It’s been a tough season for the La Salle Explorers in some respects as a young team tries to find its way. But months of toil and sweat came to fruition Wednesday evening. Andrew Frantz’s power-play goal with 1:52 left in the third period gave La Salle a 3-2 win over Malvern Prep at Hatfield Ice.
It was the first APAC victory for the Explorers (4-11, 1-5 in conference) who had suffered two one-goal losses in APAC play prior to Wednesday when their efforts were at last rewarded.
Senior forward Matt Martin assisted on two of La Salle’s goals, including the game winner.
“{The win} means a lot,” he said. “It feels good to finally get a win after all the work we’ve been putting in at practice.”
The winning goal came off an offensive zone draw after the Friars’ Andrew Starck was called for tripping with 1:57 remaining in regulation. The Explorers won the ensuing faceoff and Frantz found the puck on his stick at the point- before launching a shot past Malvern Prep goaltender Ryan Caterino.
The third period did not lack for drama. La Salle’s Quinn Leonards and Starck traded second-period goals to send the game into the final stanza deadlocked at 1-1. Pax Hoishik put Malvern Prep (4-8-2, 2-4 in conference) with 7:11 left in regulation but Leonards answered for the Explorers with 4:55 left to set up the stretch run.
La Salle junior Patrick Lunsford savored the thrill of victory.
“It feels so good,” he said. “We’ve put in so much work all year. We’ve come up just short in so many games, it feels so great to {get the win}.”
Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan observed that APAC games offer little margin for error.
“We know APAC games are going to be tight,” he said. “We outshot them in the game (43-33). “The late penalty in the third hurt us. They got a good offensive draw out to their point for a shot on net; they got a bounce.”
It was the second consecutive one-goal loss for the Friars; they fell to St. Joseph’s Prep 3-2 last Friday.
“When we have leads in the game we’ve got to find a way to hold the lead,” Keenan said. “And when we’re down in games, we’ve got to find a way to put on pressure and get pucks to the net,”
Malvern Prep 0 1 1—2
La Salle 0 1 2—3
Second-period goals: Quinn Leonards (L) from Matthew Jones, 6:21; Andrew Starck (MP) from Jake Weingartner, 16:38
Third-period goals: Pax Hoishik (MP) from Weingartner, 9:49; Leonards (L) from Greenwalt and Matthew Martin, 12:05; Andrew Frantz (L) from Martin and Greenawalt, 15:08 (pp)
Shots: Malvern Prep 43, La Salle 33 Saves: Ryan Caterino (MP) 30, Anthony Foster (L) 41
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