Calvert Hall Tops Gilman in Lacrosse, 9-5

After playing Calvert Hall even for three quarters, Gilman’s lacrosse team gave up four unanswered fourth-quarter goals and dropped a 9-5 game at Gilman on Tuesday.

Cardinal attackman Patrick Kelly scored three of his four goals in the decisive fourth quarter to lead Calvert Hall to its eighth MIAA A conference win of the season. The loss drops Gilman to 5-4 in conference play.

“I don’t feel like we played quite the game we are capable of,” Greyhound coach Brooks Matthews said after the game.  “I feel like we would make a play here and not there—we weren’t finishing plays, we weren’t getting enough ground balls,” he said.

Part of that was due to the Cardinals' ability to win face-offs, collect ground balls and pose a near-smothering defense on the Greyhounds, especially in the final quarter.

“Absolutely give them credit for earning tough ground balls and playing well,” Matthews said of the Cardinals effort.

Yet Matthews said he felt Gilman got away from the type of ball movement that had helped the Greyhounds to its earlier wins.

“I think that we could do better, but some of that happens because you are playing a team that can inflict its will on you,” he said.

The Greyhounds jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, with both goals coming off the stick of senior midfielder Ryan Tucker. On his first score, Tucker picked up a loose ball on the left, fought off Calvert Hall defenders while working his way toward the center, and put home a side-arm shot at 5:02. Peter Senft assisted on the second when Tucker bounced the shot past Calvert Hall goalie Jack Brust from 15 yards out with 1:32 left. The score came with Gilman playing with a two-man advantage due to a Calvert Hall push by one player and an illegal body check by another—both coming at 1:44.

The Cardinals narrowed the gap to one with 1:10 left when Kelton Black fed Kelly.

Calvert Hall took advantage of a Gilman penalty to knot the score at 2-2. Carter Brown scored the first of his three second-quarter goals at the 9:11 mark, right as time on a 30-second technical penalty was expiring. Carter gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead when he drove home a quick stick from the right crease after taking a feed from Kelly at 8:52.

Gilman tied it at 3-3 when Conor Doyle circled from behind the crease to the left, leapt and hit the net at the 7:09 mark.

Brown closed the first half scoring on an unassisted goal with 6:11 left to play in the second quarter. He fought off the defense of Greyhound T.J. Trusty and nailed a point-blank shot for a 4-3 Calvert Hall advantage.

More than half of the third quarter elapsed before either team was able to score.

Calvert Hall was first on the board when at 5:51, Stephen Kelly hit the upper right part of the Gilman goal from 20 yards out.

Down 5-3, the Greyhounds worked their way back into the game with two unanswered third-quarter goals. Jake Matthai, who lifted Gilman past McDonogh with an overtime score on April 15, started the comeback by picking up a loose ball, charging the Cardinal goal and scoring unassisted from 15 yards with 4:04 left. Gordie Koerber scored from the top of the crease at 2:27, after collecting a ground ball.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Cardinals, who took the lead for good with 11:12 left to play. Patrick Kelly hit the upper left net from the right side. The Cardinal then picked up a loose ball on the right and side-armed it past Gilman goalie Palmer Murray at 6:37. He assisted on the third Cardinal goal of the quarter, hitting Brian Bolewicki, who fired the ball past Murray’s left shoulder at 4:12. Kelly wrapped up the scoring shortly thereafter and the Greyhounds were unable to score over the final four minutes of play.

Brust finished the game with eight saves for Calvert Hall; Murray had 10 for Gilman.