Keane’s goal gives St. Mary’s thrilling win over archrival
High school lacrosse doesn’t get any better than this. Two fierce rivals locked in an intense backand-forth battle that literally goes down to the last second.
Throw in a capacity, standingroom-only crowd with even more fans watching from the hill along Bestgate and you have a recipe for a classic.
Junior midfielder Bobby Keane scored off a sidearm crank shot with 1:16 remaining in regulation to give St. Mary’s a thrilling 9-8 victory over archrival Severn on Tuesday night at Pascal Field in Annapolis.
Senior attackman Nick Golini used a speed dodge to get to the middle of the field, then found Keane open about 15 yards out. Keane’s blast beat the keeper off hip and sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
Sophomore Teddy Androus won the ensuing faceoff and was fortunate head coach Victor Lilly called timeout a split-second before he shot the ball right into the stick of Severn goalie Will Perez.
St. Mary’s restarted with 1:09 remaining and was able to salt away almost all the remaining time.
Attackman Jake Adams was close to running out the clock when he was stripped by Severn defender Kijana Lloyd.
Lloyd scooped the ground ball, ran across midfield and got off a strong shot that bounced just short of the cage and forced St. Mary’s netminder Zack Overend to make a save just before time expired.
“St. Mary’s showed up to play 48 minutes. It came down to the wire and we made a couple plays at the end. That’s what it takes to get a victory in this league,” Lilly said. “Severn is a great program that is very well-coached. They’re our rival, which is why this is always the biggest game of the year.”
Lilly referenced the fact the Saints blew a late lead and lost to the Admirals, 10-9, in overtime to close out the 2021 regular season. Severn trailed by four goals with less than four minutes remaining before mounting a furious rally
“We definitely had some nerves early on in the game. I give [Thomas] a lot of credit. She threw an excellent game tonight. She got ahead, worked the ball off the plate, threw a lot of off-speed stuff that made us struggle.”
Both teams are off until Monday when the second round of the state tournament begins. Chesapeake, the top seed in Class 3A South Region II, will face the winner of No. 4 Oxon Hill and fifth-seeded Crofton. Chesapeake’s only loss came to Arundel, which has been reclassified to the Class 3A South Region.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks are the top seed in Class 4A East Region II and will face the winner of fourth-seeded Broadneck and No. 5 Annapolis.