Philadelphia Catholic League Lacrosse Championships
(Compiled by Ted Silary)

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2004
At Saint Joseph's Univ.
La Salle 12, SJ Prep 3
   Brian Neary (four goals) and Rob Forster (three) led the way as the Explorers coasted. The score zoomed to 10-1 when Greg Casey, Pat Lombard and Neary scored three goals within 17 seconds. Mike Haas made seven saves. Andrew Cabrey scored twice for The Prep. The Explorers went on to win the state title, in Hershey, with a 13-5 win over Shady Side Academy, of Pittsburgh.

2005
At Saint Joseph's Univ.
La Salle 13, SJ Prep 2
   The Forster brothers, sophomore Jack and senior Rob, scored four and three goals, respectively, to pace another comfortable victory. Jack scored three consecutive goals to provide a 6-0 lead early in the third quarter. Mike Haas made six saves and was solved only by Andrew Cabrey (two goals).

2006
At Saint Joseph's Univ.
La Salle 10, SJ Prep 7
   Greg Casey helped to account for half of the Explorers' goals with a hat trick and two assists. Andy Henrich scored thrice. For Prep, Mike Geschke tallied three goals while help came from Vince Quinn (two goals, two assists), All-State honoree Brian Schuster (one, two) and Pat Koehl (one apiece).

2007
At Immaculata Univ.
La Salle 10, SJ Prep 4
  Pete Schwartz scored three goals while Andy Henrich and Conrad Ridgway added two apiece. Sophomore goalie Niko Amato made nine saves and all-everything Jack Forster controlled the midfield area.

2008
At Plymouth-Whitemarsh HS
La Salle 6, SJ Prep 5
  Goals by Pete Schwartz, Conrad Ridgway and Westy Hopkins pushed the Explorers to a 3-0 lead, but the Prep roared to four in a row, necessitating a late comeback. Junior Randy Forster tied it at 4-4. Schwartz and frosh Kevin Forster (yes, they're brothers of earlier heroes Rob and Jack) added two more before Brendan O'Donnell tallied his second goal for Prep with 3:29 left. Niki Amato made five saves to nail down the Explorers' 14th title in the league's 16th year of existence. The teams met six days later in the EPSLA playoffs. La Salle frolicked, 13-3, and went on to capture the last Keystone Cup by topping Manheim Township, 7-5. Randy Forster posted a hat trick and one assist. Amato had 14 saves.

2009
At Swarthmore College
La Salle 4, SJ Prep 3
  After crunching the Hawks by 16-6 during the regular season, La Salle likely expected to frolic. Didn't happen. In fact, it fell into a 3-1 hole. Nevertheless, the Explorers captured their sixth consecutive crown as Westy Hopkins scored two goals. His game-winner came one minute into the fourth quarter after teammate Pete Schwartz created a 3-3 tie in the third. Niko Amato made seven saves. This was the PIAA's first year sponsoring lacrosse state playoffs. The Explorers stormed to the title in the 16-team tourney, defeating Central Bucks East, Downingtown East, Manheim Township and Conestoga. In the 7-3 final, Pete Schwartz (three) and Westy Hopkins (two) led the scoring and Niko Amato made 10 saves.

2010
At Plymouth-Whitemarsh HS
La Salle 7, SJ Prep 5
  The Explorers shook off a 2-0 deficit while storming to their seventh consecutive title. Christian Cardinal recorded a hat trick and received single-goal help from Pat Resch, Sean Coleman, Nick Cruice and Jack Bogorowski. John Lawlor made seven saves. Bradley James and Rob Watts halved four scores for the Prep. Though the Explorers again advanced to the state final, this time they fell to Conestoga, 10-6. Christian Cardinal scored twice.

2011
At O'Hara
SJ Prep 8, La Salle 6
  Call it the Year of the Breakthrough. After seeing the soccer team win its first CL title the previous fall, following 15 unsuccessful finals visits dating back to 1975, the lacrosse Hawks halted a seven-game finals skid behind a hat trick from Blaine Fleming and two goals apiece from Jeff Heath/Brad James. Anthony Marini also scored and Liam Correia made five saves; among his defenders were twins Pat and Will Farrell. Matt Rambo tallied thrice for La Salle. It was the teams' 10th consecutive championship clash and 12th in 13 years. The Hawks advanced to the state final and even rolled to a 3-0 lead. However, Conestoga regrouped and prevailed emphatically, 13-4.

2012
At Plymouth-Whitemarsh HS
La Salle 8, SJ Prep 7
  Lightning struck twice. The real variety delayed the game's start by 57 minutes. The lacrosse version occurred as the Explorers scored five consecutive goals to take a 7-4 lead into halftime. Matt Rambo led the way with five goals while Jeff Cimbalista added two scores and one assist. Pat Walsh notched four goals for the Hawks and his last one cut the deficit to 8-7 with 3:20 left. Corey Shaffer then added his 11th save to preserve the victory. The Explorers were topped by Conestoga, 10-7, in the state final. Adam Stefanowicz posted two goals while Rambo managed one goal and three assists.

2013
At Plymouth-Whitemarsh HS
La Salle 11, SJ Prep 6
  Sean Coleman fed Matt Rambo (four goals) for a tally that made it 8-6, and the Explorers frolicked from there while winning their  ninth CL crown in 10 years and 18th in 21. Jeff Cimbalista added three goals. Bill Savage and Scott Scheuerle halved four for the Hawks. The Explorers stormed to the state championship for the first time since 2009 and hammered the final nail with gusto -- 13-4 over Conestoga. Matt Rambo tallied four goals, Sean Coleman added four assists to two goals and Jeff Cimbalista scored thrice. Nick Hreshko and Colin MacDougall halved eight saves.

2014
At Neumann University
La Salle 8, SJ Prep 7
  In quite the exciting stretch run, the Prep's Pat Walsh scored his third goal -- on a behind-the-backer, no less -- with 51.3 seconds left to create a 7-7 tie, then Zach Drake, working off Mitch Soufleris' pick, fired home the game-winner at 8.8 as the Explorers capped a rousing comeback from a 3-0 halftime deficit. Aidan Kerrigan notched a hat trick while Soufleris scored twice. Colin MacDougall managed 10 saves. The Prep's Kevin Stump and Steve Tobia halved four tallies. In the state quarterfinals, the Explorers suffered a 6-5 loss vs. Penncrest. Trent Melsheimer managed two goals.

2015
At Neumann University
SJ Prep 12, La Salle 10
  Dan Fisher won 19 of 25 faceoffs and of those successes was followed by the clinching goal -- Kevin Stump to Alex Scalamandre shortly after Cody Mazurek's score had drawn the Explorers within 11-10 with 1:44 remaining. Scalamandre and Kyle Scheuerle halved six goals, as did Mazurek and Kevin Lacon. Griffin Fleming and Pete Gayhardt added two goals apiece for the Prep, which claimed its third title and first since 2011. Mike Marchese made 10 saves. The Hawks advanced to the state final, but fell in OT to Radnor, 11-10. Kevin Stump tallied thrice.

2016
At O'Hara
La Salle 9, SJ Prep 5
  Cody Mazurek and Matt Clibanoff pumped home three goals apiece as the Explorers bested the Prep for the 14th time overall in a final and 11th time in the most recent 13 matchups. The Hawks were within 5-4 as the fourth quarter began, but quick goals by Mazurek, Chris Hladczuk and Clibanoff created a comfort zone. Michael Clibanoff, Matt's twin, notched eight saves. Kevin Stump paced the Prep with two goals and Sean Lyons had 12 saves. In the state final, the Explorers dropped a 4-3 verdict to Springfield Delco.

2017
At Plymouth-Whitemarsh
La Salle 13, SJ Prep 3
  In the early moments, folks never would have predicted La Salle would win by the largest title-game margin since 1995 -- 11 by the Explorers over the same opponent. The Prep scored this one's first three goals, then went dry. Brett Baskin, who began the comeback, finished with three goals, as did Joseph Taylor. Matt Clibanoff's tally provided a 4-3 lead. His twin, Michael, notched eight saves. Nick Cissone managed 12 for the Hawks. This year the PIAA introduced classification playoffs. In a 3A quarterfinal played on June 3, the Explorers were stunned by Central Bucks East, 8-6. They finished 21-2 and the loss was their first since March 31. Chris Hladczuk scored three times.

2018
At O'Hara
La Salle 11, SJ Prep 2
  The Explorers again visited Blowout City while winning their third consecutive championship. Total victory margin in these last two finals: 19 goals. Brendan Meagher scored the first goal and posted a hat trick in the 4-1 first quarter. Ethan LaMond also scored thrice and Robert Foster had two. Michael Clibanoff needed to make just four saves. His twin, Matt, tallied one of the goals. The Explorers advanced to the 3A final, played at West Chester East, and fell to Manheim Township, 6-4. Meagher totaled two goals. MT goalie Caton Johnson made nine of his 11 saves after halftime.

2019
At O'Hara
La Salle 9, SJ Prep 1
  Zac Coar pumped home the first two goals, owned a hat trick by halftime and finished with four as the Explorers frolicked yet again. Recent history: four consecutive championships and six in seven years. All-time: 23 crowns over 27 seasons. Kyle Cullen added one goal and two assists and David Shew managed to put a shot past Christian Suter (nine saves) to prevent the Hawks from suffering what would have been the first-ever, title-tilt shutout. The Explorers claimed the Class 3A state championship in dramatic fashion: after coughing up a three-goal lead vs. Conestoga, they scored twice over the final 85 seconds to triumph, 7-5. Max Coar's hat trick included the score that made it 6-5. Danny Mallee added the clincher.  

2020
No champion decided due to COVID-19 pandemic.

2021
At Bonner-Prendergast
La Salle 10, SJ Prep 4
  The Explorers, guided by former star Rob Forster (forever boss Bill Leahy retired after winning his fifth state crown in the 2019 season), stormed to their fifth consecutive CL title and reached double figures in a championship game for the ninth time (8-1 record) since 2004. Andrew Kelly, Charlie Huntley and Mason Lasasz pumped home three goals apiece while Franky Fix (three) and Jack Vandegrift (two) led the way in assists. Stevie Davis won 12 of 16 faceoffs and Luke Hreshko hustled for nine saves. Ryan Gaffney scored three times for SJP. La Salle led at halftime, 7-1. 

2022
At O'Hara
La Salle 8, SJ Prep 6
  Consecutive crown No. 6 was won in the Explorers' closest CL game of the season. They'd won in league play by no fewer than 10. A 7-5 lead was attained late in the third quarter thanks to goals by Franky Fix (coolest name in CL history?) and Tommy Vandegrift. Luke Bieberbach scored his fourth goal shortly into the fourth quarter for the Prep and La Salle’s Paul Van Bastelaar added a clincher (assist to Jack Pilling) to make it 8-6. Pilling had scored thrice in a 4-2 first quarter. La Salle and Prep have met in every championship game since 2002.