Tigers Put Away Panthers, 14-10
In an early season tussle between two perennial playoff contenders, the North Allegheny boys’ lacrosse team outlasted the Upper St. Clair Panthers on Monday night, 14-10, at Newman Stadium.
Playing like a well-oiled machine in the first period, the Tigers used crisp passing and a sniper’s aim to jump out to a 7-1 lead. Junior Evan Lyon opened the scoring just 1:16 into the game for an immediate 1-0 lead. Upper St. Clair answered right back with a goal by Will King 30 seconds later, knotting the score at 1-1. From there, the remainder of the first period belonged to the Tigers. NA received goals by Marco Pascarella, Nick Sichak, Jonathan Castillo, another by Lyon and two more from Marc Bartolomucci in the stanza. The Tigers were also 2-for-2 on man-up opportunities in the first quarter and was 4-for-6 on the night.
In a tightly officiated game, it was Upper St. Clair who took advantage of man-up scenarios in the second period to inch back into the game. The Panthers scored five of the next seven goals and cut the Tigers lead to 9-6 by halftime. Lyon notched a hat trick and Castillo scored his second of the night in the quarter, but the Panthers clawed back thanks in part to two man-up goals by Dalton Yates.
With USC nipping at NA’s heels, the Tigers answered the bell in the third quarter to regain command. Pascarella started the uprising with a marker just 38 seconds into the second half for a 10-6 lead. Bartolomucci followed with a goal with 9:44 on the clock for an 11-6 advantage. After a goal by King trimmed the lead to 11-7, Bartolomucci caught the Panthers napping in their own end with a caused turnover, ground ball and goal with 8:21 remaining in the period for a 12-7 lead. The goal was Bartolomucci’s fourth of the night and swung the pendulum back in NA’s direction. Adding an assist, two ground balls and three takeaways to his stat line, Bartolomucci was tabbed the Wright Automotive Player of the Game by the North Allegheny Sports Network.
Following Bartolomucci’s fourth tally, the Tigers scored two of the next three goals over the next 12 minutes on markers by Travis Lamark and Sam Porter to grow the lead to 14-8 with 7:53 remaining in the fourth quarter.
To their credit, the Panthers refused to go away quietly as Yates netted back-to-back goals, his third and fourth of the night, to trim the NA lead to 14-10 with 5:24 left in regulation. That was as close as USC got, however, as the Tigers used good ball movement and played keep away down the stretch to close out the non-section victory.
The were several outstanding performances in the victory for the Tigers, including Lyon with three goals, four assists and three groundballs. Pascarella secured six groundballs and four takeaways, while defenseman Matthew Miller notched six groundballs and one takeaway. In net, goalies Logan Lyle and Beck Taucher split the first and second halves, respectively. Lyle made five saves and Taucher stopped two shots.
With the win, North Allegheny improves to 1-1 overall, while Upper St. Clair drops to 1-1 on the young season. The Tigers will have the rest of the week off before hosting Everest Academy on Tuesday, March 28.
Boys Lacrosse Summary vs. Upper St. Clair, 3-20-23
| GAME SUMMARY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| Upper St. Clair | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| North Allegheny | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 14 |