Butler
tears up net in win vs. Titans
BUTLER TWP For one quarter, Shaler's boys lacrosse team stayed with Butler.
But that's when the Golden Tornado's offense took control of the game.
Between the second and third quarters, Butler outscored the Titans 9-2 on its
way to an 11-5 victory Wednesday night.
Tyler Kotch and Cody Conklin led the way by scoring three goals apiece and Cole
Harvey added two scores.
Harvey's goal with 7:25 left in the first quarter gave Butler a 1-0 lead.
Kotch's first tally early in the second period pushed the score to 2-0 before
Shaler's Tyler Montabon scored to make it 2-1.
The Tornado dominated the rest of the second quarter, as Kotch, Jarrod
Oesterling and Zach Harrison all scored in the final 8:06 before intermission
for a 5-1 lead.
"I think it just came down to being able to control the ball and getting
good shots off," said Butler coach Ed Swierczyk. "I like the balance
our offense has right now, but some of the guys aren't taking the shots when
they're supposed to. Early in the game, we held the ball too long."
It took Butler just 14 seconds to get its first goal of the second half when Levi
Dellen beat Shaler goalie Ricky Cannon.
The Titans answered with a score from Lance Werner to cut his team's deficit to
6-2, but Butler's firepower took over from there.
Kotch scored first before Conklin tallied all three of his goals in the last
four minutes of the quarter for a 10-2 advantage.
Shaler coach Dave Macieski was frustrated by his team's inability to stay with
the Tornado.
"Our guys just didn't come to play tonight," he said. "We tried
to throw a zone at (Butler), but weren't able to get a lot of pressure on them
with our defense."
The teams traded goals to begin the final quarter, with Butler's score coming
from Harvey.
Shaler added two late goals, with junior Matt Jaspert scoring his second goal
of the game.
Butler goalie Alex Hill stopped 10 shots. He would have faced more, but the
defense played well in front of him.
"I don't think it was anybody in particular for us tonight," said
Swierczyk. "Our defense always plays well."
Cannon stopped nine shots for Shaler before being replaced by Alan Jaspert, who
came in late in the third period and made three saves.
Conklin added three assists in the win, Nathan Barthlow had two and Pat Hitchan
had one.
The win was Butler's second section victory in as many games. The Tornado (2-3
overall) also defeated Erie McDowell March 25.
Butler plays at Central Catholic Monday in a nonsection contest.