The only thing the McDonogh boys lacrosse team knew for sure going into the final day of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference regular season was that it had already been assured a playoff spot.
After a dominating second half against No. 11 Gilman produced a solid 11-6 home win on Tuesday, all the pieces fell perfectly in place in the league's other games for the No. 3 Eagles to claim the top seed and a bye in Friday's quarterfinal round.
McDonogh's win, combined with St. Paul's victory over Boys' Latin and Calvert Hall's upset of Loyola assured the Eagles the top spot. In doing their part on Tuesday, the Eagles knocked Gilman out of the playoffs.
St. Mary's win at Mount St. Joseph completes the playoff picture: McDonogh (13-4, 7-2 in the MIAA) and No. 4 St. Paul's (13-5, 7-2) are the top two seeds, respectively, and earn the opening round byes. In Friday's quarterfinals, No. 5 St. Mary's (9-6, 6-3) jumps up to the third seed and hosts sixth-seeded and No. 6 Calvert Hall (12-5, 5-4), and fifth-seeded and No. 2 Loyola (9-4, 6-3) travels to fourth-seeded and No. 1 Boys' Latin (14-4, 6-3).
McDonogh coach Andy Hilgartner was pleased to hear his Eagles will be heading straight to Tuesday's semifinal round, set to take place at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field.
"It's a great honor. To get there, to be one of the final four teams is a huge accomplishment and to go through this league and finish 7-2 is huge in any year," he said. "This is the most competitive [league] in the country and to get a bye into the semifinals say a lot about our team and senior leadership."
Gilman (6-8, 4-5) climbed out of an 0-4 start in league play to even its record at 4-4 going into Tuesday's finale. All they needed was a win or a Calvert Hall loss against Loyola, but neither happened. It was McDonogh's strong third quarter that kept the Greyhounds from controlling their own destiny.
Tied at 3 at the break, McDonogh senior Robert Clark scored 28 seconds into the third quarter to set the positive tone for the home team. It started a string of six straight goals as the Eagles had a 9-3 lead early in the fourth quarter and were never threatened the rest of the way. Clark and Jack Kemp each scored three goals and Robby Black added two goals and one assist. The Eagles dominated on ground balls and goalie Jacob Stover made 11 saves. Leading 6-3 midway through the third quarter, he turned back consecutive shots by Jimmy Williams and Christopher Williams to help deflate the Greyhounds.
"When that third quarter whistle blew and we came right down and scored, we knew that we had to keep going. We knew we had to keep that three [for Gilman] on the scoreboard," Stover said.
Credit Gilman, which recovered from its nightmarish start in league play to reach the regular season's final day with a chance at the playoffs. Jimmy Williams and Charlie DeMuth both scored twice in Tuesday's loss.
"We struggled and it became clear we had a tough time figuring out how to win the close ones and then once we figured that out we went on that run," Gilman coach Brooks Matthews said. "So I'm just proud of my guys for digging themselves out of the hole and at least putting themselves in position to at least control their destiny today."
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Boys lacrosse
3 McDonogh 11, 11 Gilman 6
Goals: G – J. Williams 2, DeMuth 2, Waxter, C. Williams;
M – Kemp 3, Clark 3, Black 2, Morrill, Gray, Sutley.
Assists: G – Waxter, Matthews;
M – Wittfelt, Black.
Saves: G – Shmerler 6;
M – Stover 11, Schmickel 2.
Half: 3-3