WILMINGTON — Salesianum’s lacrosse team has faced off against some of the best teams in the country this season, and the Sals have prevailed each time. They had another anticipated battle on April 20, welcoming Pennsylvania power Radnor, and produced one of their best performances of the season.
The Sals entered the week ranked third in the Philadelphia region by phillylacrosse.com, while Radnor was fifth. Nationally, the Sals are currently 17th according to USA Lacrosse Magazine and 23rd by insidelacrosse.com, while the Raptors are among the teams also receiving consideration by USA Lacrosse Magazine.
Salesianum controlled the game from the get-go, overpowering the Raptors on the way to a 17-3 win. The Sals remained undefeated at 10-0, matching their win total from the 2023 regular season.
A violation on Radnor on the opening faceoff gave the ball to the Sals, and they held possession for a minute and a half before Rowyn Nurry scored the first of his goals for the late-morning contest. Luca Pompeii found Nurry in front of the Raptors’ goalie, and a scoop shot found the net.
The Sals’ defense was on point all day, and a forced turnover led to the second goal. This time, Nurry got the helper, hitting a cutting Elliot Dotson for a goal.
They kept the pressure on, with Nurry ringing a shot off the post, and the Raptors goalie stopping Carson Robins while the Sals were a man up. Robins did pick up an assist seconds after the man-up situation ended, with Mitch Cummings scoring while being knocked down to make it 3-0. Cummings added another later in the first, coming out from the X position behind the net to tuck a shot past the goalie.
Radnor, which had defeated the Sals the past two seasons, scored late in the first, but the second quarter looked a lot like the first. Robins skipped a shot off the turf for his second goal with 10:38 left in the half, and he assisted a minute later on Nurry’s third. Robins scored on a man-up to increase the lead to 7-1 with 6:51 left in the half.
Meanwhile, the Sals’ defense was relentless. They held the Raptors, the three-time defending PIAA Class 3A state champions, without a possession for the first six minutes of the second, and when Radnor did have the ball, they were hounded by the back line. Sals goalie Cam Taylor stepped up several times to make stops, although the Raptors did get their second goal late in the half. The lead was 9-2 at the intermission.
Chase Cellucci went three-quarters the length of the field to open the second-half scoring, and the Sals would put up six unanswered in the third to put the game away.
Unofficially, Nurry led the Sals with five goals, while Dotson and Robins each had four. Salesianum is off until April 26, when New Jersey’s Lawrenceville visits Abessninio for a 6 p.m. start. Lawrenceville is currently ranked second in the country by USA Lacrosse Magazine and first by insidelacrosse.com.
Photos by Mike Lang.
