There are times when a team needs its senior leaders to step up more, have extra weight thrown on their shoulders.
For the St. Paul's boys lacrosse team, Tuesday's visit to No. 3 St. Mary's was one of those occasions.
The No. 6 Crusaders already had a couple of players out of the lineup for the tough assignment before standout junior attackman Mitch Gordon was lost on Monday with concussion symptoms. The long bus ride to Annapolis was even longer because of the day's steady rain. And all that came before actually dealing with the surging Saints, who opened the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference with two impressive wins last week.
Senior midfielder Alex McGovern and senior goalie AJ Barretto — both captains for the Crusaders — welcomed the challenge.
McGovern scored four goals, including the game-winner with 2:49 to play, and Barretto made his 13th and final save in the closing seconds to secure a character-building win, 8-7, over St. Mary's.
St. Paul's (8-4) improves to 2-1 in the MIAA A, while handing the Saints (5-4, 2-1) their first league loss. Junior attackman Joe Pollard added three goals and a fine collective effort on defense helped Barretto.
"We've been going through a lot of adversity the past couple days and we really came together as a team today. It was a real big team win that can spark us moving forward," McGovern said.
McGovern set the positive tone early, scoring twice and adding an assist as the Crusaders jumped out to a 4-0 lead late in the first quarter. But the Saints, who got a 13-save performance from goalie Tim Troutner and dominating work from Alex Woodall at the faceoff X, winning 13 of 19, gradually climbed back into the game.
The Saints tied the game three times — at 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7 —- but the Crusaders never let them take the lead. After Jack Andrews ripped a shot low and away to beat Barretto from the left side to it at 7 with 4:57 to play, the Crusaders defense had to step up after Woodall won the ensuing faceoff to give the Saints the ball.
When the Crusaders gained possession with just over three minutes left, they looked for McGovern to deliver one final time, Dawes Milchling providing the assist.
"I was getting shut off," said McGovern. "Dawes went behind with the ball and I was just working around on the crease, popped open to get the ball and put it in the net."
Any road win in the MIAA takes a gutsy effort. This one for the Crusaders required that and more.
"The kids really stepped up and did a great job all over the field," St. Paul's coach Rick Brocato said. "The defense was terrific, Alex McGovern got us off to a great start and AJ Barretto was just lights out."
Jack Carraway (two goals, one assist) and Timmy Hardy (one goal, two assists) led the attack for the Saints and defenseman Bryce Carrasco did a fine job in limiting St. Paul's standout Carter Flaig to just one assist.
"We were getting good looks, but just weren't able to finish them today," said St. Mary's coach Ben Rubeor, who was quick to credit Barretto's play for St. Paul's. "The combination of our shooting and our middies not being willing to get back in the hole — giving up some easy transition goals — cost us today. But they're a very good team, a team that played inspired. We have bigger goals than just winning this game, but it was an important one and it's disappointing to let it go."
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