All it took was a swift early lead and the Panthers never needed to look back.
Sewickley Academy (1-0, 5-0) remained undefeated on the year with an impressive 9-4 victory over host Shady Side Academy (0-1, 3-4) Monday night. The Panthers went into the half with a 6-1 lead and even though SSA had noticeably stepped its game up in the second half, the Indians just didn't quite have enough.
No more than two minutes into the game and Sewickley took early 2-0 lead with goals by Ian Hrycenko and Ed Lally. Lally ended the game with a handful of selfless assists to go along with a hat-trick.
Shortly after, Shady Side was able to capitalize on a Panthers penalty and cut the lead in half, 2-1. The man-up goal by Tucker Gillman would be the first and last the Indians would score all half. Grant Abraham quickly regained the two-goal lead for Sewickley, 3-1.
For the remainder of the first half, Sewickley's ball movement was outstanding and lengthy possessions kept the Indian defense back on its heels. With just under four minutes left in the first, a flawless skip from Jake Mulholland to Lally with a quick-stick to Matt Peter who put the Panthers up 4-1.
The second quarter was all Sewickley. Lally found Peter for a score on a Panthers man-advantage with about eight and a half minutes left and about five minutes later Rob Kendall picked out Keenan MacDougall to give visitors a 6-1 halftime lead.
Shady Side's offense had mostly been held at bay for the first half but the Indians came out gunning to start the second. Paul Wechsler got the Indians back on the board with a score midway through the third and with about a minute and a half left Matthew Viehe assisted an A.J. Lewen goal to cut Sewickley's lead in half, 6-3.
Just as the Indians appeared to have momentum swing its way, Sewickley stepped up. Less than thirty seconds after the Lewen score, Lally found the back of Shady Side's net again for a 7-3 Sewickley lead. But Lewen and the Indians weren't done yet and opened up fourth quarter play with a crucial goal to cut the deficit to 7-4.
However, it's tough to stage a comeback when playing man-down. A man-up strike from Lally doubled the Sewickley lead to 8-4 with just over eight minutes to play. The Indians continued to play hard until Kendall finished off the Indians for good when he buried a shot with under one and half minutes to go and give Sewickley a well-deserved 9-4 win.
The Panthers will attempt to keep the unbeaten streak alive when it travels to undefeated Upper St. Clair (2-0, 4-0) next Wednesday in a pivotal D-I Section I showdown. Shady Side heads to Mt. Lebanon (1-0, 3-2) for a non-section matchup on Monday.
Section Matchups
Upper St. Clair 9, Bethel Park 4
Upper St. Clair kept its flawless record untarnished with a big road victory over local and section rivals Bethel Park. The Panthers (2-0, 4-0) are currently the top-ranked team in the WPIAL according to Laxpower.com and will host Ohio's undefeated Massillon-Jackson (4-0) Friday night. Massillon is located between Akron and Canton and is currently ranked fifth in the state.
Out to a 2-0 record to start to the season, Bethel Park (0-2, 2-4) has since dropped four-straight games including two key section matchups. After its two consecutive 9-8 victories, the Hawks have been outscored 53 to 16 by top-notch competition. In fact, Bethel's last four games have been against unbeaten teams from PA (USC and Sewickley) and New York (Orchard Park and Lancaster). The Hawks next game is a trip to Fox Chapel (0-2, 2-3) on Friday night.
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