Urbana's stingy goaltending kept Broadneck from repeating as Class 4A boys lacrosse state champions.
A few weeks ago, 17 Broadneck boys lacrosse seniors sat together in one of their basements and made a list. A year after riding an undefeated season to a historic Class 4A state title, things didn’t look quite so shiny this spring. They carried a few losses. Some games that might have finished as routs in 2023 were closer shaves in 2024.
The seniors discussed every single thing that made the team work, wrote it down and handed the “manifesto” to coach Jeff McGuire.
It’s all those things that McGuire saw in the final minutes of their failed repeat bid at Stevenson University on Thursday night. Down a goal in the final two minutes and man-up, the Bruins launched shot after shot at Urbana’s net, chased each ground ball with a fierce, desperate determination. Attack Liam Komlosy cradled a pass for the split second, thinking he caught keeper Zach Thayer unaware, he fired.
But the sophomore Urbana keeper was hardly ever unaware.
With the save, turnover and the game-securing Urbana goal it led to, the Bruins walked with each other to their own goalkeeper, Matt Tettemer, one final time as a team following their 7-5 defeat.
To look at the silver medals as failure, though, doesn’t sit right in their coach’s mind.
“If 15-5 is your worst year, you had a pretty good year,” McGuire said.
After Broadneck dropped its first two games — one to rival Severna Park — McGuire first laid into his players. Then, he let up.
This was a good team, he reminded himself, but a different one than last year. He couldn’t expect everything to recycle over. He had to work on getting them better.
McGuire wasn’t surprised they were willing to. If the basement meeting reminded him of anything, it was of the bond the Bruins felt for one another, the kind that would have players like senior midfielder Eli Harris still choose to compete for his lifelong friends on May 23 when his plebe summer for Navy football is a week away.
The Broadneck coach glanced at the pink bracelet on his wrist and emotion crept over. There had never been a team like this, one that had arrived as “wide-eyed” eighth-graders, prepared for a new coaching staff and new culture in the summer of 2020. Who supported their coach through the birth of three sons — including one, Benjamin, the night before this championship game.
“I have three boys and I’m shaping these [players] lives. I couldn’t ask for a better group of seniors to be around. They’re guys that will come back and stay a part of my life,” McGuire said. “They are for each other. They are hard to pull away from each other. We did culture all the way through and they fully bought in.”
And for the most part, Broadneck did improve. Its only May loss was delivered again by Severna Park in the county championship. The Bruins blazed in blowout fashion through the playoffs.
Urbana, though, was no blowout victim.
If the lightning that delayed the game struck a single tree near Stevenson University, it would’ve been a less fiery display than the one Urbana and Broadneck put on. By halftime, officials jailed more players in the penalty box — Urbana (5) and Broadneck (2) — than players scored goals. Blake Levicki, Logan McGill and Tyler Hicks accounted for Broadneck’s 3-2 halftime lead.
But as the Hawks regrouped, Broadneck couldn’t keep pace. Jacob Ward and TJ Harne paired to flip the lead to 4-3, and the Hawks never lost it.
Much of that could be credited to Thayer, who could probably swat a gnat as quickly as he stopped the hardest shots. Some could be because Broadneck played man-down most of the third quarter. The Bruins’ typical playstyle hindered them a bit, too.
“We made the goalie work as hard as we could have, and he also had a great night, and we adjusted with initial dodges and cuts to open it up and see what was there,” McGuire said, “and attack their short sticks from there.”
When one shot ricocheted off Thayer, senior midfielder Tyler Stewart picked it from his feet and stabbed the goal before the Hawk could flinch to keep Broadneck within 5-4.
Another strategy was to pump all the anger you feel into your attack, which is what McCassie did. The senior midfielder flung his first goal to tie it at 5.
Tettemer, who came a long way from the attack who volunteered as backup goalie two years ago and stepped in for a First Team All-County goalkeeper this spring, fended Urbana off as long as he could.
“I don’t think Matt could’ve filled it any better. He played out of his mind tonight,” his coach said.
The Broadneck defense, too, limited Harne a bit in the first half. It could not stop the slippery left-hander from scorching three goals in the latter.
“I think it was just gas in the tank,” McGuire said. “When you’re playing offense and it’s a save, and defense has to go back down, they’re going to be pretty tired. I thought we handled their whole midfield well, but [Harne] was the difference-maker.”
Urbana — 2 0 3 2 — 7
Broadneck — 2 1 1 1 — 5
Goals: UA — Harne 5, Ward 2; BN — Levicki 1, McGill 1, Hicks 1, Stewart, McCassie 1
Assists: UA — Sharper; BN — McGill, Stewart
