Wednesday marks the semifinal round of the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament with top seed and Division III's top-ranked team Salisbury playing host to No. 5 seed Mary Washington. It's a rematch of an earlier contest that the Sea Gulls won, 15-7, on March 31.
The other semifinal pits No. 3 seed St. Mary's visiting No. 2 seed Stevenson at 4 p.m. at Caves Athletic Complex in Owings Mills. The Mustangs (14-1 overall and 6-1 in the conference) defeated the Seahawks (9-5, 5-2), 13-10, on April 13, but the game was a lot tighter than the final score indicated, according to both coaches.
St. Mary's outshot Stevenson, 24-11, in the second half and committed nine fewer turnovers over the same span. But the Seahawks converted just 3-of-11 extra-man opportunities, which included failing to score when three Mustangs were serving a one-minute penalty at the same time.
"The problem with man up is, one ill-advised shot and you've lost the opportunity," St. Mary's coach Chris Hasbrouck said. "I think that's what happened a couple times. I think the biggest thing was, they went three-men down for a minute, and we took two bad shots that missed the goal and had a third shot that rang the pipe. I don't want to say that was a turning point, but it's certainly something that we've talked about as a team. We had great looks, we just didn't finish. One or two shots might've made things different."
Hasbrouck also pointed out that Stevenson sophomore goalkeeper Ian Bolland made 13 of his game-high 16 saves in the second half. Hasbrouck said the Seahawks must be choosier with their shot selection.
"I don't think we finished particularly well against their goalie," he said. "He had 16 saves, and we'd like to finish a little bit better."
Mustangs coach Paul Cantabene had a few regrets with that contest as well, saying he thought his team didn't play with the kind of urgency he had seen in previous games.
"I think the guys just thought that they were going to show up and win, and we kind of played that way," he recalled. "We didn't shoot the ball very well, we had a lot of casual turnovers, we did a lot of things defensively that we don't normally do. So I was disappointed by their approach, and I think it showed in the game. I thought we played lackluster most of the time, but I give the credit to St. Mary's. They saw that in us, and they kind of took it to us for a little while. They had some chances to make it a closer game than the final score was. So we need to come out and play playoff lacrosse."
Stevenson will also have to shed a little rust as the team hasn't played since last Thursday. Meanwhile, the Seahawks beat Wesley on Sunday to advance to this stage. Cantabene said the Mustangs' first-round bye could be viewed as a blessing and a curse.
"I think it definitely favors us," Cantabene said. "Our guys were able to get healthy and get the soreness out and get some fresh legs. But it could also favor them in that they've played a game and they're a little more game-ready. But they also have to get on that bus for 2½ hours and come to us. Hopefully, they hit some traffic."