By Jeremy Treatman, Special to The Inquirer
Chris Dent has made a name for himself wherever he has played lacrosse.
As a senior midfielder and co-captain on the 1984 Lower Merion lacrosse team, he led the Aces to a state title.
At Penn State University, Dent tallied 119 points in four years (89 goals, 30 assists) and led the Nittany Lions to a 10-5 mark his junior year.
But neither of those memories could compare with what the 22-year-old Dent did as a member of the Philadelphia Wings Indoor Lacrosse team last Friday night in the Major Indoor Lacrosse Championship game at the Spectrum.
Dent scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with 10 minutes, 17 seconds left in the Wings 11-10 title game victory over the New York Saints.
The goal sent 16,042 fans in a frenzy while Dent, of Bala Cynwd, pounded his fists on the Spectrum turf in jubilation. Another local player, Bryn Mawr’s Steve McGrath (Harriton High School), who had an assist earlier in the game joined in the celebration.
“This is by far the biggest thrill for me so far,” Dent said. “I knew at the time it was a big goal and that the team really needed it.”
Dent’s goal, only his second of the year, gave the Wings (7-2) an 11-9 lead after the Saints (6-3) had scored three straight goals to pull within 10-9. New York then made it 11-10 with less then 2 minutes to play on Don Borges’ third goal of the game.
“You couldn’t have asked for a better scenario,” Wings’ coach Dave Evans said. “The two best teams going for the championship before a great crowd and a cable television audience . . . and a hometown guy comes up with the winning goal.”
The fact that Dent scored the game winner didn’t surprise Evans either, even though three of the league’s top scorers Brad Kotz (league best 28 goals) Andy Wilson (14 goals) and John Tucker (11 goals) may have seemed more likely hero candidates.
“I’m not surprised at all about what Chris did,” Evans said. “He’s such a coachable kid who has done everything we’ve asked and made a big contribution as a faceoff man, defensive forward and especially a ground ball expert, which all are as important as scoring goals.”
“He scored a lot at Penn State in outdoor (lacrosse) so it’s not something that is new to him. (But) he had to come in after graduating and learn a whole new game,” Evans said.
Dent said, “It was hard when I first tried out for the team because I have been an offensive player at outdoors. The hardest thing to adjust to is the narrow nets. Accuracy becomes so important that’s why it’s so amazing to see what Brad Kotz can do with a small space.”
But on Dent’s big score Friday, he showed he could find the net as well. Dent took a pass from goalie Kevin Bilger at midfield and raced toward Saints’ goalie Larry Quinn on a breakaway. He fired a shot past Quinn into the upper left hand corner.
“Really I owe that moment to the coaching staff, who had the confidence in me to play me after Iwas scratched the first two games of the year, while learning the system,” Dent said.
Now Dent is giving some of himself to the game in a different light – as an assistant coach at Lower Merion to his former coach John Linehan.
“Chris is a tremendous asset to the team,” Linehan said. “The kids have tremendous respect for him as someone who knows the game and is a great player. He’s also very assertive with the players and isn’t afraid to tell them what they’re doing wrong in a positive way.”
Linehan said that he thought Dent would be a big factor in outdoor club lacrosse for the Philadelphia-based Eagles’ Eye team, which recently has begun its season.
“He’s so quick that his impact is felt no matter where he plays. But I think we’ll hear a lot of him in club lacrosse this spring, where he has more room to operate and set up offensively,” Linehan said.
“But it sure was nice to see him score an important goal for the Wings,” he added.
(Philadelphia Inquirer, April 13, 1989)