The budding rivalry between Broadneck and Urbana boys lacrosse has been forged through blood, bad hits, off-field slights and incredible displays of physical, high-speed lacrosse.
In Thursday’s Class 4A state championship, Urbana matched the prompt. The players absorbed boos from the Bruins fans as they strutted by and screeched as they circled Stevenson University’s Mustang Stadium. At halftime, the Hawks thundered over to their fans to bask in the praise. Broadneck hustled to the furthest corner of the campus it could find to address what it could fix in the last 24 minutes.
But the Bruins couldn’t, because Urbana didn’t allow it.
Broadneck wanted to play its style of lacrosse, and the Hawks’ defense mostly prevented that from happening. Urbana’s energy skyrocketed with every second-half goal it laced through. With each timeout called — especially in the second half — sideline Hawks spilled onto the field, whooping until their 5-2 championship repeat was secure.
“Urbana came ready,” Bruins coach Jeff McGuire said. “We came out trying to play our way, and they were trying to crash course into it.”
The Bruins are not a team devoid of energy. They blew out every postseason opponent leading up to the final by at least 10 goals. They’re a greener team with few seniors, but time and time again, those young players rose above their position. Freshman Wyatt Hicks inked program single-season goals (73) and points (95) records. Sophomore keeper Braedon Goloboski stopped 90 shots this season. A stocky junior dubbed “Meat,” Keaton Walker, was around 75% on faceoffs.
There were things that went well. The Bruins successfully defended a known troublemaker in senior attack TJ Harne, who netted five goals in last year’s championship, for an entire half. Walker battled to claim six faceoffs.
But in other areas, they struggled. Last year’s tilt was plenty aggressive, with more player penalties than goals through two quarters. This time, the Bruins suffered four flags compared with Urbana’s one.
“They’re using guys that don’t face off to hack on our faceoff guy,” McGuire said. “And we have a pretty good [extra-man offense] unit that can step down and shoot when you don’t get that opportunity — but your faceoff guy’s fighting for his life.”
The turnovers started early, directly leading to Urbana 2-1 first half lead. Only Bruins senior midfielder Brayden Schmidt’s shot hit the net in the first half. Otherwise, if the Bruins managed to crank one at goalkeeper Zach Thayer, the Hawks junior either watched it whistle out of bounds or stuffed it — 12 times.
As the low-scoring game whittled to the midpoint, more and more of Broadneck’s passes dribbled mistakenly to the turf.
“We looked back at what they were doing and adjusted. If you look at 2-1, that’s basically a stalemate in lacrosse,” McGuire said. “That’s great defense out there and at the same time, we’re trying to do the same things that we’re used to and getting halted.”
That wasn’t an unusual situation for this year’s group, and they’ve been able to “dig deep” and pull out a closer win — a 5-4 victory over Robinson (Va.) on April 14 — or at least fall only a goal or two behind older squads like Severna Park and South River.
But when Broadneck tried to leap into its transition play Thursday, it just didn’t happen.
“We wanted to play a little faster,” McGuire said, “but when we can’t play fast, we can’t can’t get in our groove.”
The issues spilled into the third quarter. Turnovers mounted. Offhand shots popped peacefully into Thayer’s pocket. Goloboski and Walker were Broadneck’s bright spots, racking saves and midfield wins.
Then, junior midfielder Carson Pierce whipped a rocket behind Thayer and cut Urbana’s lead to 4-2 in the fourth quarter. It could’ve been a new game. However, Urbana’s leading scorer, Jayden Sharper, zipped a 15-yard stinger — his third goal of the day — to negate its impact.
“This is a possession game,” McGuire said, “and we didn’t clear a few times. That killed us late.”
Some teams that lost to the same team two years in a row would prefer if they never saw them again. The Bruins who return hope the opposite.
“It’s fuel to the fire,” Hicks said. “We’ll see them next year.”
Have a sports tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.
BROADNECK — 0-1-0-1 — 2
URBANA — 1-1-2-1 — 5
GOALS: B — Brayden Schmidt 1, Carson Pierce 1; U — Jayden Sharper 3, Cam Connors 1, TJ Harne 1
ASSISTS: U — TJ Harne 1, Jayden Sharper 1, Ethan Barnard 1
SAVES: B — Braeden Goloboski 5; U — Zach Thayer 12
