Delbarton Takes Down Archrival Seton Hall Prep, 8-5

Following the big win on Tuesday against the No. 2 St. Anthony's (N.Y.) Friars in 2OT (<a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2025/04/delbarton-comes-up-clutch-in-2ot-to-stun-st-anthonys-12-11/">in a game we covered last week</a>), No. 17 Delbarton (N.J.) came into this matchup riding high on a 4-1 record. The visitors, Seton Hall Prep, came in having only one loss from its season opener, holding a 3-1 record and coming off a dominant win over Westfield. It was a foggy, chilly, and even snowy Saturday in mid-April at Cocoziello Field at Regan Stadium for this matchup between teams ranked in the top five in the state.   The first quarter started off with both defenses playing well very and it seemed like the offenses were giving themselves time to feel out their matchups. One of the most notable matchups was the two senior Leading Edge teammates going at it. Duke commit and 5-star LSM [player_tooltip player_id='14545' first='Will' last='Pedicano'] was matched up against Villanova commit [player_tooltip player_id='127076' first='Nolan' last='Sabel'] and it was a fun battle to watch. In net, Delbarton senior [player_tooltip player_id='127081' first='Tanner' last='Shimko'] (Johns Hopkins), another Leading Edge product, had a phenomenal opening quarter. When the Pirates were getting good looks in tight, he was able to come up with stop after stop to ignite the offense. With under two minutes to play in the quarter, the Green Wave started to find their groove with junior [player_tooltip player_id='17442' first='Pierce' last='Bolger'] (Brown) and senior [player_tooltip player_id='127087' first='Gavin' last='Romweber'] (Middlebury) both finding the back of the net to take momentum and the lead after the first quarter.   That momentum carried over to the second quarter when senior attackman [player_tooltip player_id='127092' first='Peter' last='Falk'] (Trinity) tallied two more goals for Delbarton. After a penalty when the game started to get physical, senior [player_tooltip player_id='127095' first='Alex' last='Schobel'] (Babson) cashed in a man-up opportunity for his eighth goal of the young season. To this point, the Pirates hadn't been able to penetrate the defense too much due to a ton of experienced defenders like seniors [player_tooltip player_id='14545' first='Will' last='Pedicano'] (Duke), [player_tooltip player_id='14583' first='Bo' last='Popham'] (Notre Dame), Bobby Cusimano (Air Force), Kip Rand (Hamilton), Patrick Mahoney, and junior [player_tooltip player_id='17245' first='Dara' last='Corr'] (Boston University) making it difficult to operate. With under two minutes to go in the half, Sabel and classmate Charlie Killen (High Point) each scored, but Pedicano made quite the play before half with a buzzer-beating goal fro midfield to make it 6-2 heading into the break.   To this point, Green Wave FOGOs [player_tooltip player_id='25528' first='Christian' last='Troczynski'] (Cornell) and senior [player_tooltip player_id='125519' first='Philip' last='Minardo'] were handling business against the Pirates' [player_tooltip player_id='127099' first='Teddy' last='Coyle'] (Middlebury) and [player_tooltip player_id='24393' first='Lucas' last='Angel'] (Fairfield), winning seven combined face-offs in the first half, but the tide turned in the second half. Romweber connected with senior Asher Testa (Colgate) for a goal, before Sabel answered shortly after. At this point, the Green Wave were taking long possessions with good looks at the cage, but senior goalie [player_tooltip player_id='16502' first='Conor' last='Keenan'] (Lafayette) and his defense - including sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='121228' first='Jagger' last='Zemachson'] and seniors David Manzo (High Point), Graham Coakley (Colgate), and Michael Clifford (Colgate), among othres - did a good job of playing as a unit and making some big plays when needed. Senior midfielder Jared Baudin (Lafayette) capped off the scoring for the quarter with a 1v1 alley dodge to beat Keenan low on a hard bounce shot, stretching the lead to five goals after the third quarter.   The final quarter was a sloppy one, with both teams making mistakes either in their settled offensive sets or while clearing, but Keenan and the Pirates defense came up clutch with a few stops late to try to put their team in a position to win. Senior midfield Clark Rich (Lehigh) cut the lead to four goals and Sabel completed his hat trick shortly after that, but it wouldn't be enough as Delbarton won 8-5 to improve to 5-1 with two big wins this week. The Green Wave will travel to face the 5-0 Summit Hilltoppers on Wednesday at 4:30PM. Having dropped a game to their biggest rival for the first time since 2023, the Pirates will have little time to recuperate as they play host to the Livingston Lancers (2-3) on Monday at 4:30PM.    Pedicano was everywhere for the Green Wave, which is nothing new, as he is always a player to keep an eye on every time he steps on the field. The 5-star recruit assisted on a fast break goal to Falk and then captured a highlight-reel type of goal from midfield as time expired in the first half. He is a big part of their clearing game as well, as he is capable and trusted to handle the ball in the offensive end. The Duke commit was matched up against [player_tooltip player_id='127076' first='Nolan' last='Sabel'] basically all game and was able to limit his production quite well.     Shimko played great for Delbarton, setting the tone in the first quarter. He recorded eight or nine saves on the day and five of them came in the opening frame. Seton Hall Prep got a lot of good looks at the cage early, a few on the doorstep, and Shimko turned them away each time. Without his stellar poise and athleticism in net, this game would've been completely different to start. He'll continue to be a big reason why Delbarton is the team to beat in New Jersey.     Sabel had one of the tougher tasks, being matched up with [player_tooltip player_id='14545' first='Will' last='Pedicano'], his club teammate, but he was active with and without the ball all day and made his opponents weary about him. His first goal came on a stepdown look out of a timeout late in the half when the Green Wave had switched to a zone defense, and he was able to get an open chance and wouldn't be denied. The Villanova commit has aggressive dodging tendencies and a high lacrosse IQ, knowing when a play is there to be made or when to not force a shot.     The combination of [player_tooltip player_id='127099' first='Teddy' last='Coyle'] and [player_tooltip player_id='24393' first='Lucas' last='Angel'] will be fun to watch this year. Both had a tough first half, winning a total of two face-offs. However, they fought back hard and when their team needed them late in the game, they came through in big spots and were able to control the face-off X and win possessions for the Pirates when they were looking to rally late in the game. Both Coyle and Angel only lost a single face-off in the second half, with Coyle winning four, so that's something the coaching staff can build off of moving forward.

Following the big win on Tuesday against the No. 2 St. Anthony's (N.Y.) Friars in 2OT (in a game we covered last week), No. 17 Delbarton (N.J.) came into this matchup riding high on a 4-1 record. The visitors, Seton Hall Prep, came in having only one loss from its season opener, holding a 3-1 record and coming off a dominant win over Westfield. It was a foggy, chilly, and even snowy Saturday in mid-April at Cocoziello Field at Regan Stadium for this matchup between teams ranked in the top five in the state.