X-FACTOR: Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse player Xander Gardner, right, heads upfield against a Hun School defender last Thursday in the season opener for both teams. Senior attackman Gardner scored a goal in a losing cause as PDS fell 8-6. The Panthers, who lost 7-5 to Springside Chestnut Hill (Pa.) last Saturday, will look to get on the winning track as they play at the Pennington School on April 22 and then host Lawrenceville School on April 24. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Even though the Princeton Day School boys’ lacrosse team dropped an 8-6 nail-biter to local rival Hun in its season opener last Thursday afternoon, it was still a triumphant day for the program.

“No matter what, today was a win for both teams and for lacrosse in this area; it was great just to be back playing again,” said PDS head coach Joe Moore.

“For our guys, we looked at it last night and it has been 706 days since we have last put on the jerseys. For us, we kind of rallied around that. It was a win for us, the first game of the season. Whether we won or lost on the scoreboard, we were winning because we were learning more about each other.”

Sparked by a stingy defense led by goalie Eric Gellasch and star defender Gibson Linnehan, the scoreboard looked good for the Panthers at halftime as they led 3-1.

“Defensively, everything that happened was pretty much expected,” said Moore.

“Our defense played really well. Eric in net made some amazing saves, he was awesome. Gibson is a do-it-all kind of guy, he can do everything. Our defense was incredible, I could not have asked for more from them.”

With Hun starting to dominate at the face-off X in the second half, the PDS defense got worn down and the Raiders rallied for the hard-earned 8-6 victory.

“Defensively, I think we kind of lost our legs; we played a lot of defense today,” acknowledged Moore.

“They were getting the ball every possession so we had very little offense and our guys got tired at the end of the day. Their guys also stepped up, guys we didn’t see in the first half were making plays in the second half.”

There were some bright spots on offense for PDS as senior standout and Providence College commit Linnehan scored three goals with senior Xander Gardner and sophomore Oliver Hall adding one apiece and freshman Charlie Hogshire contributing a goal and two assists.

“Charlie was great and Xander was awesome,” said Moore.

“Some of the younger guys did well. Logan [Herrmann] had a couple of great shots. Sebastian [Rzeczycki] played confidently. We were pretty balanced on offense with Gibby down there. It is the first game so those guys are just getting settled in, a lot of them have never played a high school game before.”

While the outcome of the opener was disappointing, Moore is confident that his squad will build on the effort.

“We will watch film and study ourselves more than anything; luckily we will see Hun in May so we will have a chance to play them again,” said Moore, whose team fell 7-5 to Springside Chestnut Hill (Pa.) last Saturday and will look to get on the winning track as it plays at the Pennington School on April 22 and then hosts Lawrenceville School on April 24.

“We are focusing on us more than anything and controlling what we can control and seeing if we can beat some of these teams.”