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Gilman Comes Back and Shocks Boys' Latin in Lacrosse Overtime Thriller, 7-6

Greyhounds score three with a man down in final 62 seconds of regulation to tie the game.

In one of the most exciting Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) games to ever be played, the Gilman Greyhounds pulled a stunning comeback and defeated the Boys' Latin Lakers, 7-6, in overtime at Towson University on Tuesday night.

The win propels the Greyhounds into the finals of the MIAA A conference lacrosse tournament against Calvert Hall on Friday.

Gilman had two men in the penalty box and was down three goals with 1:26 left to play in the game. Playing a man short, they scored three goals in less than a minute and then—with both teams at full strength—lit the scoreboard in overtime to shock the Lakers from Boys' Latin.

Senior midfielder Ryan Tucker scored three of the four goals, including the game winner, to propel the Greyhounds to the Friday night under-the-lights final.

“It’s surreal, it’s just insane—I can’t really believe it,” Tucker said after the game.  “But we’re going to the championship.”

Fellow senior Conor Doyle, who scored the other goal in the unlikely run, gave credit to the Greyhound faithful.

“It was amazing—they were with us right there until the end,” he said. “We were down three goals with about a minute left—you know—they’re still really loud, cheering us on. I think that was one of the main factors that kept us going.”

It was an evenly played game through the first three quarters, with each team scoring one goal in each quarter. The Lakers would get the lead, then Gilman would tie it up, in each instance with less than a minute left to play.

The Lakers, who scored four extra man goals during the contest, netted three fourth-quarter goals in the first seven and a half minutes—two of them while up a man—to grab a 6-3 lead.

As the clock was winding under two minutes and Boys’ Latin in possession of the ball, Laker fans were chanting, "Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye." Tempers flared among the players at the 1:26 mark and three were sent to the penalty box: two Greyhounds and one Laker.

One was a full-serve two minute penalty for a body check assessed to Gilman goalie Palmer Murray, the other a one minute slash against defender John Henrich.

Boys’ Latin’s Taylor Stothoff was also forced to sit out for a full one minute due to unsportsmanlike conduct—a call that awarded the post-foul possession of the ball to the Greyhounds and proved to be crucial.

Taking advantage of the possession, Tucker unleashed a high, hard shot that hit the upper right corner with 1:02 left to bring Gilman to within two.

Gilman won the following face-off and senior Doyle worked his way down the left side to score with 42 seconds left.

After a Gilman time-out, Tucker won the ensuing face-off, fought his way through a determined right-side Laker defense and knotted the score at 6-6 with 29 ticks left on the clock to send the game into overtime.

Gilman won the face-off to begin the extra session, and after a time-out to set up a play, Tucker worked his way down the right side and launched a 15-yard sidearm line drive past Laker goalie Adam Davey to win the game just 52 seconds into the overtime period.

It was a "14 play," according to Tucker.

“The play is designed for the inside guys to get open but I knew they would distract the [BL defense] guys inside from sliding, so I knew I would take it to the net and score,” he said.

Davey, who had numerous saves in the third and fourth quarters, was immediately surrounded and consoled by his defensive teammates once the game was over.

Tucker, who hit a pipe and had been denied five times by Davey earlier in the half, said he changed his focus from putting his shots on cage to shooting for the net.

“Thankfully, they went in,” he said.

He and Doyle talked during one of the times out and said it was now or never.

“Conor came up to me and said, 'Look, this is our year, this is our time, we got to finish these plays, we got to finish this game,’” Tucker recounted after the game.

“It was at that point that it kind of clicked in my mind and I realized I gotta start making plays and finish the game," he said.

Tucker acknowledged that the Gilman coaching staff had given him a green light to shoot the ball.

“Luckily, they have a lot of faith in me and they have a lot of trust in me, and it’s really awesome to know that from my coaches,” he said.

Greyhound head coach Brooks Matthews said a comeback of this type does not occur without teamwork.

“Ryan Tucker, obviously, making some plays, Conor Doyle flying around making some plays, and Garrett Paglia—you don’t do that single-handedly,” Matthews said.  “You got to have people making individual plays and then team plays.”

Matthews also noted the play of defenseman Robby Haus.

“He has now played [Laker] Wells Stanwick five times in two years and I can’t say enough about Robby’s ability to play with a fantastic played like Wells Stanwick,” Matthews said.

“I told Wells after the game that he has gotten better each time we’ve seen him.  He’s done something more and new and different—he’s just continued to make himself a better player,” Matthews said.

“I have great respect for those kinds of players. He loves the game and you can tell it. He wants to be a great player and he is a great player and you just try to do the best you can against a guy like that.”

Stanwick assisted on four of the six Laker goals.

Reflecting on the comeback, the Greyhound coach said he stressed to his team to play to the end.

“It’s only about making that next play, and that’s what we were doing,” he said.  “We were focused on making the right play.”

When recounting the two men in the penalty box with the game on the line, Matthews said he had never been in the situation where he had to place two attackmen up on a wing for a face-off.

“You’re not really thinking about the end of the game—you’re thinking about the next play.”

Tucker’s three goals paced the Greyhound scoring while Doyle added two goals and two assists. Cotter Brown and Gordie Koerber had the other Gilman tallies.

In addition to Stanwick’s four assists, his younger brother Shack scored twice, while Michael Lynch, Stephen Luck, Ben Pridemore and Stothoff had one goal each for Boys’ Latin.

It is the third time the Greyhounds have defeated the Lakers this year, and the second in overtime. Each victory has been by one goal.

Gilman improved its record to 12-5; the Lakers, after putting three strong, back-to-back wins on the board to reach the semifinals, finished the season at 11-8.

The A conference final against Calvert Hall will be played at the Johnny Unitas Stadium at Towson University on May 20 beginning at 8 p.m.

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