Poly Boys Top Patterson in Lacrosse, Finish Regular Season Undefeated

Poly head lacrosse coach Raymond Harcum was looking for near perfection from his team when practice started in early March, and so far the third-year coach has seen those expectations met.

The Engineers defeated Patterson 14-4 at Poly on Thursday to put the finishing touches on an undefeated season in the east division of the Baltimore City District Nine league. Poly plays at west division champs Northwestern on Friday for the city championship.

“I’m pretty much satisfied with what I saw today,” Harcum said after the game.  “They played good team ball.”

The game was the first ever lacrosse contest on the school’s turf field.

Poly jumped out to an 8-0 halftime lead behind four goals and an assist by attackman Malik Embree. The lead widened to 11 before Patterson’s Aaron Oberton could find the nets for the Clippers with 5:38 left to play in the third quarter.

Embree opened the scoring for the Engineers at the 7:56 mark of the first quarter when he put home a feed from Sharif Dendy, who picked up a loose ball at midfield and hit his teammate on top of the crease.

Nicholas Edwards, who had two goals and an assist, hit on a 20-yard bounce shot with 2:10 left to boost the lead to 2-0. Poly took a 3-0 lead near the end of the first quarter when a shot by Brooks Gearhart trickled past the Patterson goalie after the keeper made an initial save. Alfonso Dulaney assisted on the play.

Edwards scored the first goal of the second quarter unassisted, on a bounce shot from the right center that dented the left net at 10:59. Embree hit from 10 yards off a feed from Gerod Wilson for goal number five, then converted a feed from Jason McDonald from the left crease to stretch the Engineers' lead to 6-0 at the 9:01 mark.

Steven Roberts took an Embree pass and charged the net from the left to score an extra-man goal for Poly at 6:38. The Wilson-Embree combination closed the first half scoring when Embree hit on a bounce shot from eight yards, after he took Wilson’s pass from left-center behind.

Wilson got on the board early in the third quarter for Poly when he scooped a shot under the Patterson goalie’s stick from the left crease. Dulaney assisted on the goal by racing up the field after collecting a loose ball. Gearhart scored his second goal of the game when he laced a shot into an open goal. The score was set up when Poly’s Jared Naquin beat the Patterson goalie to a loose ball and quickly found his wide-open teammate. The Engineers' 11th goal came off the stick of midfielder Telley Kilson, who, following a Clipper offsides, charged up the field from midfield and successfully converted a bounce shot.

Following the first Clipper goal from Oberton, Kilson passed to Iniubong Iniunam, who scored unassisted from 18 yards while running from left center to right center.

Patterson’s Kevante Leggette closed the third quarter scoring when he picked up a loose ball and hit from 10 yards with 39 seconds left.

With the Engineers leading 12 to 2 heading into the fourth quarter, the teams traded goals.

Deonta Winston scored unassisted at the 10:46 mark for Patterson. Poly’s Jared Naquin scored the first of his two fourth-quarter goals at 3:52 when Edwards found him open on top of the left crease. Oberton scored an extra-man goal for the Clippers when his low liner from 25 yards found the mark. The final goal came when Naquin, again open on the left crease, scored off a McDonald feed.

Poly’s Nicolas Kostas played well in goal, making several difficult saves before sitting out the fourth quarter.

The Engineers finished the regular season 9-0, 8-0 in league play.