Momentum Pushes Gilman Past Calvert Hall For MIAA A Conference Championship

Building on the momentum garnered from an unlikely semi-final win in overtime over Boys’ Latin on Tuesday, the Gilman lacrosse team displayed a patient offense and strong second half defense to win its second Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A conference championship in three years.

The Greyhounds defeated Calvert Hall 13-8 in a tightly-fought game at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium on Friday night.  Gilman also defeated the Cardinals for the title in 2009.

The attack duo of senior Conor Doyle and junior Gordie Koerber combined to score three goals – all Doyle to Koerber – to pace the Gilman attack.  Koerber ended up with four goals, while senior midfielder Ryan Tucker scored three times, including the first goal in the first and second quarter.  In addition to his three assists, Doyle had back-to-back tallies, one with just under four minutes left in the first half and the other three minutes into the third quarter.

Yet the Gilman defense was just as crucial as the offense in the five-goal win.

Calvert Hall’s speed exploited the Greyhound defense in the first quarter, when they came back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead at the end of the quarter.  But a smothering Gilman defense allowed only three more goals – and none after the 9:07 mark of the third quarter – to propel the Greyhounds to the championship win.

“We just told the middies that we needed to pinch in more and that’s pretty much it,” Gilman goalie Palmer Murray said of the necessary defensive adjustment.  “They were back-dooring our middies a lot and I think we got caught ball watching a lot, so we just buckled down in the second half and turned it up.”

Gilman coach Brooks Matthews agreed.

“We were staring at the ball too much so we just had to remind them of fundamentals of defensive qualities that we need to use,” Matthews said in a post-game interview.  “That was what we talked about at halftime and I think it helped.”

For Gilman senior Ryan Tucker, who spearheaded the stunning come-from-behind victory against BL on Tuesday, momentum was a key – and that began with his stick in the first quarter when he dented the Cardinal goal with a 15-yard bounce shot while rolling from left to right.

“It was definitely a big momentum booster for our team because it gave us a little confidence,” Tucker said.  The midfielder felt it was a contributing factor to the Greyhounds grabbing the early 3-0 lead.

Tucker's drive to goal was so efficient that teammate Garrett Paglia duplicated the effort less than a minute later, almost tracing the exact same route, with equal success.

And it was Tucker who tied the game at 5-5 early in the second quarter after he grabbed a loose ball, sprinted up the field from the Gilman defensive end and bounced the ball past the Cardinal goalie from 10 yards out.

After Gilman grabbed a two-goal lead and the Cardinals again tied it, Doyle gave the Greyhounds the lead for good when he dodged around the right side and bounced one home from a tough angle with 3:53 left to play in the first half.

“I think our middies early in the game made some great shots,” Doyle said.  “They really opened it up for us and I just thought, put it on the cage and hope for the best.”

Yet it was the Doyle-Koerber combination that struck at Calvert Hall, especially in the fourth quarter when the pair combined for the only scoring and put the game out of reach.

With only a three-goal lead, Koerber cut to the net from the left side and hit from three yards at 10:24, after Doyle passed to his teammate from the far right side of the field.

“Conor is such a great dodger,” Koerber said.  “He freed my man up – he drew the slide – and I just got that space,” he said.

While Koerber was crediting his teammate, Doyle was equally as praiseworthy of Koerber.

“The kid really stepped up big this year,” Doyle said.  “He kind of came on strong as a sophomore late in the (last) season and he had a heck-of-a year and finished fantastic.”

The final Greyhound score came at the 6:37 mark, while Gilman was up a man for two minutes. Koerber was again open on the left crease and took a feed from Doyle who was about 15 yards out in the center of the field.

It was perfect execution of a power play.  Calvert Hall’s Evan Connel had drawn two, one-minute penalties at the 8:34 mark – one for a slash, the other for a cross-check.  Gilman ran the clock down and scored with just three seconds left on the infractions.

It was the second time in the half that the Greyhounds were able to implement that strategy – in the third quarter, they worked the penalty clock down to 11 seconds before Tucker scored from eight yards off a Justin George feed.

For Matthews, it was all about team work.

“It’s been a point of emphasis this year that we want to be a team and our guys did that,” the head coach said.

“Each team tries to develop an identity and we talked about what our identity was in the pre-game,” he said.  “Our identity was one that we were willing to go after one another in practice to develop the kind of toughness we needed on game days, because this is such a demanding league.”

Doyle noted how all facets of the game came together to help lead the Greyhounds to the title.

“The middies had some great placement on the shots and their goalie had trouble from then on,” he said.  “We felt like if we could get up – even just a couple of goals – our defense could take some more risks and it would be a lot easier on them to make plays,” he said.

For Murray, the win is unbelievable.

“I’ve never won a lacrosse championship.  Starting in rec league, I lost a couple; freshman and sophomore year I lost in the championships, so this is just so huge – it’s incredible,” the senior goalie said.

Koerber scored four goals for Gilman, followed by Tucker with three, Doyle and Garrett Paglia with two each.  Max Greene and Jake Matthai each scored once.  Doyle had three assists; George and Ben Hearn had one each.

For Calvert Hall, Ryan Brown scored three goals, Brian Bolewicki two, with Carter Brown, Stephen Kelly and Garrett Flannery each scoring once.  Patrick Kelly had two assists; Kelton Black, Brown and Stephen Kelly one each.

Murray had 10 saves in the net for the Greyhounds; Brian Rasinski had seven for the Cardinals while Dimitri Pecunes had two.

Gilman was flagged for eight penalties totaling seven minutes, Calvert Hall 12 for 10 and-a-half minutes.  Gilman scored three extra-man goals, Calvert Hall one.

The Greyhounds finished the season with a 14-5 mark and perhaps the most prestigious championship in high school lacrosse.  The Cardinals were 17-3.