McDonogh boys lacrosse faced a small sample of adversity when visiting St. Paul’s made a run early in the second quarter of Tuesday’s Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference opener.
The No. 1 and two-time defending league champion Eagles had a bigger response.
After their lead was cut to a goal, McDonogh answered with four of the next five goals to close out the half and then dominated the second half to claim a 21-12 win over the No. 4 Crusaders.
Luke Miller (four goals, two assists), Brendan Millon (five goals) and Bogue Hahn (four goals, one assist) shared the massive offensive load, faceoff specialist Ciaran Sweeney dominated in the circle, and goalie Aidan Seibel made nine saves as the Eagles improve to 5-1 overall.
St. Paul’s, which got a four-goal, one-assist effort from Grady O’Day, is now 4-2.
“In some phases, we played really, really well today,” McDonogh coach Andy Hilgartner said. “Credit to our guys. They were able to keep their focus and I thought we handled their run early in the second quarter and answered it with a couple before the half and that was huge for us.”
On a cold and rainy league opening day, the Eagles appeared poised for a dominating start-to-finish performance when they jumped out to a 7-1 advantage after Miller scored the last two goals 30 seconds apart in the opening minute of the second quarter.
But the Crusaders dug in.
O’Day ended the Eagles’ five-goal spurt to start a run of five of their own. Nine seconds into an extra-man advantage midway through the second frame, O’Day ripped a shot from the right side to cut the deficit to 7-6.
The rest of the game, however, belonged to the home team, and it all started with Sweeney dominating the faceoff battles. He gave the Eagles a vital possession that Ben Firlie (two goals, one assist) finished with a pivotal goal a minute after O’Day’s strike. Millon, Hunter Metz (two goals) and Miller added strikes to provide McDonogh with an 11-7 halftime lead.
The Eagles followed with consecutive goals from Millon and two by Hahn for a 14-7 lead after three quarters.
“Credit to our coaches, our leaders and Ciaran Sweeney getting us going at the faceoff X. He won us a ton of possessions late in the second quarter and we settled down, ran our sets, got our energy back up, confidence up and it turned out for the better,” said Miller, a senior captain who was playing his first full game since returning from a back injury he suffered during the football season.
Hilgartner credited junior defenseman Michael Tam for his work on the wing and in the back, in addition to Sweeney’s fine work. Firlie’s second-quarter goal to shift the momentum also proved vital.
“When you clear the ball well which, aside from that stretch in the second quarter, I thought we did well, and when you win faceoffs, it gave our offense a chance and they capitalized today,” Hilgartner said.
After going 4-1 in the nonconference portion of their schedule, the Crusaders took a step back on Tuesday. But coach Steve Settembrino is confident they will regroup with the lengthy league slate ahead. He was quick to give the two-time defending champions their due.
“I thought our guys battled pretty well in the first half, but we just couldn’t handle their runs and handle their faceoff guy,” Settembrino said. “Hats off to them — that’s why they’re the two-time defending champs. They’re the gold standard right now and I think everyone is chasing it.
“I think we have a lot of time to grow. It’s a long season. So we’re going to look at it, we’re going to grow from it, get up and go.”
McDonogh will travel to face Severn on Friday at 4:15 p.m. while St. Paul’s will take on St. Mary’s at 7 p.m. in Annapolis.
St. Paul’s — 1 6 0 5 — 12
McDonogh — 5 6 3 7 — 21
Goals: SP — Iannantuono 2, O’Day 4, Bair, Lauer, Ballenger, Burger, Langis, Vizzcarando; M — Millon 5, Hahn 4, Miller 4, Tolker 2, Firlie 2, Mentz 2, Green, Brown.
Assists: SP — Iannantuono 2, Bowman, Cook, Bair, O’Day; M — Firlie 3, Miller 2, Hahn, Sweeney.
Saves: SP — Smith 8; M — Seibel 9, Edelen 2.