By many measures, the Glenelg boys lacrosse season hasn't been going as planned thanks to injuries, a tough schedule and luck not being on its side at times.
The most telling statistic, though, may have been the Gladiators' 0-6 record against out-of-county opponents. That finally changed under the rain Thursday night, as Glenelg got that monkey of its back with an 8-7 victory over visiting C. Milton Wright in its regular-season finale.
"We talked about it at practice yesterday. It's one of those things where you don't like that to be what you're fighting for, but we put together a hell of a schedule also. That's part of it," said Gladiators coach Josh Hatmaker. "We've played some good teams and hopefully that prepares for the playoffs and that's what we wanted."
Brett Wasson and Carson Marshall each tallied two goals and two assists to lead Glenelg, which never trailed in the game. The Mustangs trailed, 7-4, midway in the third quarter and scored twice to close out the period.
The Gladiators controlled possession for most of the final quarter, but none was bigger than a three-minute go-around in C. Milton Wright's zone that ended with Kevin Wynne scoring the eventual game-winner on a perfect pass from Marshall with 3 minutes, 44 seconds remaining.
The Mustangs scored with 53.6 seconds left but Glenelg, which allowed just three shots in the final quarter, spoiled a chance in the final seconds to hold on for the win.
"It was a good win. The guys played hard," Hatmaker said. "They came out in a zone and we were patient for the most part. ... That eighth goal was big. We drew that up on the sideline because we hadn't seen that type of zone before. ... We told the kids that if it's not there, don't throw the pass. We drew up a little wrinkle, which the kids ran perfect. Kevin was wide-open."
Grady Dipeso and Dominic Venanzi scored two goals apiece for the Mustangs, who dropped to 9-5 with the loss.
"We expected a game a lot like this," said C. Milton Wright coach Andrew Gerard. "Perennially they're really strong, have struggled a little bit this year but we also know they're starting to come around. We watched them quite a bit and felt like they were on the verge of stepping up and playing big."
Wasson and Chase Collier scored the first two goals of the game for the Gladiators, but C. Milton Wright responded with the next two at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second.
Glenelg extended the lead to 4-2 before the Mustangs answered once again with back-to-back goals to tie it at 4. Marshall, however, gave the Gladiators a 5-4 lead at the half by scoring with 9.8 seconds left in the second quarter.
Wasson and Marshall scored their second goals 53 seconds apart midway in the third quarter to push Glenelg's advantage to 7-4, and Hatmaker said Wasson's tally was the result of another patient possession where they moved the ball and waited for the perfect shot.
"We ran through our set a couple times and we knew the faster we could spin the ball ... if we could draw a slide multiple time off those sets we were gaining steps every time," he said. "He finally got a step and Brett's as technical a shooter we've got, and we had a good scout on them and the kids really shot the scout really well today. They're a big, aggressive defense so you can't force things."
Both Mustangs' goals at the end of the third quarter were a result of sloppy turnovers by Glenelg. Hatmaker his players were getting tired because of the lack of depth with the number of injuries at the moment, but were able to overcome it in the end thanks to winning the battle for ground balls in C. Milton Wright's defensive midfield.
Gerard, meanwhile, felt his team grabbed the momentum heading into the final 12 minutes of play as a result, but credited the Gladiators' midfielders and their extended possessions for holding them to just one fourth-quarter goal.
"We've struggled in the third quarter all year long but felt like if we could put together a reasonable third quarter we would be in it in the end, which we did," he said. "We knew with our zone that they had the option to do that (hold the ball) in the fourth. We came out of the zone at the end and we had to, but we also knew we were struggling with their midfielders early on. We kind of put ourselves in that place running the zone."
Though Alex Frith won the last faceoff of the game, the Mustangs forced a turnover with more than 30 seconds left on the clock. Gerard drew up a play during a timeout, but sophomore Johnny Chiasson used a well-timed stick check to force the turnover and then scooped up the loose ground ball to secure the one-goal victory.
"I thought Johnny played his best game and he made the convert four games ago over to long stick and he really has been a godsend," Hatmaker said. "He's coming along, but to make that switch from defensive midfield, he's been awesome."
The win pushes Glenelg's final regular season record to 6-8. Hatmaker said he feels good about his team heading into the postseason, especially with a few days off before the opening round on Wednesday.
"We're still battling a few games and we won a tough game and wanted to come out of it healthy and I thought we did," he said. "Now we basically have five days to hopefully get the kids as healthy as possible. We're still missing a couple guys and that's a big deal for us. Depth-wise we like having all of our bullets in the gun."
Glenelg (5-2 county, 6-8 overall) – 8, C. Milton Wright (9-5) – 7
Goals: G – Brett Wasson 2, Carson Marshall 2, Chase Collier, Garret Hesen, Jeremy Rigali, Kevin Wynne; CMW – Grady Dipeso 2, Dominic Venanzi 2, Zach Heiderman, Jared Hansbury, Keith Poyer
Assists: G – Wasson 2, Marshall 2, Collier, Elijah Darden, Hesen; CMW – Kenny Watts 2, Steven Cantor, Stephen Kelley
Saves: G – Anthony Valenza 7; CMW – Josh Weaver 5
Halftime: 5-4, Glenelg