La Salle Back in Lacrosse Final Again, will face Moses Brown for Title Sunday
Friday, June 01, 2012
La Salle is back in the title game once again. This time, they hope things turn out a little differently.
The undefeated Rams (14-0) will face cross-town rival Moses Brown School (10-5) in the final at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Rhode Island College.
La Salle has reached the Division I championship three times since 2008, but has yet to win the school's first state title despite a 44-3 regular-season record in that span.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTLast year, La Salle was upset by a Bishop Hendricken team it had beaten twice in the regular season by ten goals.
La Salle defeated Barrington, 8-4, in the semifinals last night while Moses Brown felled defending champion Hendricken, 8-7.
"We're super-excited to be here," Moses Brown head coach Mike Fraioli said. "I don't know how else to put it. We're elated. This is what we've been working on all year long."
New Year, Same Approach for La Salle
La Salle head coach Steve O’Donnell said he isn’t going to change his approach this year, regardless of the school’s history.
“I’m going to look at it the same way. I’m not going to do anything different,” he said. “These kids have done a great job all year and they know how to play the game.”
“It feels absolutely wonderful to have gotten to this point,” O’Donnell said. “I’d love to win [the championship] but if these guys don’t win another game this year, they’ve already won. And I mean that sincerely.”
“It’s a little bit of a surprise for us to still be undefeated,” said senior defenseman Ryan Gallogly. “We lost so many kids from last year, but we’ve come together as a family, and I think this is the best team we’ve ever had.”
How Moses Brown Can Win
Moses Brown lost just three games in its division all season long, but two of them came at the hands of the Rams. La Salle thrashed the Quakers, 16-5 at home on April 11 and held on for a 12-7 win at Moses Brown on May 7.
Quakers head coach Mike Fraioli knows it’s going to be a challenge for his team on Sunday afternoon.
“La Salle is excellent. Outstanding. Best team in the state,” Fraioli said. They kicked our butts twice. We know it’s going to be a monumental task on Sunday.”
“You can go right on down the list...their goalie Matt Andrews is outstanding, they've got a great defense with [Ryan] Gollogly, Dan Lucchetti, Sam Ricci, they;ve got a great face-off guy in Foster...and they're outstanding at attack with Brady O'Donnell and Peter DeSimone...I don't know what is that like ten guys? They're outstanding," Fraioli said.
“We’re going to need to do a lot of the little things. We need to get the tough grounders, come up with stops on defense, and execute well on offense. We’re going to have to play a near-perfect game,” he said.
Brady O’Donnell led La Salle with 63 points during the regular season (37 goals, 26 assists). Peter DeSimone notched 27 goals and had 8 assists for the Rams.
Moses Brown was led by Eric Salzillo, who scored 16 goals and dished out 21 assists (37 points). James McCahan scored 32 regular season points (13 goals, 19 assists) for the Quakers.
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