WILMINGTON — After a tight first half, Salesianum exploded for seven goals in the third quarter on the way to a 15-5 win over Cape Henlopen on April 14 at Abessinio Stadium. The game pitted the top two teams in Delaware and was a rematch of the past five state championship games.
Wins in the faceoff circle paid dividends for the Sals all night, and Brayden Lasensky’s control of the opening draw resulted in a goal just 50 seconds into the contest by Brennan Nurry. The Vikings, however, stuck close to the Sals in the first half, tying the game at the 7:47 mark when Braddock Smith deked around a defender and beat Sals goalie Cam Taylor.
Just 37 seconds after that goal, Cape went ahead when Burke Healy rang a shot off the crossbar and in. The Sals responded with three goals in a three-minute span and led, 4-2, after one.
The Vikings spent much of the second quarter with an extra man, and when the Sals did have possession, Cape forced some turnovers to get back in the contest. Evan Burris scored low while taking a shot in the first minute with the Vikings a man up, and Grant Conway tied it, 4-4, with a highlight-reel behind-the-head shot that snuck under the crossbar.
Taylor kept the game tied with some big saves, and Salesianum finally found the net with less than a minute to go until halftime. This time, Luca Pompeii scored on a leaner after Cape goalie Mason Trench had stopped a previous attempt with his helmet.
Nurry got the Sals started in the decisive third quarter, scoring on a wraparound shot after Lasensky took the faceoff. That was the first of five goals in a span of 4:14 that turned the momentum of the game solidly in the Sals’ favor. Drew Motta had two of them, and freshman Paul Taraborelli followed Motta’s first by winning the faceoff, racing downfield and scoring just seconds later.
Pompeii (St. Mary of the Assumption Parish) had the final goal of that stretch, his fourth of the game, but he wasn’t done. The University of Maryland commit added two more in the third quarter, then found the net twice more in the fourth as the Sals widened the gap.
Pompeii had eight goals for the Sals, while Motta added four. Salesianum (5-1) will welcome St. Joseph Collegiate Institute from Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. before heading to North Carolina over the Easter break.
Trench had 13 saves for Cape Henlopen. The Vikings (7-2) are off until April 26, when they host Avon Grove (Pa.) at 2 p.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
