Malvern knows way past Germantown Academy
Friars win Inter-AC battle
Reactions. That’s what Germantown Academy head coach Billy McKinney and Mal vern Prep headman John McEvoy were looking for May 2when the Friars visited Germantown Academy in an InterAcademic League matchup at GA’s Carey Field.
After a rollicking start to their season the Friars have hit a rough patch.
And although they got their collective mojo together April 29 when they bested Conestoga at the Katie Samson Festival, and followed it up with May 2’s 12-5 win over GA, there were still some doubts about how this season might play out.
It appears some of those doubts may have been selfinflicted.
“At the beginning of the year, a lot of us felt a lot of pressure on us because so much was expected,” said senior midfielder Michael Fay. “The Episcopal Academy loss (9-8 back on April 25) was an eye-opener for us, and after the game we brought everybody into the locker room and decided to just focus on ourselves.”
That adjustment seems to have served the Friars well, as evidenced by April 29’s big win.
An Inter-Ac title is still a possibility, although right now all the Friars want to do is get better as a teamand as individuals.
“Today we focused on playing as well as we can play,” said McEvoy. “For the most part, we’ve been focusing on the little things, and if we see something we haven’t seen we just try and play it straight up.
“(Germantown Academy) has a good, young team with a lot of potential, and I give themand (McKinney) credit for hanging in there when they could just as easily lost focus.
“Right now all we’re worried about is ourselves.”
The Friars broke on top, getting two goals from Billy Coyle and another from Mike DiGiacobe to take a 3-0 lead after one quarter, then blew the lead out to 6-1 by halftime, as a pair of goals by Fay and another from Jack Traynor kept the Patriots at arm’s length.
When the lead reached 10-1 early in the third, McEvoy took the opportunity to give his depth players some playing time, and they didn’t disappoint.
“It was good, we got a lot of time for our (bench) players,” McEvoy said.
To its credit, GA didn’t fold, and came back strong, pulling within 10-4 at one point early in the fourth quarter.
“It’s late in the season,” McKinney said, “and at this point in the year you get con- cerned about how your players are going to react when things aren’t going well.
“But our guys fought back, and thatwas encouraging to see.”
The Friars regained control and closed the game out with authority, which is just what McEvoy wanted to see.
“Right now our focus is what’s in front of us,” the coach said. “Right now we’re worried about Salesianum, because that’s who we play (May 3).
“All we can do now is look ahead to our next game.”
Malvern Prep’s Matthew Civitella advances the ball as Germantown Academy’s Tripp Gundlach defends.
Malvern Prep’s Raymond Baran looks to pass as Germantown Academy’s Andrew Towne dives to knock the ball loose.
Malvern Prep’s Michael Fay takes a shot on goal near two Germantown Academy defenders.