On an overcast afternoon in which moderate to heavy rains departed well before the opening face-off draw, the St. Mary’s College of Maryland men’s lacrosse team overcame a slow start to trounce visiting Penn College 23-4 in the United East Conference Championship game on Saturday afternoon in St. Mary’s City.
St. Mary’s College men’s team (13-6) earned its third consecutive UEC tournament title by erupting for 17 unanswered goals at one stretch en route to the lopsided victory. The Seahawks never trailed, but they only owned a modest 3-2 lead until the waning seconds of the first quarter when Johnny McGrain scored. That late goal triggered an improbable run as the Seahawks did not yield another goal until the fourth quarter.
“We had a lot of shots in the first quarter that were just off target,” said St. Mary’s coach Jason Childs. “But once we started taking better shots and getting some goals then we really started to click. I think this was the best game offensively for us since the last time we played Penn.”
Penn College (10-9) won the opening draw and controlled the first possession but failed to take a quality shot on goal and the Seahawks responded with two quick goals. Penn trimmed the gap to 3-2 with four minutes left in the first quarter, but the Seahawks immediately reversed the course of the contest as Johnny McGrain tallied to push the advantage to 4-2 when the opening quarter expired.
St. Mary’s College men’s team, as well as the women’s lacrosse team, earned its third straight berth in the NCAA Division III tournament that begins this week. McGrain was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, while sophomore Joshua Martel celebrated a pair of milestones. He established a Seahawks’ single-season mark with 59 goals and eclipsed the 100-goal plateau in his career on Saturday.
“I think once we started scoring it just steamrolled from there,” Martel said. “I wasn’t even thinking about the [scoring] record. I just wanted us to win.”
“Being named the MVP of the tournament was nice, but for me it was about winning the conference again,” McGrain said. “I think once we started clicking we just played with a lot of confidence. We’ve learned a lot from playing in the NCAA tournament the past two years.”
St. Mary’s scored one goal every two minutes over the first eight minutes of the second quarter to gain an 11-2 lead, but the Seahawks virtually sealed the verdict in the last minute of the half when McGrain, Drew Goldscheider and Martel each scored roughly 10 seconds apart to extend the advantage to 14-2 heading to the intermission.
The Seahawks promptly scored the first six goals of the third period to forge an improbable 20-2 lead before the Wildcats finally ended the prolonged drought by getting a goal with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.
The St. Mary’s men’s team upended visiting Farmingdale State 16-8 in a Division III tournament opener on Wednesday afternoon. The Seahawks led 6-1 at the end of the first quarter and 10-3 at halftime as Joshua Martel and Declan Horton led the way with four goals each. St. Mary’s will play its next game on Saturday against an opponent still to be determined.
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