Poly Passes City in Last-Minute Thriller

The Baltimore Polytechinc Institute's men's lacrosse team defeated Baltimore City College 13-12 on Thursday afternoon behind an exceptional effort from Malik Embree.

Embree scored eight goals as Poly ended City's 43-game win streak. 

"I think we have a higher skill level than them, but they were working harder than we were," said Poly coach Raymond Harcum. "Hard work usually beats skill that doesn't work hard, but somehow I think our skill overcame them at the end."

City got out to a 3-0 lead, only to see Poly come back to take a 4-3 lead. The game went back and forth for the rest of the afternoon, but Embree scored his eighth goal on an assist from Nick Edwards in the final minute. The goal was the game winner to finally get Poly over the hump against City.

"It was a perfect pass," Embree said. "He couldn't have passed it to me any better. It was a great, perfect pass."

While the Poly players ran onto the field in celebration following the game, Harcum was not entirely surprised by the victory.

"Well, City hasn't lost a game against Baltimore City public schools in three years, and we lost to them by one point last year, and we've been their only real competition," Harcum said. "I've felt like we've always been the better team, and for some reason, I'm going to be honest, they always work harder than us. I thought we should have had a bigger spread, but we fought hard."

Embree was all smiles after the game, and when asked if this was the best performance of his career, he didn't hesitate with his answer.

"This was my best game ever," Embree said. "We finally beat City. For me, this was a pride game. Poly vs. City, that's a long, long rivalry. We had to win. It was my birthday, so we had to win. It was only right."

Even Harcum had trouble containing his emotions after the final whistle; he was involved in a shouting match with a few City players. However, he quickly calmed down, gathered his team, and encouraged them to show class as they shook hands with the other team. However, Harcum's actions were not seen as a negative by Embree.

"It shows that whatever we go through, coach is always there. As long as he's behind us, we're good."