Boys Lacrosse Playoffs: With Dominating Second Half, Catonsville Dismisses Franklin, 11-7

In Friday night’s 4A-3A South semifinal matchup, Franklin put together a first half that had the Indians feeling confident they could upend a Catonsville squad they fell victim to earlier in the year.

The Indians went into the break ahead 6-4 and seemed on track for a region final matchup with top-seeded Dulaney.

However, after a slight defensive tweak from Catonsville head coach Aaron Stubbs and a dominating second half performance in the net from goalie John Reymann, the Comets earned their trip to the next round, outscoring Franklin 7-1 in the final two quarters en route to an 11-7 victory.

Reymann piloted Catonsville’s stifling defense in the second half, where he tallied 11 of his 13 saves. However, the Comets defensive effort as a whole limited quality Franklin opportunities as Stubbs opted to play his long pole defenders in the middle of his zone and the Indians struggled to penetrate as a result.

“I really think the defense was key and the goalie played a hell of a game and made some great stops on the line,” Stubbs said after the game. “He has been our anchor all year. He’s got a cool head under pressure. I think that was the difference.”  

Franklin head coach Scot Laudeman chalked up a lot of his squads offensive struggles in the second half to Catonsville’s adjustment on defense, but felt his team also didn’t play as fundamentally sound as they did in quarters one and two.

“They were in a zone in the first half with two short poles up top and they rotated out of that a little bit. We had game planned for that and they started playing the long poles more up top,” Laudeman said. “But, we dropped the ball an awful lot, we threw it into their sticks an awful lot, and again when we got good opportunities we hit the goalie or he made a great save.”

The Indians also hurt their cause by committing a bevy of penalties and awarding Catonsville several chances to play a man up.

It was during those situations—as well as when even-strength—that midfielder Sean Urban took over. The senior netted six of his squad’s goals (three in each half), including a pair of scores to open the third quarter that tied the game at 6-6 about four minutes in.  

Even with all the goals, Urban’s biggest contribution may have come on an assist. Five minutes after tying the game up, Urban zipped a pass to fellow senior Brendan Healy who buried a shot from in close to earn Catonsville its first lead of the game.

Not surprisingly, the go-ahead goal came with the Comets up a man.

“I think that’s something that we do practice a lot, the extra-man advantage,” Stubbs said. “I think our senior Sean Urban really stepped it up. I thought he was really right on the money with his shots. We needed someone to step it up, and he stepped it up.”

Added Laudeman, “I obviously felt like we could have played with these guys, but I don’t know how many penalties we had. You can’t make a comeback or keep a lead playing with one less guy.”

Energized upon taking the lead, Catonsville added two more goals to make the score 9-6 before Franklin finally got on the board with 7:31 to play in the fourth quarter when Brendan Nickoles found Chris Jefferson with a quick hitting pass from in close.

However, the Comets tacked on two more scores and played a virtual game of keep away in the final minutes to secure the win.

Franklin, which led 4-1 with 8:06 to play in the second quarter, gained its advantage early on behind a strong effort from goalie Tucker Lutz (12 saves) and two first half goals from midfielder Alex Clements.

But, Catonsville rebounded on both sides of the field after the halftime whistle.

"We made [the shots] count,” Stubbs said. “We sort of said in the beginning of the first half, quite a few shots were well saved by their goalie, but it wasn’t very good shot selection. We had better shot selection in the second half and made the most of our opportunities.”

BOX SCORE

Catonsville 11, Franklin 7

C 1 3 3 4---11

F 2 4 0 1----7

Goals: C-Urban 6, Healy 2, Carlson, Miller, Schorr.

             F-Clements 2, Jefferson 2, S. Hardy, J. Hardy, Hans.

Assists: C-Healy 2, Urban.

               F-Nickoles 2, Clements.

Saves: C-Reymann 13.

             F-Lutz 12.