Archbishop Spalding and Calvert Hall will battle for the MIAA A crown

by Derek Toney

Archbishop Spalding and Calvert Hall have advanced to Friday's MIAA A Conference lacrosse championship game after each team scored semifinal victories, Tuesday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. The third-seeded Cardinals defeated No. 2 seed McDonogh, 12-10, while the top-seeded Cavaliers pulled away from fourth-seeded Boys’ Latin School, 12-6, in the opener.

The setting for Friday's title game shifts to Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium, with Cavaliers and Cardinals set to face-off for the nation's most coveted high school lacrosse title at 7:30 p.m. The evening will kickoff at 5:00 p.m. with a rematch of last year's MIAA B Conference championship game with Archbishop Curley facing Saints Peter & Paul. The Friars will be gunning for their fourth straight league crown.

Spalding (18-1 overall), the consensus No. 1 team in the nation, avenged the only blemish on its record as Bucknell University-bound Joey Matassa scored four goals and junior Brady Mollot handed out six assists. Gordie Bennett and Ethan Ostrowski each added two goals.

Spalding put the Lakers away with a four-goal fourth quarter blitz, extending its winning streak to 11. Boys’ Latin defeated the Cavaliers, 9-8, in the MIAA A opener for both back on March 28.

“I’m proud of the way we came out and we stayed focused on the next play, that’s been our motto all season,” said Spalding coach Evan Hockel. “They (Boys’ Latin) had a nice little run in the third quarter, but we responded in the fourth.

Boys’ Latin (13-5), looking to return to the final for the third time in five seasons, got two goals and an assist from Maryland-bound attack Matt Higgins. The Lakers, who overcame a 5-2 first half deficit in the regular season meeting with Spalding, trailed 5-1 inside the first 11 minutes Tuesday.

For the first time since 2021 when Boys’ Latin was the last team in the standing, there will be a new MIAA A champion as Calvert Hall ended McDonogh’s bid for an unprecedented fourth straight crown. Senior attack Peyton Forte, who will play for Navy next spring, scored three goals for the Cardinals, and Jack Williams added two scores.

Calvert Hall (15-2) used a four-goal second quarter run and tough goalie play from senior goalie Brady Stangle in the fourth to punch its first title game appearance since 2023. Will Schwanke and junior attack Ben Hanover finished with a goal and an assist.

“We have different guys who can do different things,” said Cardinals coach Bryan Kelly.

Trailing early in the second quarter, Calvert Hall got four goals from four different players in a 54-second span and never trailed again. McDonogh pulled to within 10-9 early in the fourth, but Williams’s behind-the-back score off a pass from Hanover and Forte’s unassisted score, extended the Cardinals’ advantage 12-9  with 5:46 left in regulation.

“Winning this game means a lot to us,” said Stangle. “We all did the little things.”

McDonogh coach Andy Hilgartner was disappointed his seniors won’t get a shot at history. 

“Our guys were so incredibly resilient this year battling through a lot of injuries,” said Hilgartner. “I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”

Calvert Hall now stands a win away from its first MIAA A title since 2019 when it became the first team to claim three straight A titles. The Cardinals lost to Spalding, 11-8, back on April 22.

In reaching the B Conference championship game for a fifth straight year, top-seeded Curley avenged a 14-13 loss to Gerstell Academy, in late March, by routing the fourth-seeded Falcons, 13-5, Tuesday afternoon at Curley. Saints Peter & Paul earned its second straight trip to the finals with an equally convincing 15-6 win over Concordia Prep, Tuesday in Easton. The Friars won the only meeting between the two teams this season, 10-7, in mid-April.

The C Conference championship game, which will take place on Thursday night, at 6:00 p.m., at U.S. Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, will feature top-seeded Glenelg Country School vs. third-seeded Key School. Glenelg Country advanced with an 11-3 semifinal win over Gunston School and Key reached the final by edging Annapolis Area Christian, 8-7. Glenelg Country is seeking its first lacrosse title since winning the C Conference crown in back-to-back years, 2004 and 2005, while Key is chasing its second title and first since 2021.