Friends School (11-6) avenged two losses this season to St. Mary's by upsetting the Division I champion Saints, 2-1, yesterday in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference semifinal at St. John's College in Annapolis.
The victory puts Friends in Saturday's 3 p.m. title game at UMBC against Division II champion Boys' Latin, a 2-0 victor over Severn.
Matt Swan scored the first Quakers goal 12:43 into the game and assisted Bob Michaels with the game-winner 3:45 into the second half.
The second goal stood up thanks to superb defense, including goalie John Yeager making eight of his 13 saves in the second half.
"We beat them last time in double overtime and if we could have played another 20 minutes, we might have tied it," said Jamie McNealey, St. Mary's first-year coach who turned a 2-13-2 team into a division champion at 13-2-2.
"We tried to keep them spread wider because the last two times we played too much up the middle," said Friends coach Pieter DeSmit.
"It was our goal to use the depth of the field."
The Quakers scored the game-winner after a 1-1 first half in which they controlled the midfield.
Michaels finished a fast break by taking a pass from Swan, who nearly covered the length of the field before dishing it off to Michaels. Michaels' shot went from left to right past an outstretched goalie, Justin Bowman (six saves).
Michael's score to cap the transition went from left to right past an outstretched Saints goalie, Justin Bowman (six saves).
Swan had taken a pass from Charlie Lower and kicked a liner into the left corner for the game's first goal, but the Saints answered with a Travis Schulz goal to tie it near the end of the half.
Schulz took a pass from senior captain Zach Fallon near the goal and used his left foot to boot the ball in the right corner from less than 10 yards away.
In the second half, St. Mary's stepped it up, but the Friends defense -- led by sweeper Garrett Smith, Lower, Josh Salcman, Alec Hawley and Yeager -- was up to the task. Yeager posted eight saves as the Saints took 11 shots.
"John made several excellent saves with solid hands, plucking balls out of the air and got a hand on the one that squibbed along the line," said DeSmit.
The coach was referring to a Saints shot that went past Yeager but not across the line for a tying goal with about seven minutes left.
"We thought it went over the line, but you have to go along with what the referee says," said McNealey.
DeSmit said it was a shame that somebody had to lose, but added that "it didn't matter who scored because our players were happy for each other in a real team win."