After suffering heartbreaking losses in the WPIAL Class 3A finals and semifinals the past three seasons, Shady Side Academy, this time, got it done.
The third-seeded Bulldogs buried five unanswered goals to begin the game and then remained in control to secure their second WPIAL Class 3A boys lacrosse championship in a 12-6 win over No. 5 Pine-Richland on Wednesday night at Upper St. Clair.
“I think we’ve figured out over the course of a really tough season what our recipe for success is,” Shady Side Academy coach Cam Thompson said. “And it’s winning faceoffs, it’s dominating off the ground, it’s playing really, really great defense. … I think it started with our faceoff play today with Morgan Bender at the X, and then our two wing guys that we bump up there, Landon Tierney and Jack Dwyer, and they get us possession after possession after possession.
“And I think we scouted, we know this team pretty well and our guys were really well prepared and excited for the opportunity.”
Senior attack John Poggi’s offensive playmaking stunned Pine-Richland early and often, as he helped the Bulldogs jump out to the 5-0 lead after 15 minutes of play. Poggi scored twice in that stretch and added another goal and three assists later to propel Shade Side Academy to victory.
“I’ve been really wanting this one for a while now, especially losing (in the championship game) last year and just losing in the semifinals my sophomore year,” Poggi said. “This feels awesome to go out my senior year on top, especially with this team. We were counted out early in the year. No one expected us to be in this spot, especially with graduating all these D1 guys and seniors, and that’s why I love it. Real underdog mentality this whole year, and we showed them what’s up.”
As the oldest and most experienced cog of a young attack core, Poggi emphasized that his confidence in his teammates helped the team succeed in this game and in the games before it.
“For me, it’s just leading by example,” he said. “I’ve had experience. I’ve been playing here since sophomore year — so just experience, and then helping these young guys. They make a mistake, having their back here, get the next one, goldfish mentality. Not only that, but they just support me. They feed me the ball, they get me the ball, and they trust me with my ball in the stick, and I just go to work.”
The Bulldogs outscored Pine-Richland in every quarter except the fourth. Whenever Pine-Richland found the back of the net, Shade Side Academy usually responded with a goal to prevent the Rams from closing the deficit.
“They got a lot of talented players on both sides of the ball, and I think you know they were putting a lot of pressure on us defensively,” Pine-Richland coach Dave Offner said. “We had a little bit of trouble getting things into rotation early on, not able to extend possessions and really get momentum going.”
Penalties also limited Pine-Richland’s ability to mount a comeback. Pine-Richland committed three penalties in about a 10-minute span in the second and third quarters, which resulted in three Shady Side Academy man-up goals.
The Rams also took three penalties later in the game, leaving them a man down for much of the second half.
“That’s part of the game. Some penalties are worse than others, but we game plan for it. We watch their film, what they do on man up,” Offner said. “We knew they had some shooters. … Those guys can shoot, quick release. We try to stay out of the box, but we know it’s just part of the game.”
Junior Nick Jones and sophomore Jackson Reba had two goals apiece to lead Pine-Richland in scoring.
In the fourth quarter, sophomore Jay Mohn added his second and third goals of the game to complete his hat trick for Shady Side Academy. In the first half, sophomore Hudson Yates had two goals and an assist, which sophomore Clark Henne matched.
“We’ve been in five of the last six championships,” Thompson said. “We’d won one, right? And I think these guys set out on a mission March 1 to get back here, even with a young group. … But I think the reason we were able to be successful is they stick together at the end of the day, and they love each other, and they love playing lacrosse, and it’s a great game and a great school that they get to represent.”