Archbishop Curley senior Anthony Celenza says this year's Friars are a team rather than a group of individual players.
In yesterday's 5-2 win over visiting Cardinal Gibbons (11-5-2) in the Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference semifinals, Celenza was a team all by himself.
Celenza scored four goals to lead the third-ranked Friars (17-1) to the championship game, where they will face No. 2 Calvert Hall on Monday at 3:15 p.m. at Essex Community College. Calvert Hall beat Mount St. Joseph, 4-1, in yesterday's other semifinal.
"This team has heart," said Celenza, whose Friars trailed Gibbons, 2-1, at halftime. "In the past, we had guys that thought they could do it themselves. This year, everybody comes out and works hard."
Gibbons, playing with the wind in the first half, built a 2-1 lead on scores by Dan Catlett and Rob Holderfield.
In the second half, the Friars used the wind advantage to score four unanswered goals.
Three minutes into the half, Celenza tied the game by heading in a crossing pass from Steve Ball.
Midway through the half, Celenza controlled a corner kick that bounced off several players and put it past goalkeeper Ryan Beaumont for the go-ahead goal.
Seconds later, Celenza scored again on a pass from Ball to give Curley a 4-2 lead with less than 18 minutes left.
"I thought we played well in the first half, but we missed some scoring chances," said Curley coach Pep Perrella. "In the second half, it was just a matter of us maintaining our tempo and getting the first goal."
Gibbons coach Roch DeFrances said the first goal of the second half was the difference in the game.
"We were playing on emotion," said DeFrances, who lost four starters to injuries. "Once they got the tying goal, they really wore us down."