TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 3/11/14
Staff Report

Carter Flaig and Alex McGovern led a balanced attack with three goals and four assists each as host St. Paul’s School (MD) defeated Paul VI (VA), 14-11, today in a boys’ lacrosse battle of elite teams.

The Crusaders, No. 4 in the Epoch Lacrosse North America Boys’ Rankings, held a 9-5 halftime lead and led by as many as six goals in the third period before holding off a late Paul VI (1-1) charge.

Carter Flaig, Alex McGovern and Brendon Connolly did most of the scoring in the first half for the Crusaders. After the intermission, Dawes Milchling scored his second goal on a power play and Flaig scored to balloon the Crusie lead to 11-5 late in the third period.

Paul VI quickly scored after Flaig’s tally to go into the fourth stanza trailing 11-6. McGovern scored his third goal at the 10-minute mark of the fourth period on a feed from Flaig, but Paul VI would not give up.

The Panthers scored two goals in 30 seconds to cut the lead to 12-8, but Pat Karey scored on a feed from McGovern to give St. Paul’s a 13-8 lead heading into the final minutes of the game.

Connolly and Milchling tallied twice each, while Bagli, Karey, Gordon, and Joe Pollard scored single goals. Gordon also added a pair of helpers. Eli Ayer and John Faus combined to win 17 out of 28 faceoffs, and goalie AJ Barretto recorded 17 saves for the winning Crusaders.

“They are very good and very physical,” said St. Paul’s coach Rick Brocato about a team expected to be a serious challenger in the DC WCAC. “They have 9 of 10 starters back and a large group of D1 commits.

“We have a lot to work on and that’s why we play these games. I give our kids credit; we controlled the game I felt and we were never in danger. We played to our tempo. We jumped to a nice lead and answered their call after it was 6-4 at one point by scoring two goals in 10 seconds.”

For Paul VI, Danny Kielbasa had two goals and two assists to lead the Panthers and Michael McCormick, Ryan Lamb (two assists), Roman Puglise, Paul Wiles, David Williamson (one assist), Andrew Garstka (one assist), Sean Bartro (one assist), Taylor Redmond and Nic Ancona (one assist) each scored once.

“It was a terrible start for us today,but I liked how we finished,” said Paul VI coach Bob Waters. “It was a good sign for us to not fold against a Top 5 team on the road.

“We have much to clean up and we will learn a lot from this game. It only our third time out on a full field and it showed today. I was very impressed with St. Paul’s speed and execution in transition.”

Said Brocato: “They have a very good defense so I was thrilled to be able to put up 14 goals,” Brocato said. “I wasn’t real thrilled that they were able to score 11 against us. They can really run and gun, but I felt we could have had a few more stops defensively.”

St. Paul’s gears for Friday’s annual grudge match with No. 3 Haverford School (PA) in Philly. The teams meet at the beginning of the year every season and Brocato was a college linemate with Fords coach, his close friend John Nostrant, at Washington College.

“I watched them in the McDonogh game (a 9-8 Haverford win in OT on Tuesday) and I will be pulling an all-nighter tonight getting ready,” said Brocato. “They are very good and I knew they would be – we’ll get ready and give it our best.”