by Aaron Grayagray@digitalsports.com(See videos below)The
Baltimore Public team was in high spirits during halftime of its rivalry game with the
Baltimore Private
squad at the Adidas National Lacrosse Classic on Sunday. The semifinal
bout between the locals had plenty of social ties as a majority of the
players grew up playing together.
The public team held a
somewhat surprising 3-0 lead at the break, in most part because of the
play of goalkeeper Jeff Lowman. And the rising senior at
Severna Park made sure to let everyone know about it during an animated halftime huddle with his team.
"If
I didn't already know Jeff, I might have to go over there and punch
that guy in the face," a Baltimore Private player jokingly muttered in
response to the antics from the well-known Lowman.
A little
trash talk didn't throw Baltimore Private off one bit as it came out
for the second half a different team. It outscored Baltimore Public 7-1
after the intermission and won 7-4, setting up a championship date with
Rochester, NY.
"I
play a lot of club ball with those guys," said Lowman, who played just
the first half Sunday and split time with Andrew Gvozden (Hofstra) last
spring but should be the primary shot-blocker for the Falcons in 2009.
"I
was talking trash so a lot of people may think that and it may have
been unnecessary but we were just having fun out there. It was all in
good fun and the guys on the field knew that."
In one of the
five games Baltimore Public played during the two-day tournament, the
team came out for warm-ups with their jerseys inside out. It was a
team-building effort and it showed the calm attitude players took into
the weekend. But don't question their effort -- they wanted to win.
"We
were just messing around but we always came hard," Lowman said. "In the
first half (Sunday), we played our game and that's why we went up."
Despite
the 90 degree temperature, Lowman still likes to sport long pants when
he's playing in front of the cage. After the game, his under shirt was
soaked in sweat but being exposed to the heat is nothing new for the
5-foot-9, 180-pound goalkeeper.
"It's a Severna Park thing," he
said. "Mike (Gvozden) at Hopkins wears the sweat pants, Andrew
(Gvozden) and I wear the sweat pants. The ironic part is that we're all
neighbors."
The elder Gvozden led the Falcons to an 18-2 season
in 2007 and spearheaded his team to its second straight state title and
fourth since 1999. This past spring, Lowman and Andrew Gvozden shared
time in front of the cage as Severna Park
advanced to the state semifinals.
