BOYS LACROSSE: GOOD COUNSEL OVER-RUNS ST. MARY'S RYKEN, 10-7

by Lem Satterfield

(See video highlights and interviews below)

Good Counsel's James Bitonti, on Thursday evening, had a game he is not likely to forget.

In fact, the senior attackman could recall how virtually every goal was scored by his teammates at Washingtonton Catholic Athletic Conference champion and league rival St. Mary's Ryken, as well which of his Falcons had contributed each of them on the way to their 10-7 semifinal victory over the defending tournament champions.

"Bryce Dabbs scored the first goal to get us rolling. I had the second goal. Andrew Poulos scored the third and seventh," said Bitonti, who scored a game-high four times, and assisted on Dabb's second goal for a lead of 9-6 lead at 3:41 of the third quarter.

The victory earned the Falcons (16-4) a berth in Monday's title game at the University of Maryland opposite DigitalSports' ninth-ranked DeMatha (13-5), which had won eight consecutive league titles before being dethroned by St. Mary's Ryken (11-7) last season.

A 12-8 winner of its semifinal over Gonzaga in Thursday's other semifinal, the Stags defeated St. Mary's Ryken, 9-8, on April 24, and Good Counsel, 14-6, on April 19.

"Ten years ago is what I hear," said Dabbs, referring to the last time the Falcons are believed to have reached a title game.
 
"We talked about at halftime that this could possibly be the senior's last game together," Dabbs said. "Nobody wanted that to happen."
 
The game featured several lead changes and was tied four times in the first half, including at 3-3 following the first quarter, before Georgetown University-bound Zach Angel (two goals, two asists) and Brett Schmidt (three goals) paced St. Mary's Ryken to a 6-4 halftime lead.

But that's when the Falcons took flight, scoring six unanswered goals for a lead of 10-6 with 3:03 to play.
 
Angel fed Kyle Yates with just over two minutes to play for the game's final goal, and Addison Goodley also scored once for the Knights.

"We had a tough break with our goalie in the first half, and he was really getting down on himself. So our seniors came together at halftime and we just decided that we're going to pick him up. We decided we were going to play our hearts out for him," Bitonti said of freshman Patrick McEnerney, who accidently scored into his own goal. 

"The seniors came together, right before the end of the half, and we said, 'We like playing together, and this isn't going to be our last game,'" Bitonti said. "We came out in the second half and we were like, 'We gotta shut these guys out.' And we shut them out except for all but one goal at the end. It was an amazing run. We all came together as a family in the second half."

The score might have been much worse were it not for the Knights' Andrew Wascavage, who made seven of his 20 saves during the third quarter when the Falcons scored four times. 

"We went into halftime, we looked at our teammates and we were like, 'two goals is nothing. We scored two goals in the first half quickly I think in like 15 seconds," said Poulos, a Towson University-bound senior who keyed the Falcons' winning of 14 of the game's 21 faceoffs.

"We won a few key faceoffs in the third quarter, and we were able to have really good, solid possessions with good shots that we backed up," said Falcons' coach Matt Durkin.
 
"We never really ran out of gas today. We did a good job of finding the matchups, finding the short-sticks, dodging real hard and we made their defense shift," said Matt Durkin. "We shot the ball more on the ground in the second half, where in the first half, we were kind of going high-to-high."
 
Junior attackman Tyler Nechanicky scored the Falcons' fourth goal, and his 6-foot-5, sophomore attackman teammate, Sean Wright, assisted on their' fifth goal by Bitonti, and scored their seventh off of a pass from Pat Durkin.

Long pole defender Patrick Fletcher assisted the Falcons' second goal by Bitonti, and was part of a defense that included 6-4 senior Kevin Wright, Ren Tydings, Kevin Green and Nick Gorman as well as goalie Patrick McNerney (11 saves).
 
Kevin Wright shadowed Angel wherever he went in the second half, said coach Matt Durkin.

"Zack's left-handed, so I always force him to his right," said Kevin Wright. "But he's one of the quickest players I've ever played against, and one of the best in the league."


Good Counsel 10,  St. Mary's Ryken 7


Goals: G- Bitonti 4, Poulos 2, Dabbs 2, S. Wright, Nechanicky. S- Bre. Schmidt 3, Angel 2, Goodley, Yates. Assists: G- Durkin, S. Wright, Fletcher, Bitonti. S- Angel 2, Boutin. Saves: G- McEnerney 11. S- Wascavage 20.
 
Half: 6-4, S