Luke Herwig was the hero Tuesday afternoon for Chapelgate Christian Academy. His goal with 43 seconds left lifted the Yellow Jackets past Glenelg Country School in the MIAA B Conference lacrosse tournament opening round. The Marriottsville school plays defending champ Curley Friday afternoon.
Chapelgate Christian's Chris Carlson checks Glenelg Country's Jimmy Tangires during first half. Carlson had five goals and two assists in the Yellow Jackets' victory.
by Derek ToneyChapelgate Christian Academy didn’t have the best of starts for its MIAA B Conference playoff opener Tuesday afternoon. But the Yellow Jackets’ finish was much better.
Sophomore midfielder Luke Herwig’s goal with 43 seconds remaining in regulation lifted Chapelgate to a thrilling 15-14 decision over Glenelg Country School at Western Regional Park. The Marriottsville school advanced to the semifinal round where they will play defending champ Archbishop Curley Friday afternoon.
Zach Bruce scored six goals to lead Chapelgate (15-6 overall), and Chris Carlson had five scores and two assists. Junior midfielder Zack Lewis had a game-best seven goals for Glenelg Country (4-11), and J.T. Rohe finished with three goals.
The Dragons pulled within at 14 after unassisted goal from Joe Clark with 1:32 remaining. Chapelgate gained possession, and called timeout with 1:17 to play. Grant Shipley found Herwig across the middle, and he spun around a Glenelg Country defender fired a shot into the goal.
“We were trying to get Zack or Carlson opened because they had the hot hand,” said Herwig, who had two goals and an assist. “The ball worked up top and I was down on the crease. Someone made a nice feed, and I just put it in the back of the net. You don’t realize it [scoring a game-winning goal] happened until a couple of minutes after, and everybody’s giving you a high-five. ”
Congratulations were plentiful as the Yellow Jackets and Dragons matched goals over the final 10 minutes of regulation. Chapelgate had a 12-10 advantage early in the quarter before Lewis scored back-to-back to pull Glenelg Country even with 9:39 left.
After losing 12-8 during the regular season, the Dragons had a five-goal lead in the first half. Chapelgate coach Richard Loper said his team took its Howard County rival for granted.
“They come out really confident and thinking it was going to be a cakewalk,” said Loper. “They were certainly ready for us and gave these guys a wake-up call.”
“You certainly feel a sense of urgency,” said Herwig. “You lose, you go home. Nobody wanted to lose, and you saw that in them.”
Chapelgate wiped out a 7-2 deficit with five straight scores, capped by Carlson’s unassisted goal with 9:47 remaining in the third. The senior attackman closed the third quarter with two more goals before Bruce extended the Yellow Jackets’ advantage to 12-10 with 10:57 left in the final period.
“We just couldn’t shut them down in the second half,” said Glenelg Country coach Tom Marechek. “Defensively, our inexperienced showed. We let them scored so many uncontested goals and didn’t stop the ball first.”
The Yellow Jackets look to reverse their fortunes against Curley Friday afternoon in northeast Baltimore. The Friars handled Chapelgate, 15-2, in early April.
“We never really got into the game,” said Loper. “Everybody on this team is going to have to give 100-percent. We’ll be ready this time.”
MIAA B Conference Tournament first round
Chapelgate Christian 15, Glenelg Country School 14Goals: Glenelg Country-Lewis 7, Rohe 3, Feldhaus, Arnold, Clark, Jenkins, Chapelgate Christian- Bruce 6, Herwig 2, Carlson 5, Smallman, Rufolo.
Assists: Glenelg County-Joey Tangires 2, Lewis, Feldhaus; Chapelgate Christian-Shipley 2, Carlson 2, Becker, Herwig, Rufolo, Smallman.
Saves: Glenelg Country-Lonway 15; Chapelgate-Olson 7.
Halftime: Glenelg Country 7, Chapelgate Christian 6.