Nathan Prex healthy again, scoring goals at record-setting pace for LVC

It’s never easy to follow up the headline-grabbing 20-goal season Nathan Prex had as a sophomore but the 6-foot-2 forward’s health and the double and triple teams he faced last season made it especially challenging.

Back healthy again for his senior season, the Pittsburgh native is scoring goals in bunches and etching his name in the Lebanon Valley College record books. Earlier this season he became the program’s all-time leading goal-scorer and with his late goal in a 4-4 draw with Arcadia on Saturday found the back of the net for the 9th straight game.

“I wasn’t healthy my freshman year or my junior year but I’m feeling good now,” Prex said after the game on Saturday afternoon at Arcadia. “My class especially we’ve been really close since we got here freshman year. So I think this year it’s a little extra special because we get to enjoy it all together.”

Prex’s goal on Saturday in the 82nd minute was his 11th of the season and looked like it would be another game-winner but Arcadia fought back to find an equalizer and in the closing minutes Prex did what he hasn’t done a whole lot of in his four seasons in Annville: miss a sitter.

“I had a good chance at the end to kind of seal the game and didn’t execute,” Prex said. “Credit to Arcadia.”

Though the goals draw the eyeballs – he has 41 of them now in his career – Prex’s playmaking as a now No. 10 jersey-wearing center forward is also notable. Whether he’s using his size with his back to goal to hold the ball up or playing through-balls from the middle of the park, Prex’s ability to adjust to what the defense throws at him has sustained him through his current run of form. His assist on Ollie Lynch’s goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 66th minute on Saturday was the 21st of his career.

“He just has a maturity about him, and certainly with his talent and his ability it’s not like it’s a surprise,” said LVC head coach Charlie Grimes, who himself reached a milestone earlier this season with his 200th win. “He’s still being double and triple teamed but he’s finding ways and I think that’s a credit to our team. Teams have to defend us all over the place so it gives him opportunities to still get the looks.”

A big get for the program when he arrived after a successful high school career at Seneca Valley and club career at SCS United, Prex became the first player in program history to be named a first-team All-American when he accomplished the feat in 2023. He’s putting up a similar caliber season this year but he has bigger goals in mind beyond individual accolades.

“I’d really like to tick off that last, final check mark of a conference championship,” Prex said. “To come from a losing record my freshman year to where we are now, and accomplish what I’ve been able to accomplish individually, I couldn’t have done any of it without the guys I’v played with all of these years.”

LVC visits No. 9 ranked Dickinson tonight for their last non-conference match of the season at 6 p.m.