Billy Murphy scored in the 76th minute to pull LaSalle level with Archbishop Ryan in a hard-fought game that ended in a 1-1 draw Friday night at Ryan’s George Todt Field.
Ryan’s Peter DePaula put the hosts up 1-0 midway through the second half on a well- orchestrated counter-attack, and Murphy broke free at the back post on a long throw-in to earn his team a point after a difficult start to the Philadelphia Catholic League season.
Ryan and LaSalle entered the match seeking to avenge losses earlier in the week in their league openers. Ryan fell to Devon Prep 3-0, while LaSalle dropped a close 2-1 game against Archbishop Wood. Friday’s match began with several strong challenges as each side tried to assert an emotional and physical edge. LaSalle’s Jordan Allen and Ryan’s Owen Haney battled several times down the visitors’ right side, with Allen creating a few runs deep into the box that missed the mark. Just inside ten minutes, LaSalle whipped in a dangerous corner inside the six yard box that Ryan’s keeper Reagan Lottier pushed away, and on the follow up Haney blocked Jan Axsom’s volley.
As the game settled, LaSalle began to apply more pressure on long throw ins from Sean McCook, while Ryan absorbed the attacks and countered well through the midfield with Luke Marchesano creating dangerous chances by dribbling through the lines with speed.
Midway through the half, LaSalle’s Jack Siravo had a strike from distance with the run of play that Lottier saved, and a minute later Marchesano broke free down the right side, and after cutting in to his left, fired a shot that just missed high. DePaula found Landon Lukach at the top of the box on another counter late in the half, but the Ryan midfielder misfired on his first-time strike. At the other end, Lukach blocked a volley attempt from TJ Boucher in the closing minutes, and both teams went into the break on level terms.
In the second half, LaSalle came out with more control of the game, establishing sustained bouts of possession in Ryan’s end. The visitors tied to pull ahead on free kicks and long throws from Sam Lang, but the Ryan defense never gave in. Early in the half, Murphy tested Lottier from a wide angle and Axsom sent a volley high, and fifteen minutes in, Justin Jarymovych broke free down the right and sent a cross that just sailed over Siravo’s head at the back post.
The momentum of the game changed in the 57th minute when Ryan struck on a counter. Though they’d been close on a number of occasions, lacking the final pass as their strikers toed the LaSalle backline, they finally executed when Marchesano broke out and found DePaula out wide to the right running in space. DePaula dribbled toward the goal and sent a low shot to the far corner that beat keeper Dylan Schollin off the post and into the cage.
LaSalle’s intensity picked up after the goal, but Ryan center backs Aiden Goldberg and Tommy Stackhouse did well to protect the penalty area, and Ronnie Jones made a great clearance at the back post to deny Brady Donovan. LaSalle continued to push harder forward in the final minutes. Donovan had two more chances shortly after, and Allen skied a shot from the top of the box.
With just under five minutes, Lottier made a spectacular save on Siravo to keep the visitors off the board, but on the ensuing throw in, LaSalle finally found the equalizer. Lang’s long throw in hit a crowd in front of goal, and Aidan Scollin’s skimmed header fell perfectly to Murphy at the back post. The junior forward banked a shot of Lottier and into the cage to knot the score at 1-1.
“Points are always good when you come here,” LaSalle coach Tom McCaffery after the game. “In the first half, they did a good job of keeping us off balance, and in the second half we figured it out a little better. If we’re a little more clinical, I think we’re all right.”
Last season, LaSalle finished third in the PCL regular season with a 9-2-1 league record and won the PCL championship, but they’ve opened their 2026 campaign with a loss and a draw. Staring down a second loss in a week, McCaffery said he was pleased with the way his team fought back in the game. “I’m more happy with the grind and the grit to be able to get through and sort it out when it really mattered and not just fold up our tents after the goal.”
Though his team created more chances and carried an edge in possession, they were most dangerous on their long throws, eventually cashing in on Lang’s, with Aaxsom and Murphy playing off each other. “This is now two games in the last week that we’ve scored late off a big throw like that at the back post.”
LaSalle will play Father Judge and Devon Prep next week with their postponed second-half against PIAA 4A Champs Abington sandwiched between those games next Friday. LaSalle and Abington were tied at 1-1 before officials postponed the game due to a power outage.
For Ryan’s coach Ryan Haney, conceding late left an unsettled feeling. Because the late goal came from a play they’d been preparing to defend, he was more concerned with the way the team conceded instead of the result. “It’s not so much as the tie as it is the right move, the right things to do, because you do that in the playoffs and you’re season’s over.” Haney praised the performance of his defenders, especially his center backs but said he wanted his team to see out the final five minutes the way they handled the first seventy-five.
Ryan finished fifth last season with a 6-4-2 record and like LaSalle, made it to states after winning the District 12 final. But with an 0-1-1 league start, Ryan’s PCL schedule doesn’t get any easier with games against St. Joseph’s Prep and Roman Catholic this week, who finished second and first respectively in the 2025 regular season. After a 1-1 draw against Abington last week, he felt his team responded much better than they did in the Devon Prep loss.
Haney also said his team had been working on their counters, having the two strikers, who play more like tens, run off each other after the outlet passes, and though they came close a few times, he said he was glad they finally hit on one.
“The energy was much higher than the other night,” he said. “Our shape was good. We were playing nice and compact for most of the game. We did a good job defending them, having guys around the ball. Our press was good. I thought the kids gave a great effort.”
