LACROSSE: CALVERT HALL'S 'RUN-AND-GUN' STUNS ST. MARY'S, 13-8

 by Lem Satterfield


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For the second straight game, Calvert Hall's playmaker, Sean Maguire, was shadowed by one of the best defensemen in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's A Conference.

And for the second consecutive time, the Cardinals' used a deep, talented and explosive offense -- which, in this case, was backed up by a timely defense -- as well as percision shooting to make their rivals pay.

With Maguire being marked up early by the Saints' Ohio State-bound Joseph Bonanni, players such as Jason McFaddden (three goals, two assists), Patrick Fanshaw (four goals, one assist),  and Tony Rossi (one goal, one assist) stepped to the forefront, yet again, as the Cardinals (2-0 league, 9-0 overall) emerged victorious, 13-8, over the Saints (1-1, 10-1) from a clash of unbeaten MIAA A Conference teams.

Midfielders Ryan Gutowski (one goal, one assist) and Joseph Impallaria keyed an overall advantage of 15-10 in faceoffs, with Gutowski winning the game's final seven for the Cardinals, who are ranked third in the DigitalSports Top 20 behind the second-ranked Saints.

In addition, Maguire (two goals, one assist) and Alex Bogucki (one goal) also contributed to the Cardinals' offense, which, on occasion, was sparked by critical saves from sophomore goalie Greg Dutton (15 saves) behind a defense of Johns Hopkins-bound Christopher Lightner, Hunter Steadley and Joe Edwards.

"I think it starts with our defense. Dutton comes up big, has big saves in transition. He gets the ball out, and our midfield just runs up the field. We're more of a transition team, and we like to run-and-gun. That's how you play lacrosse. But it starts with defense with Lightner back there and Dutton in the goal," said McFadden, who is bound for Georgetown University.

"Coming into the game, we always know that Sean is our big player, so their going to put their big guy on defense on him," McFadden said of Maguire, who was limited to a goal by Boys' Latin's North Carolina-bound Charlie McComas in Friday's 11-10 victory. "So we try to do what we can to work it around him and to work off of him and to see what we can get."

The Cardinals led, 4-1, after converting just five shots at 9:54 of the second quarter, a stretch during which Dutton stopped four of St. Mary's first five shots.

But after the Saints scored three of the next four goals to pull to within, 5-4, with 3:30 left in the first half, Maguire keyed a three-goal run that was sparked by Bogucki for a lead of 6-4.

From there, Maguire ran behind the Saints goal and quicky whipped a pass to Fanshaw, which the latter flipped in from behind his back to make it, 7-4. Fanshaw then scored off a pass from Rossi for the 8-4 halftime lead.

"Sean comes on late in the game after we're up a little bit, and we know when to hit him, and he always finishes," McFadden said of Maguire, who converted the Cardinals' 10th goal off a pass from Rossi.

"We all just work hard in practice, and today, it was all just there. The chemistry was really good, and it was flowing," McFadden said. "Ryan winning faceoffs, bringing it down for us. We know each other's strengths, we know where our weakness are, and we know when to help each other out. We know who to move it to, who to move where, and when to finish."
 
Of particular significance has been the Cardinals shots-to-goals ratio in the first half of its past two games.

Against Boys' Latin on Friday, the Cardinals scored seven first-half goals on 12 shots. On Tuesday, they scored eight times on 15 first-half shots, including three goals on their first three attempts of the game, respectively, by McFadden, Gutowski and Rossi.

"St. Mary's did an excellent job transition-wise. We've got to correct those types of mistakes that we made. They're such a well-coached team, very disciplined, very sound," said Cardinals' coach Bryan Kelly.

"It's just toward the end, we got some things that went our way. And we just continued to do a good job moving the ball," Kelly said. "Torey Casemayer comes out works with our shooters, Dave Huntley comes out, works with our shooters. They make an impact, and these guys are doing a good job finding the open man."

Rossi's goal was scored after deftly eluding a defender's hit to gain a step as well as a good, solid look, one-on-one, at goalie Peter Stewart (10 saves). Rossi's point-blank, 8-yarder made it, 3-0, at 7:09 of the first quarter.

"If you shut one of us off, everybody else is going to step up, no matter what. Everybody's a good player, and everybody can play," said Fanshaw, who fired in the Cardinals' seventh and 13th goals from behind his back and scooped a team-high 11 ground balls.

The Cardinals, whose face league rival McDonogh on Friday, converted their first three of four exta-man goal opportunities.

"I think this has mainly to do with the fact that we didn't put forth our best effort against Boys' Latin, that's mainly where this came from," said Fanshaw, a junior. "We're a very good team, we've been playing together for a couple of years now, and it's finally our time to step up. If a guy knows he can get a step on a guy, then he can take it, and he should take it."

The Saints also hurt themselves by giving up their first five possessions -- and eight of their first nine -- on turnovers.

"I think they're a very good team. But we got close a number of times in the first quarter. We're down, 3-0, and we get within one a couple of times in the first half," said St. Mary's coach Matt Hogan.

"I told our guys, 'At the end of the first half, we had the ball with 1:35, 1:30 left, and a defender came over to the ball, and we were a little confused about what to do. And we brought their best player, No. 19 [Lightner,] right to the ball, and he checks it out," Hogan said.

"And right away, they score two. At worst, we could have gone into the half down, 6-4. But instead, it's 8-4, and that was a big hole, and we had to use a lot of energy to get out of that hole," said Hogan, whose Saints meet Mount St. Joseph on Friday. "We were tired defensively. A credit to them, they really swarmed on ground balls. And on faceoffs, they did a good job there."

Still, the Saints picked up the pace in the second half.

Shortly after bringing his Saints to within, 8-5, on a feed from Matt Bell (two goals, two assists), at 11:34 of the third quarter, J.P. Dalton (three goals) was leveled by Maguire's ferocious hit, after which the Cardinal's bench erupted with emotion.

The penalty against Maquire, who, at one point had been similarly nailed to the turf near St. Mary's goal, gave momentum to the Saints for a three-goal run that had them within, 8-7, at 7:58 on a goal by Peter Athens (one goal, one assist) from Pat Egan (one, one), as well as a 15-yarder by football wide receiver Mark McNeil following a nearly full-field sprint.

"Both teams are good, and sometimes, it was just the intensity of the game. Again, it was two good teams where we're ahead, and they bring it within one," Kelly said. "Our kids kept their composure, which I was really proud of. We just got some good opportunities, started going a better job at faceoffs, made some adjustments and got the ball. But St. Mary's did an excellent job transition-wise. They hurt us."

But again, just as swiftly the momentum was lost, sparked, yet again, by Dutton.

McNeil's attempt at a similar goal would have tied the game at 8-8 were it not deflected by  Dutton, whose defense prevented the Saints -- who had averaged 14.4 goals -- from scoring in double-digits for only the second time this season.

"It helps a lot when you've got a good keeper between the pipes behind you. Dutton's been stepping up, time in and time out," said Lightner, who credited Steadley and Edwards. "All three of us work well together. It's a good team defense. The middies are playing well. As a whole, they couldn't score on us six-on-six."

The Saints then botched two more possessions before yielding an extra man goal to the Cardinals, as Tim Adelsberger converted a pass from McFadden with 43 seconds left in the third quarter which -- along with Gutowski -- started the game-clinching, five-goal run that ended with the score at 13-7 with 5:14 to play.

"That was a big boost. We lost a few faceoffs in a row after we had gotten the four-goal lead [at halftime,] and that really brought them back into the game. Then we started winning," said Gutowski, who credited Ross and Adelsberger, and called Fanshaw "a groundball machine on attack" and, "a scrappy player."

"Their wings were very athletic, and we lost a couple faceoffs because of their athletic wing play," Gutowski said. "We adjusted on our wings, stepped it up a little and were able to step it up a little and were able to win a couple of big faceoffs which gave us the edge. Once we got a couple, it just went from there. When our attack gets hot, we roll from there."

In succession, Maguire found Rossi; McFadden beat his defender from behind the goal and slipped his under-handed shot past the left of keeper Peter Stewart (10 saves); Gutowski fed Fanshaw; and Fanshaw flipped in his second, behind-the-back goal, unasssted, off of a rebound of a shot that initially was blocked by Stewart.

"I think we just came out today, knowing they were a tough team, undefeated, and we had something to prove. We came out, stepped up to the challenge and put it in the net," McFadden said. "We took down a pretty heavy opponent, so we feel good about ourselves. Someone's gotta come out on top, and thankfully, today, that was us. We're feeling good."


Calvert Hall 13,  St. Mary's 8

St. Mary's (10-1)          1          3        3       1                  8

Calvert Hall (9-1)          3          5        1       5                 13



Goals: S- Dalton 3, Bell 2, Athens, McNeil, Egan. C- Fanshaw 4, McFadden 3, Maguire 2, Rossi, Gutowski, Adelsberger, Bogucki. Assists: S- Bell 2, Egan, Doub, Lamon, Athens. C- McFadden 2, Gutowski, Rossi, Fanshaw, Maguire. Saves: S- Stewart 10. C- Dutton 15.

Half: 8-4, C