When St. Paul's lacrosse coach Rick Brocato gives his players a day off, they often practice anyway. Senior co-captains AJ Barretto, Carter Flaig and Alex McGovern are likely to organize drills on their own — even on Sundays.
"These guys really like being around each other," Brocato said. "That is something that can take you a long, long way. Those are the intangibles people don't often talk about when you really have a special season."
The Crusaders badly want that "special season" after falling in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game to archrival Boys' Latin last May at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium.
"It's all about our motto, 'unfinished business,' and taking that next step to win a championship," said Flaig, an attackman who will play next season at Princeton University. "We are doing one more rep in every drill just to keep building up that championship mentality."
The Crusaders' run at the championship starts Tuesday night when second-seeded St. Paul's plays third-seeded St. Mary's in a playoff semifinal at Johns Hopkins University's Homewood Field (7:30 p.m.).
St. Mary's routed visiting and sixth-seeded Calvert Hall, 14-6, Friday behind an outstanding performance by faceoff specialist Alex Woodall, a senior midfielder. Woodall collared 20 out of 24 draws and scored two man-advantage goals in the victory.
The Crusaders are familiar with Woodall after edging St. Mary's, 8-7, in Annapolis in mid-April.
"They have the best faceoff kid, if not in the state, then in the entire country," Brocato said. "We didn't get many faceoffs in that game, but I thought we were opportunistic when we had the ball and made good on our chances. That game gave us some confidence, but it was a battle. They are very athletic and they are playing their best lacrosse right now when it counts."
St. Paul's has won seven of its last eight games, including a 12-10 upset of Boys' Latin on the final day of the regular season. The Crusaders also recorded lopsided victories over Archbishop Spalding, Mount St. Joseph and Severn.
"I think we are playing our best lacrosse going into the playoffs right now, which I am really excited about," said long stick midfielder Brendon Connolly, a Marquette University recruit. "We had a couple of games where we were kind of shaky during the season, but we are starting to get hot."
Some of the struggles might have been because of injuries to senior defenseman Stratton Grandy (back), junior attackman Mitch Gordon (concussion) and junior midfielder Tyler Rockhill (concussion), all of whom missed time.
"I think what a lot of people didn't understand early on is that we played 13 or 14 games with a lot of key guys out," Brocato said. "When you lose guys who are in every game all the time, it makes a big difference. It took us awhile to bring the other kids along for them to step in, feel comfortable and build chemistry."
Brocato, who is in his 16th year as coach, said the victory over St. Mary's was as important as any win this season. McGovern had four goals and Barretto made 14 saves in the win.
"Winning at St. Mary's was big for us," Brocato said. "We proved we could win without some of those guys."
Beating Boys' Latin, however, probably meant more to St. Paul's players. McGovern, who has committed to play lacrosse for the University of North Carolina, had five goals against the Lakers.
"I don't think we have played a full game yet," Brocato said. "I told the guys, 'You played 42 great minutes against BL.' But I think the last six minutes we lost a little focus. Maybe down the stretch we got a little too excited."
Brocato has been thrilled with the play of Barretto, a three-year starter, and Flaig, a four-year starter.
Flaig became the school's all-time leading scorer in a 9-6 loss to McDonogh in early April.
He has 285 career points, including 44 goals and 45 assists this spring.
"Carter has played almost 80 straight games as a starter, which is spectacular," Brocato said. "He not only has broken the record, he has shattered it."
Barretto owns the school record for saves with 651, and he's stopping 65 percent of the shots taken at him this season.
"He makes all the saves he should make," Brocato said. "Then he makes some really spectacular saves.
"He is a real leader on the field. You watch him on the defensive end and he is constantly directing and telling people where to go. He commands respect. That's why he is probably going to West Point."