The Towson boys lacrosse team claimed its second straight Class 3A North title with a 10-4 home win over C. Milton Wright on Wednesday, and the No. 15 Generals had a good time taking photos with their most recent championship plaque.
Coach Shawn Burke liked that his team was pleased after the win, but not downright giddy.
Stacked with 19 seniors, the Generals (11-4) have their eyes on bigger things, and that’s bringing home the program’s fifth state title and first since 1997.
The quest starts in the state semifinals, where they’ll meet South Region winner, Northern-Calvert, either Friday or Saturday at Mount Hebron.
“This is kind of where we’re trying to get as a program,” Burke said “We won this game last year and we celebrated like it was the 1980 U.S. Hockey game, throwing stuff around everywhere. And this year, the guys were excited, but I think they have bigger goals. So it was good to kind of see that – I think they understand that.”
Senior contributions stamped Wednesday’s win against a much younger C. Milton Wright team. It started with dominant play on faceoffs from Mitch Boudreau, who won 13 of 16 draws. From there, Mason Hickman (three goals), Leighton Bechdel (two goals, one assist) and Grant Kuehn (one goal, two assists) shared the offensive load. Defenseman Teagan Hersch dominated in back.
Varsity Highlights
Goals from seniors James Dugan and PJ Fenchak one minute apart early in the second quarter gave the Generals a 4-0 lead. Every time the Mustangs (10-6) would try to gain momentum, the Generals had an answer. Twice the visitors cut the lead to three goals in the second half, only to see the Generals answer with a goal a minute or so later.
When C. Milton Wright sophomore Nick Domzalski cut the lead to 7-4 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, senior Rory Bateman scored 21 seconds later after another faceoff win by Boudreau. Hickman scored the final two goals to close the scoring.
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“We have a lot of guys that have been around it for awhile. We won last year and this year we want to move on to bigger things and we’re all clicking at the right time,” said Kuehn, who scored in the third quarter to answer a Mustangs goal. “It was a good team effort, we fought through the whole way and didn’t let up.”
The Mustangs played as many freshmen as they have seniors (five), with a handful of talented underclassmen dominating the roster. Sophomore goalie Jonathan Salsbury made 14 saves; junior midfielder Aiden Moran scored twice; and Domzalski, a sophomore, had a goal and an assist.
Coach Andrew Gerard challenged his Mustangs with a demanding early-season schedule that helped prepare them for a second straight Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference Chesapeake Division title, along with the trip to the region final.
“The guys battled well,” Gerard said. “I graduate five seniors, was playing five freshmen and a bunch of sophomores and juniors, so we’re going to come back really solid. We played a really tough schedule and it played out like I thought it would. I think we improved like we hoped we would so there’s nothing to be upset about.”
Goals: CMW – Moran 2, Domzalski, Hatfield; T – Hickman 3, Bechdel 2, Kuehn, Fenchak, Dugan, Cote. Assists: CMW — Domzalski; T – Kuehn 2, Jones, Bechdel. Saves: CMW – Salsbury 14; T – Turner 6. Half: T, 5-1