by Lem Satterfield

Participating in the second annual Baltimore-Long Island Challenge, St. Paul's of Brooklandville overcame a one-goal halftime deficit to defeat nationally-ranked Garden City of New York, 11-8, at a neutral site -- the Haverford School of Philadelphia.

The Crusaders "won face-offs, dominated groundballs, controlled possession, executed intelligent offense, played tenacious defense and received solid goaltending" to break open a tight game and win going away, according to Crusaders' coach Rick Brocato.

In the faceoff circle, the Crusaders' Mike Faby and Peter Smyth won 14 out of 21 draws and "chewed up huge chunks of the clock" with well-executed offense, particularly in the second half, said Brocato, whose Crusaders have lost to Georgetown Prep of Rockville team which was defeated by Garden City earlier this season.

Garden City led, 4-3, following the first quarter, and, 6-5, at the intermission against the Crusaders, winners of three of their past four gmaes, and their past two straight.

But the Crusaders picked up the pace in the second half, dominating possession, playing excellent defense and scoring six of the remaining eight goals against the Trojans.

The Crusaders used a 6-1 run to go ahead, 11-7, with just over five minutes left in the game before the Long Island powerhouse scored its only goal of the fourth quarter.

Nine different goal scorers contributed to the Crusaders' offense, which was led by Adam Johnston and Matt Lunnen with two goals each.

Princeton-bound playamaker, Cliff Larkin, continued to make a difference in his third straight game since returning from injury, quarterbacking the offense in addition to adding a goal and four assists.

Scoring once, each, were Peter Gurny, Peter Smyth, Zach Linkous, Ty Feeley, Alex Chay, and Pat Powderly.

Smyth, Johnston and Feeley contributed assists as part of a deliberate and balanced offensive attack.

The senior defense of Jake Fradkin, Scott Matthews, Peter Windsor and Chris Wilson "had great support" from junior Slater Ottenritter and sophomore Gordy Long in keeping the high-scoring Trojans under wraps.

Junior goalie Nick Loverde, making his first career varsity start in place of injured starter injured Harry Krieger, "manned the nets effectively," Brocato said, as he registered nine saves and "made solid decisions in the clearing game."

The victry was the Crusaders' second in the Baltimore-Long Island Challenge, following up last year's 12-11 overtime thriller at Princeton University.

The Crusaders improved their overall record to 7-5, and are 1-1 in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference play heading into Tuesday's game at league rival Severn.


St. Paul's' scoring, at a glance:


Goals: SP - Johnston 2, Lunnen 2, Gurny 1, Larkin 1, Smyth 1, Powderly 1, Feeley 1, Linkous 1, Chay 1.

Assists: SP - Larkin 4, Smyth 1, Feeley 1, Powderly 1, Johnston 1.

Saves: SP - Loverde 9. GC - McCullogh 7.

Garden City scoring, at a glance:

GC - Savage 3, Fuller 1, McDonough 1, Gordon 1, Crisafulli 1, Losardo 1.

GC- McCullogh 7