in the defensive end.  For his efforts, the North Allegheny Sports Network selected Andrew Rullan as the Player of the Game.

The loss dropped the NA record to 2-5 in division play, 7-10 overall.  The Tigers will host Hampton on Tuesday night at Newman Stadium with game time scheduled for 8:00 pm.

GAME SUMMARY
SHADY SIDE ACADEMY - 17  NORTH ALLEGHENY - 9

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

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TIGERS DROP TWO STRAIGHT THIS WEEK

The Tigers lost two straight games this week.  On Tuesday, top-ranked Mt. Lebanon knocked off NA, 14-3, to retain their position in first place in Division I of the WPSLA.  On Thursday night, the Tigers traveled to Central Catholic and were edged by the Vikings, 14-12.  Injuries to the defensive corps have made it difficult for the young Tigers late in the season.

The two losses dropped the NA overall record to 7-9 on the season.  The Tigers will host Shady Side Academy tonight at Newman Stadium in a Division I contest.  The North Allegheny Sports Network will be there to broadcast the game LIVE on the internet beginning with the pre-game show at 7:45 pm. 

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UPPER ST. CLAIR DOWNS TIGERS, 15-5

The Tigers traveled to Upper St. Clair on Wednesday and were defeated by the Panthers, 15-5.  Junior midfielder Brandon Hoskinson had three goals for the Tigers while junior attack Jason Faber and junior midfielder Darren Lepere had a goal each.

The loss dropped the NA division record to 2-3 and the overall mark to 7-6.  The Tigers will be back in action again on Saturday when they travel to Carlisle for a non-league game.  Game time is scheduled for 2:00 pm.

(Thanks to Mark Stypula for information in this report!)

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TIGERS UPSET SENECA VALLEY, 11-10

The Tigers defeated Seneca Valley, 11-10, on a cold, wet and windy Saturday evening to hand the Raiders their second loss of the season.  With the Tigers leading by a goal with just eight seconds remaining, senior goalie Brian Walsh made a great save on Seneca Valley's top player, midfielder Pete Poulian.  Poulian led the Raiders with eight goals and two assists. 

Junior attack Blaine Simmer scored the winning goal for the Tigers unassisted on a strong drive to the goal.  Once again, Simmer led the NA attack with four goals and two assists.  Junior attack Jason Faber added two goals as did sophomore attack Jose Rodriguez.  Junior middie Brandon Hoskinson scored for the Tigers, with sophomore middies Brian Viletto and Andrew Rullan adding a goal each.  Junior defense Andrew Stypula had an assist for the Tigers on a fast break goal scored by Rodriguez.  Senior defense Ryan Eck gave a strong effort prior to an injury suffered in the second half. Reports indicate that Eck may be out for the season and his consistent, strong defensively play will be sorely missed by the Tigers. 

The win improved the NA division record to 2-2, the overall mark to 7-5.  The Tigers will visit Upper St. Clair on Wednesday night for a division contest with the Panthers.  Game time is scheduled for 8:00 pm.

(Thanks again to Mark Stypula for information in this report!)

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TIGERS NAME CO-CAPTAINS FOR 2005 SEASON

The 2005 Tigers have named the co-captains for the 2005 season.  Junior Ian Cully, senior Conor McGrann and junior Andrew Stypula will serve as the co-captains for the current season.

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WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOLASTIC LACROSSE ASSOCIATION

The Tigers will play again in the Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association (WPSLA) this season.  NA plays in Division I along with eight other teams.  All nine Division I teams will qualify for the WPSLA playoffs.  

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SCHOLASTIC LACROSSE

2005 DIVISION ALIGNMENT

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

Any questions or comments should be directed to Athletic Director Bob Bozzuto at:  bbozzuto@northallegheny.org