The Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association, arguably the most powerful boys lacrosse league in the country, held its annual championship games for all three conferences Monday at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium.
MIAA A Championship: Gilman 13, Calvert Hall 7
Jack Doyle, Gilman
File Photo by Ed Rohde
The juniors from last year’s team, now seniors, made sure that there would not be a repeat of last year’s crushing loss, scoring all seven of their team’s first-half goals to give Gilman a comfortable four-goal halftime lead on its way to a 13-7 victory. Head coach Brooks Matthews earned his first MIAA A Conference crown, and the school’s fifth overall.
“I am so proud of our players who set this as a goal for themselves and pushed themselves hard to achieve it,” Matthews said. “It is not easy to win a championship because there are so many variables out of your control, but our seniors did a phenomenal job leading the way.”
Harvard-bound Jack Doyle finished with two goals and three assists, North Carolina-bound Davey Emala tallied four goals and an assist and another future Tar Heel in Greg McBride and Paul Danko scored two goals apiece.
Conor McGee finished with 13 saves for Gilman (15-1), anchoring a defense which held the Cardinals’ high-scoring attackmen Jason McFadden (2 goals, 1 assist) and Patrick Fanshaw (1 goal) to a combined three goals.
Pat Coyle had a hat trick for Calvert Hall (14-4).
Gilman (14-1) advanced to the title game after defeating Loyola-Blakefield, 12-9, while Calvert Hall’s berth came following a 12-9 win over St. Mary’s.
MIAA C Championship: Baltimore Lutheran 9, Cardinal Gibbons 4
The first game of the tripleheader saw Baltimore Lutheran defeat Cardinal Gibbons, 9-4, in the C Conference title game.
Baltimore Lutheran entered the championship game with a 14-2 record, having earned a trip to the finals by virtue of a 17-6 victory over Mount Carmel in Friday’s semifinals.
Cardinal Gibbons traveled to St. John’s Catholic Prep and upset the Vikings, 8-7, to gain its berth in Monday’s finals.
And while the box scores will show that Baltimore Lutheran was sparked by senior Mike Steppe’s three goals and sophomore Robbie Rupp’s two goals and three assists, the key statistic was the zero that appeared in Cardinal Gibbons’ second-half goals column.
Goalie Sam Coulter made 11 saves for the Saints to lead the strong second-half defensive effort and allow his team to rally from a 4-3 halftime deficit.
Junior midfielder Mike Dougherty scored two goals for Gibbons, which was defending its championship and appearing in its fourth straight title game.
It was the first C Conference title for Lutheran (15-2), which defeated Gibbons (16-7) for the third time this season.
MIAA B Championship: John Carroll 14, Annapolis Area Christian 13
With both finals teams narrowly escaping the semifinals — Annapolis Area Christian reaching the title game by virtue of an 11-10 semifinal victory over Archbishop Curley, and Carroll edging Glenelg Country, 12-11 — it was only fitting that it took overtime to decide the B Conference champion Monday night.
In fact, it took two overtimes. But in the end John Carroll defeated Annapolis Area Christian, 14-13, to win the MIAA B Conference championship.
John Phillips’ fourth goal of the game came with 2:27 left in the second overtime and would prove to be the game-winner as Carroll (13-4) completed its come-from-behind win to hand coach Dick Bitzer his second C Conference title in the program’s 16 years.
Matt Saldano scored all five of the Eagles’ first-half goals and finished with a game-high seven goals and also had two assists. Will Kang also added two goals and an assist.
Freshman goalie James Anderson made 10 of his 21 saves in the fourth quarter to allow his Carroll teammates the opportunity to rally.
With the win, Carroll also avenged an early-season loss to the Patriots, who finished with a 12-5 record.
Girls Lacrosse: McDonogh wins first IAAM A title
No. 1-seed McDonogh used five goals by Ali Brennan to soar to a 13-10 win over Notre Dame Prep, giving the Eagles their first Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship.
The conference crown was the first for the Eagles.
Kelsi Bozel led Notre Dame (17-2) with four goals, giving her 71 for the season.
* Julia Meyerhoff made sure her only score of Sunday’s championship game counted the most when she found the back of the net with just 19.2 seconds remaining to give Park a 12-11 victory over Friends and the B Conference championship.
Park rallied from four goals down, led by Lucy Weinberg’s three goals.
* Jennifer Ballenger scored eight goals to lead St. John’s to a 14-13 victory over Lutheran in the C Conference finals.
Jon Buzby is the Maryland correspondent for MaxPreps.com
