Early last season, the McDonogh boys lacrosse team worked hard in building a five-goal advantage at St. Paul's, only to see the Crusaders dominate the second half to grab a comeback win.
The Eagles didn't make the same mistake Tuesday.
This time, No. 1 McDonogh used a big third quarter to gain another sizable advantage and played smart lacrosse the rest of the way to close out a solid 9-6 win over No. 3 St. Paul's in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference opener for both teams. Robert Clark and Jackson Morrill each finished with two goals and an assist, Robby Black and Barrett Sutley each scored twice and goalie Jacob Stover finished with eight saves in the win.
McDonogh improves to 7-2 and will next travel to No. 2 Boys' Latin on Friday. St. Paul's, which got two goals and an assist from Carter Flaig, falls to 6-4.
With successive goals from Clark, Sutley, Black and Morrill covering much of the third quarter, the Eagles had the same 9-4 lead they had in last year's 12-9 loss to the Crusaders. On Tuesday, it was more than enough as they got strong defensive play and smart possession time to seal the win.
"We went down to St. Paul' s last year and went up big early and then at half, they came back and beat us," Clark said. "So we kind of came back with a chip on our shoulder wanting to get back at them. We played our game — ball movement and great defense, especially."
Ball movement and patience on offense proved key in building the third-quarter advantage. After Flaig got the opening goal of the second half to cut McDonogh's lead to 5-4, Clark was quick to answer with a goal coming a minute later. The home team then took advantage of a man-advantage situation when Sutley converted a feed from Clark for his second goal of the game to make it 7-4 with 4:07 left in the third. Black and Morrill scored shortly after for the 9-4 lead going into the fourth.
After Flaig got one back for St. Paul's early in the fourth quarter, the Eagles defense did its share with Stover making two key saves to keep the score the same. Jack Pollard cut the lead to 9-6 with 4:12 to play, but the Crusaders fired four shots either high or wide before Stover stopped Flaig's shot with 1:22 to play.
McDonogh coach Andy Hilgartner was pleased with the across-the-board strong performance from his Eagles in their MIAA opener, but he was mindful it was only the start. He already had Friday's game against defending league champion and No. 2 Boys' Latin on his mind.
"It's nice getting off on the right foot for sure, but it's been five seasons since we've beaten Boys' Latin. So as great as this win is, I told the guys to enjoy it in the locker room and celebrate and then we've got to move on. That's the best things about the league," he said.
St. Paul's will try to get back on track Friday when it takes on Gilman.
"That's a good team [McDonogh] and I think they made some breaks for themselves and we've just got to keep battling and make some breaks for ourselves," St. Paul's coach Rick Brocato said. "I'm proud of our kids' effort. [McDonogh] had the one flurry in the third quarter that kind of got away from us a little bit — all of us — so we have to refocus and make sure we can work through some of that stuff. That starts with me all the way down."
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Boys lacrosse
1 McDonogh 9, 3 St. Paul's 6
Goals: SP – McGovern 2, Flaig 2, Pollard, Gordon;
M – Morrill 2, Clark 2, Black 2, Sutley 2, Young.
Assists: SP – Flaig;
M – Morrill, Clark, Parr.
Saves: SP – Barretto 9; M – Stover 8.
Half: M, 5-3