Taking it all in stride
Generals win 2nd straight region title but want more
The Towson boys lacrosse team claimed its second straight Class 3A North title with a quality 10-4 home win over C. Milton Wright on Wednesday, and the No. 15 Generals had a good time taking photos with their most recent championship plaque.
What coach Shawn Burke saw that he liked the most was that his team was pleased after earning the victory but wasn’t downright giddy.
Stacked with 19 seniors, the Generals (11-4) have their eyes on something bigger: bringing home the program’s fifth state title and first since 1997.
The quest starts in the state semifinals, where they’ll meet the South region winner Northern-Calvert or City either Friday or Saturday at Mount Hebron.
“This is where we’re trying to get as a program,” Burke said “We won this game last year and we celebrated like it was the 1980 U.S. hockey game [in the Olympics], throwing stuff around everywhere.
“This year, the guys were excited, but I think they have bigger goals. So it was good to kind of see that. I think they understand.”
Senior contributions stamped Wednesday’s win against much younger C. Milton Wright. It started with dominating play on faceoffs from Mitch Boudreau, who won 13 of 16 draws. From there, Mason Hickman (three goals), Leighton Bechdel (two goals, one assist) and Grant Kuehn (one goal, two assists) shared the offensive load. Defenseman Teegan Hersch dominated in back.
Goals from seniors James Dugan and PJ Fenchak one minute apart early in the second quarter gave the Generals a 4-0 lead. Every time the Mustangs (10-6) would try to gain momentum, the Generals responded.
Twice the visitors cut the lead to three goals in the second half, only to see the Generals answer a minute or so later. When C. Milton Wright sophomore Nick Domzalski cut the lead to 7-4 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, senior Rory Bateman scored 21 seconds later after another Boudreau faceoff win.
Hickman scored the final two goals to close the scoring.
“We have a lot of guys that have been around it for a while,” said Kuehn, who scored a big goal in the third quarter to answer a Mustangs goal. “We won last year, and this year we want to move on to bigger things and we’re all clicking at the right time. It was a good team effort. We fought through the whole way and didn’t let up.”
The Mustangs played as many freshmen as they have seniors — five — with a handful of talented underclassmen dominating the roster. Sophomore goalie Jonathan Salsbury had a fine game with 14 saves, junior midfielder Aiden Moran scored twice and Domzalski, a sophomore, had a goal and an assist.
Coach Andrew Gerard challenged his Mustangs with a demanding early-season schedule that helped prepare them for a second straight Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference Chesapeake Division title along with the trip to the region final.
“The guys battled well,” Gerard said. “I graduate five seniors, was playing five freshmen and a bunch of sophomores and juniors, so we’re going to come back really solid. We played a really tough schedule and it played out like I thought it would.
“I think we improved like we hoped we would, so there’s nothing to be upset about.”