Trinity boys lacrosse breaks through, beats Lower Dauphin for District 3 Class 2A gold (2024)

Logan MoyerFor The Sentinel

The shamrock, an image that is most associated with Irish culture, is a type of clover It’s well known that the luckiest of clovers have four leaves.

Four seemed to be the lucky number for the Trinity Shamrocks Tuesday night when they scored four goals in less than two minutes to spark an 8-3 victory over Lower Dauphin in the District 3 Class 2A boys lacrosse title game at COBO Field.

The win gives the ‘Rocks their third District 3 gold in program history and first since 2021. They now advance to the PIAA tournament where they’ll host District 7 bronze medalists Hampton Tuesday.

"It feels amazing,” said Peter Gaudion, who led Trinity with four goals on Tuesday night. “We’ve been working towards this goal all season. The improvement from last year, all the work these guys put in since the fall, I’m just so happy for everyone.”

Gaudion is one of just three seniors on Trinity’s roster, making him one of the few who knew what having a gold medal around hie neck felt like before Tuesday.

“It’s taken a while for us to get over this district playoff hump,” he said. “I just remember being a little freshman in that game and not really knowing the magnitude of the moment.”

For Gaudion, that experience made Tuesday’s victory just a little bit sweeter.

“Now, I really understand (the magnitude) and understand how much hard work goes into getting it,” he said. “It just feels that much better.”

Early on, the seventh-seeded Falcons (15-6) did exactly what got them to the title bout: defend. Lower Dauphin freshman goalie Cohen Pollock made save after save, keeping the ‘Rocks off the scoreboard.

“(Lower Dauphin) is so disciplined in the way they play,” Trinity coach Jerry Standford said. “They’re really well coached and they have a really good goalie.”

But once the ‘Rocks were able to get one in, they kept going in – and often.

Nico Chirieleison opened the scoring with 1:58 remaining in the first quarter. Parker Will scored seven seconds later. Chirieleison found the upper-left corner of the net to make it 3-0 with 17 ticks left in the opening frame, and then Gaudion scored his first of the night right before the buzzer sounded.

“I think they were a little bit nervous,” Standford said of his team, “but they came out of it and played well.”

“We knew our time was going to come,” said Gaudion. ‘We knew that if we trusted in our offense, that our time would come and that they would start dropping for us. So just trusted the system and kept chugging.”

Chirieleison completed his hat trick early in the second quarter before Gaudion scored another with two minutes remaining until halftime. The Falcons scored twice in the third quarter on goals by Carter Leiberher and Collin Fischer, but not before Gaudion had netted another two goals. Leiberher scored again in the final minute of the game.

Even among Trinity’s 21 victories this season, Gaudion said the team’s lone loss – a 9-8 setback against State College in the Mid-Penn title game – was the most important contest.

“I don’t know if we would be here without that loss,” he said. “That really just helped us refocus.”

With state playoffs coming up, the Shamrocks are looking to improve after a first-round exit last season. They are still undefeated against Class 2A teams in 2024.

“We’re confident for sure,” Gaudion said. “It’s always a hard thing to keep your focus once the summer rolls around, so it’s not always the best team that comes out on top, but the one that keeps focused and works the hardest. We’re going to try and be that team.”