Rec Lacrosse Roundup: Three Catonsville Squads Capture MYLA Titles

If this season’s Maryland Youth Lacrosse Association (MYLA) Championships are any indication, Catonsville-area prep lacrosse programs will be inheriting a flock of proven winners come the spring of 2012.  

Catonsville’s rec-league sent three squads (its Junior B and C girls and Junior B boys) to MYLA championship games—and each team brought home the title.

And, while each squad traveled a different path en route to their eventual triumphs, each member had one thing in common: playing unselfishly as a unit, relying on the teammates they’d been playing with for multiple years.

Junior B Girls

Even at the beginning of the season, head coach Andy Meyers sensed that each member of his team firmly believed they could make it to the playoffs and reach an MYLA final. Well, they took it one step further and won the whole darn thing.

The Junior B girls captured a 9-6 victory over North Carroll in the MYLA Championship—a game in which eight different players tallied goals. The overall scoring balance came as no surprise to Meyers, who had seen his girls—some of whom had played together for as many as eight years—play as a team all season long.

Although the girls’ regular-season record earned them a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, they had to face off against Cockeysville—a team that beat them handily earlier in the spring—in the opening round. However, Catonsville exploded out of the gate offensively, netting 14 goals in a 14-10 win, and used that momentum to reel off its final two wins.

While a good portion of the regular season was smooth sailing for the Junior B girls, they proved they could win the close games, too, with four one-goal victories en route to their top seed.  

Along with assistant coaches Karen Case and Tommy Gentner, the championship squad was composed of: Hannah Meyers, Emma Clark, Catherine Sweeney, Ella Orzechowski, Cammy Case, Maggie Huey, Genna Brown, Maddie Fields, Amanda Seidl, Riley Gentner, Meghan Bennett, Jenn Nonn, Katie Russell, Lacy Cole, Emily Hamburger, Caitlin Carr, Natalie Croom and Lauren McDonald.

Junior B Boys

Head coach Bob Krabbe’s Junior B boys squad certainly did not take kindly to losing. After dropping its first regular-season game of the spring, the team didn’t lose another contest for the rest of the year, running the table for a 12-1 overall record.  

The squad, which made its living on defense all season, snatched up its MYLA Title with a 10-6 victory over Lutherville before defeating North County (Anne Arundel County), 13-8, in the Maryland State Championship—a fitting end for Krabbe and assistant coaches Matt Ames and Sean O'Farrell, who have coached this group of “adopted sons,” as Krabbe calls them, for nine years.

Led by long pole defenders Chris Krabbe, Jake Bredeck, Pat O'Ferrall and Tom Sadler, as well as midfielders Brendan Wrisk and Dan Nicolaus, the Junior B boys played a suffocating brand of defense that—along with solid play from goalie Ben Ames—put pressure on opposing attacks all season long.

Athletic midfielders Connor Hurd, Nick Wilertz, Liam Stewart and Brian Holmes combined to win more than 70 percent of the team’s face-offs and earn extra possessions for a talented offensive unit that included Brice Thurston, John Norton, Brett Altenburg and Dave Brand—four players adept at scoring, but also savvy enough to know when to distribute and make the extra pass.

On top of their championship victories, the Junior B boys pulled off another impressive feat during the regular season against Cobra (Howard County), coming back from a five-goal deficit in the third period to tie the game in the final quarter before netting the winning goal in sudden-death overtime.

Junior C Girls

Unlike the previous two Catonsville squads, the Junior C girls had an up-and-down campaign that finished with a 6-4 regular-season record and a No. 4 seed in the MYLA playoffs. However, that did not stop head coach Bridget Eder’s girls from embarking on a riveting run to their MYLA Championship win.

First, the girls, led by goals from Sarah Steer and Hanna Giotis and strong defensive play out of Emma Esposito, Mary Beth Miller and Laura Radov, knocked off Carroll Manor in the opening round. Catonsville snatched up an early lead and held on with a strong effort from midfielders Casey Black, Allyson Sloan and Maddie Larson, who controlled possession by winning face-offs and groundballs.

Next, the Junior C girls faced a daunting task in top-seeded Lutherville #1 for the right to advance and play in the title game. In a back-and-forth contest where both teams swapped leads, Catonsville’s attacking effort was led by Ashley Oliver and Kelley Wright, while Ryann Dwyer and Leah Mohler turned in huge games defensively and midfielders Anderson Gil and Jules Keagle helped control possession. 

The all-around effort enabled the squad to take Lutherville into overtime, where Rosie O’Connor netted the sudden-death game winner.

Goalie Peyton LeConte came up huge in the overtime period (and throughout the playoffs) to keep the Junior C girls in every game.

Chock-full of momentum, the squad downed Fallston, 12-7, in another overall strong team performance to capture its MYLA Championship.