No. 4 Boys’ Latin lacrosse ends No. 5 St. Mary’s season
By Katherine Fominykh
When No. 6 St. Mary’s upset No. 4 Boys’ Latin a week ago, it didn’t know it handed the Lakers the wake-up call they needed. The offense held a “convention,” expressing their struggles, and made a plan to fix every one of them in practice.
The result was a ruthless, unanswerable slew of attacks on the host Saints, a bone-cutting run in the second quarter and an answer for St. Mary’s rally in the second half. In truth, Boys’ Latin never once lost its grip in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference quarterfinal for a 15-11 win.
The Lakers will play reigning champion and top-ranked McDonogh Tuesday in a semifinal at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
“The work we did showed in that second quarter. That second quarter was big. It was the highest point of the game for us,” said junior attack Spencer Ford, a Maryland commit who notched six goals.
Revenge was only a minor factor in Friday’s victory. For the Lakers, the work on the field and the win was a love letter.
“To the seniors,” Ford said. “This one meant a little more to us.”
Lakers coach Brian Farrell credited Parker Hoffman’s “amazing” work on faceoffs, as well teammates Thomas Moxley and Jake Laupert. The trio helped the Lakers win 11 of 13 one-onones at midfield.
“They were alive yesterday, like full sweating,” Farrell said. “They were the ones sweating yesterday. Goes to show you, you put in a little work, it pays off.”
Matthew Higgins and Hoffman each scored three goals to help Ford offensively, while Liam White, Niko Karetsos and Colin Kenney also netted a goal apiece for Boys’ Latin, which turned a 3-2 advantage into an 8-2 lead over the course of 8 minutes, 42 seconds in the first half. Four straight goals by St. Mary’s cut the deficit to 9-6, but the Lakers scored five of the next six goals and kept the Saints at a comfortable distance the rest of the way.
Nick Golini led St. Mary’s with four goals.
Other boys lacrosse scores:
Loyola Blakefield 14, St. Paul’s 9: Entering the playoffs on a two-game slide, Loyola Blakefield lacrosse trusted its body of work during the regular season.
So the No. 2 Dons pushed the reset button for Friday’s Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference quarterfinal against visiting St. Paul’s.
The home team started fast, and when the No. 5 Crusaders regrouped, the Dons made sure to have the final say in a 14-9 win.
Loyola (11-5) will face No. 3 Calvert Hall in Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. In Tuesday’s regular-season finale, the Cardinals edged the Dons, 6-5.
Mason Cook (five goals), Shane Elliott (four goals, two assists) and Matt Burnam (two goals, three assists) led the potent Loyola attack. Faceoff specialist Kyle Powell held his own against St. Paul’s standout Daniel Davis, while goalie Bennett Wright shined with 14 saves.
After seeing their early 4-0 lead turn into a tie at 7 in the third quarter, the Dons answered with four straight goals to pull away for good.
Cook provided the vital goal to get the Dons back on top, taking a feed from Elliott less than a minute after the Crusaders tied the game.
“It’s just belief, having our leaders lead and believing in what we’ve done, what we’ve accomplished this year and just building on all of it,” Cook said. “We know we’re not done. We have two more games to win and we’re going to win them.”
Mt. Hebron 10, Marriotts Ridge 6: Marriotts Ridge defeated Mt. Hebron by a goal on March 30.
The next day, Mt. Hebron coach Mike McCarthy told his assistants not to come to practice. Instead, the Vikings sat in McCarthy’s classroom for 90 minutes and discussed the program’s values. His goal in that meeting was to help eliminate some of the selfishness he saw earlier in the season with some players focusing on individual statistics and not taking coaching the way he hoped.
That day proved to be a turning point in Mt. Hebron’s season, and six weeks later, the Vikings (10-5) exacted their revenge over the Mustangs with a 10-6 win in a Class 3A East Region I semifinal on Friday. The No. 2 seed Vikings will host No. 4 seed Howard in the regional final Monday. The Lions defeated No. 1 seed Westminster, 6-5, in the other semifinal.
“It’s about trust, it’s about being a family, supporting each other and believing in each other,” McCarthy said. “We just aired some things out and talked about what this program means to me, these coaches, the alumni. There were a lot of tears and people owned up to being selfish. We’ve had some bumps since then, but we really have become a family the last couple of weeks.”
Boston Brown scored for No. 15 Marriotts Ridge shortly before the first half ended, giving the Mustangs momentum heading into the break. However, that was their last goal for over 21 minutes. With three first-year varsity starting close defenders and a young goalie, the Vikings leaned on the trust they’d built to communicate effectively.
Fallston 13, Havre de Grace 7: Aiden Dixon controlled 16 of 17 faceoffs, Lucas Hurlburt tallied four goals, and Jacob MacMillan added four assists as Fallston built a 9-2 lead to cruise to victory in Friday’s Class 1A East Region I semifinal. The Cougars will face Patterson Mill Monday for the region title.
Girls lacrosse
Mt. Hebron 14, Marriotts Ridge 13: A day before Friday’s regional semifinal against Marriotts Ridge, Mt. Hebron girls lacrosse coach Samantha Hall encouraged her players to watch “Rocky.”
Hall wanted her girls to learn from his resilience in the movies, getting back up every time he took a punch. The two-time defending Class 3A state champion and 3A East Region I top-seed Mustangs delivered the first punch, taking a five-goal halftime lead. Both teams continued to exchange body blows in the second half with No. 11 Marriotts Ridge leading by four inside of 10 minutes remaining.
However, No. 4 seed Mt. Hebron got up off the canvas and battled back with four consecutive goals to force overtime. Then, Kaitlyn Magdar delivered the knockout blow. S
he wrapped around the goal and used multiple stick fakes to create separation. Magdar then fired a shot past Sydney Proper and was immediately engulfed by teammates after completing a 14-13 come-from-behind win.
The win is No. 14 Mt. Hebron’s first over Marriotts Ridge since 2012 and sends the Vikings to Monday’s regional final against No. 2 seed Westminster.
Glenelg 9, Century 8: Before the season started, both Glenelg’s Alex Pagnotta and Century’s Rebecca Groves knew this meeting was a possibility. Their teams have met in the regional finals each of the past two seasons. The Knights won both.
Last season, the Knights beat the Gladiators in double overtime on their way to an undefeated season and Class 2A state championship. Friday’s game provided the Gladiators a chance to turn the tables as they embark on what they hope is a state title run of their own.
The Gladiators prevailed, controlling the draw and holding off a late Century push to advance to the 2A West Region I final with a 9-8 victory in Friday’s semifinal. Glenelg will face Manchester Valley Monday for the region title.
“It was just a great lacrosse game,” Pagnotta said. “Just two teams just putting everything they had on the line.”
Lauren LaPointe, a Maryland commit, was aggressive and assertive whenever she saw a scoring opportunity. The Glenelg attacker finished with five goals and added crucial assists as the offense ran through her.
Fallston 22, Havre de Grace 9: One of junior midfielder Delaney O’Mailey’s three goals broke an 8-8 tie, giving Fallston a lead with four minutes to go in the first half. It sparked an offensive onslaught, which built the advantage to 12-8 by halftime before a 10-1 secondhalf run to win Friday’s Class 1A East Region I semifinal.
Juniors Ava Lambros and Ayla Galloway collected a team-high six goals apiece. Sophomore Sydney Grafton followed with four. Grafton added six assists in the win for the Cougars, who will play Harford Tech for the region title Monday.
Baseball
Baltimore Sun Media staff contributed to this article.