BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s boys’ varsity lacrosse team’s season came to an end this week with an 8-5 loss to Calverton in the Maryland Independent Lacrosse League (MILL) semifinals at home on Tuesday.
The Mallards had an up-and-down year- finishing 6-5 in the regular season. On Tuesday, they faced Calverton in the MILL semifinals at home in a game that was essentially a microcosm of Worcester’s season. The Mallards beat Calverton, 12-11, in the regular season back on April 13.
Things started well enough for Worcester, which took an early 1-0 lead in the first quarter. Calverton then scored two straight to go ahead 2-1 with about four minutes left in the first. The Mallards had several great opportunities with time running down in the first quarter, but could not find the back of the net. Instead, the Cougars got a face break heading down the other end and scored with eight seconds left to end the first with a 3-1 lead.
Calverton scored about three minutes into the second quarter to extend its lead to 4-1. Worcester controlled the ball about halfway through the second quarter when it called a timeout. After the timeout, Worcester’s prolific scorer Tucker Brown scored on an isolation play from behind to cut the lead to 4-2 with 6:41 remaining in the second.
However, every time Worcester scored to cut the lead, Calverton responded. The Cougars scored with about four minutes remaining in the second and took a 5-2 lead into halftime. It was a theme that would play out through the rest of the contest.
Throughout the third quarter, Calverton continued to dominate time of possession and was very methodical on offense, taking big chunks of time off the clock with a three-goal lead. Worcester keeper Hunter Gentry made big save after big save to keep the Mallards close through the stretch. With 2:47 remaining in the third, Brown scored again from the top of the box to cut Calverton’s lead to 5-3, which is how the third quarter ended.
Just two minutes into the fourth quarter, Worcester scored an extra-man goal when Sam Cantello found Owen Tunis open on the crease. Tunis finished the play to cut Calverton’s lead to 5-4 and the big crowd sensed Worcester was getting ready to make a run. However, Calverton scored an extra-man goal of its own just two minutes later to push the lead back to two goals at 6-4.
Calverton continued its slow, methodical approach on offense and kept the ball away from Worcester through much of the fourth. With 5:24 remaining, the Cougars scored again to push the lead back to three goals at 7-4. With just over three minutes left, Brown scored on a nice assist from Cantello to cut the lead to 7-5 with plenty of time left. That was as close as the Mallards would get, however. Calverton added a late goal with just 42 seconds remaining to close out the 8-5 win.
