Big Blue Devil Second Quarter Dooms Tigers
By: Bob Orkwis
Two of the perennial top teams in 3A lacrosse squared off in a non-section battle at Newman Stadium on Wednesday. Leading after the first quarter, North Allegheny saw Mt. Lebanon score seven of the eight goals in the second quarter to post a 10-5 road victory.
Charlie Jones notched his seventh goal of the season less than two minutes into the game. Evan Wade followed with his 13th for a 2-0 Tigers lead. Colt Gibson picked up assists on both tallies.
Garrett Cramer scored for Mt. Lebanon to cut the lead to one goal. That would spark a run of eight of the next nine goals for the Blue Devils.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the second quarter, Mt. Lebanon got goals from Xavier Bias, Max Prezioso and another from Cramer before Wade answered for North Allegheny to make the score 4-3.
Sam McAuley, Andrew Pinilla, who was dominant on face-offs for Mt. Lebanon, and Cramer with two more goals, gave the Blue Devils an 8-3 halftime lead.
Johnny Castillo had the only goal of the third quarter, a man-up goal and his fifth of the year to make the score 8-4.
Prezioso added his second of the game before Wade completed his hat trick at 5:49 to make the score 9-5.
The Tigers began pressing, and Prezioso scored his third of the game with the goalie pulled to make the final score 10-5.
Despite taking the loss, sophomore Sam Walters was solid in net, finishing with 15 saves for the Tigers.
North Allegheny (3-3) has now lost three non-section games in a row. The win for Mt. Lebanon (6-1) was the fourth straight victory for the Blue Devils.
With his second hat trick of the season and third multi-goal game, sophomore attack Evan Wade was chosen as The Wright Automotive Player of the Game.
A pair of Ohio teams will invade Wexford to take on North Allegheny in their next two contests. Cincinnati Moeller takes on the Tigers Friday Night, with Cleveland St. Edwards stopping by for a Saturday afternoon contest at Newman Stadium.
BOYS LACROSSE SUMMARY VS. MT. LEBANON, 4-8-26
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mt. Lebanon | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| North Allegheny | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
