The Young Rams Are Continuing to Learn

It’s a team that’s predominantly made up of freshmen and sophomores. So the lumps are expected to come for the boys' lacrosse team. The Rams have shown glimpses of promise, but the steps are in the baby stage right now, and Tuesday night against Marple Newtown came with more smarting maturity.

The Rams couldn’t escape from Marple Newtown’s pressure, dropping a 14-2 decision on a chilly, wet Tuesday night. The defeat dropped Harriton to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in the Central League, while victory helped Marple Newtown improve to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Central League.

“We’re very, very young, with freshmen all over the place, but they keep a positive attitude,” Rams’ coach Richard Owens said. “They keep coming back the next day for practice, and none of these guys will bail out. It’s the little things that have added up and hurt us big. But there is potential here.”

Harriton opened the game strong, scoring the first goal, which came from junior Greg Winig. Then that was it. Marple Newtown scored the next 11 goals, before Harriton’s Greg Dagit blunted that run. At times, the Tigers seemed to be camping in Harriton’s defensive end. There were flashes of sporadic brilliant play by Harriton, intercepting a pass here, or the fine stops made by sophomore goalie Jake Marks.

In fact, if it wasn’t for Marks, it could have been much worse. He anticipated the ball well, played angles well, but couldn’t overcome what was an onslaught of offense for much of the game.

“It’s in the job description that I’m going to see a lot of shots,” Marks said. “I like to keep the mindset that I’m going to evolve into a leader, and we’re a young team that’s going to get better. We have to work on things, like clearing the ball, and once we get those things down, we’ll take the next step in our development. We’re going to win. We’re just going to have to be patient.”

But overall, the young Rams are learning as they tread through the Central League, one of the best lacrosse leagues in Pennsylvania, home of defending state champion Conestoga.

Marple Newtown’s Matt Gregory led all scorers with three goals, followed by two goals from Anthony Nicolardi, Aaron Bryant and Evan Aigeldinger, and one goal each from Ted Oleynick, Aaron Carmichael, Cullen Scott, Jon O’Farrill and freshman David Dagessian.