Boys Lacrosse: Potent offense doing the job for Springfield

SPRINGFIELD >> Springfield’s path to back-to-back PIAA titles has been paved with stingy defense and All-American goaltending. But this season, the Cougars find themselves in an unusual position.

It’s not replacing a slew of college players who’ve graduated. It’s not the process of peaking late in the season, which coach Tom Lemieux has elevated to a science. It’s that as the Cougars head for the homestretch, they’re in the unusual spot of the defense trying to catch up with a more potent offense.

It showed Tuesday, the Cougars sprinting out to a seven-goal lead early in the third quarter, then hanging on to get past Central League and District 1 Class 2A rival Radnor, 11-9.

The offense got humming early, thanks to five goals from Mike Tulskie and four assists — three in the first six minutes of the game — from Kyle Long. Those figures who’ve returned to the attack mean that the reigning PIAA and District 1 champs are aren’t winning games 5-4 or 6-3 as in years past, when these veteran attackers were up-and-comers given space to flourish by a seasoned defense.

Now they have the chance to return the favor.

“We have to make sure we’re not turning it over too quick,” Tulskie said. “When we had that other defense, we could afford to get some more turnovers early, kind of force it a little, try to get it going early. But the best defense is long possessions.”

The biggest defection from last year is James Spence, the three-time All-Delco goalie and 2017 Daily Times Player of the Year. His heir apparent, Jimmy Donegan, has played well and did so again Tuesday with seven first-half saves. But he didn’t get his stick on a shot in the second half, when Springfield was outscored 6-2. Even the saves he makes aren’t exactly like Spence’s, which is no criticism given the Lehigh freshman’s deft ability to control the ball and generate extra possessions by covering shots.

The defense in front of Donegan is also sorting itself out in new ways, led by All-Delco Pat Clemens. And when the Raiders hit Springfield with four straight goals between the third and fourth quarters, Clemens was the loudest one in the huddle to make sure things were cleaned up.

“We were just talking about being calm and when we’re under pressure, doing our fundamentals, what we do day in and day out,” Clemens said. “They started coming back toward the end there, but we stood our ground.”

Shortly after the confab, forced by two straight Ryan Peter goals to cut the deficit to 10-8, Liam DiFonzo scored to stop the bleeding and restore enough of a cushion to see out the result.

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Springfield’s Mike Tulskie, left, looks for a shot as Radnor defender Kyle Addis pursues Tuesday. Tulskie scored five goals in an 11-9 Central League win for the Cougars. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan