Storms delayed the final game of the D.C. Lacrosse Classic on Saturday, but once the game was finally able to get underway, it became an exhilarating one to end the inaugural classic. With the Gonzaga Eagles and St. Albans Bulldogs anxiously anticipating the game for both teams’ seasons, it was never in doubt that the game would be a fiercely contested battle to the finish. The feisty, high-scoring game that would proceed was nonetheless a compelling one for any D.C. lacrosse fan to behold, as St. Albans eventually pulled out the 12-7 victory. The game, however, was much closer than the final score line.
“Gonzaga is a good team,” St. Albans Head Coach Malcolm Lester said after the game, praising his opposition, “I thought it could be a very close game, but we wanted to start something here today.” Winning the first ever classic was important to Lester as he commented, “We wanted to establish a tradition and we executed well today.”
St. Albans came out strong on their home field, getting an early goal from senior attackman Greg McKillop. Both offenses came out firing, with Gonzaga goalie Conor Baucum and his St. Albans counterpart Bo Johns making some tough saves. Gonzaga was able to tie it up as senior attackman Josh Furnary weaved his way between defenders to put it past Johns in goal. Senior attackman Ramsey Bates regained the lead for St. Albans not too long after, as he was able to backhand a shot into the goal off the pass from behind the goal from teammate Roger Ferguson.
Gonzaga became the first team to take advantage of a man-up situation with just over a minute to go in the quarter as senior middie Taylor Hanley executed for his team. It seemed as though the quarter would end tied as Bo Johns made a save as the dying seconds on the clock wound down, but he was able to launch a pass to the opposite end of the field, which Ramsey Bates successfully caught and then tried a near-impossible one-handed shot with his back to the goal, but Baucum came up with the save for Gonzaga as the buzzer horned.
The second quarter would start in a similar way to the first as St. Albans got another early goal; this time a series of passes following the faceoff eventually ended with a Pat Dougherty pass to junior attackman William Hubbard who put it in the back of the net. It did not take much longer for them to further extend their lead as junior middie Wilson Kistler rocketed in a shot with the assist from Charlie Townshend. He fired in yet another one to the top-right corner four minutes later to give his team a three-goal cushion, which they would hold until halftime.
Gonzaga replied less than two minutes into the third quarter as senior middie Kevin Shea converted for the Eagles. St. Albans' senior middie Charlie Townshend recorded his first goal of the game a few minutes later receiving a pass from Pat Dougherty. A few tough, hard-fought minutes of play ensued and as the teams reached the final minute of play, the Bulldogs held a solid but reachable three-goal lead. That final minute was by far the most action-packed and influential minute of the game as a close battle suddenly changed into something neither team could have expected. It started with a bang as Townshend scored his second of the quarter as teammate Booey Ghani made a spectacular one-handed catch near the top of the Eagles territory off a pass from his defense, turned and ran down the field before dishing it off to Townshend, who stuck it into the top-left to finish off the play.
The clock continued to run down, but senior defenseman Roger Ferguson put one in before it could end as he got hit to make it 8-3 with eight seconds left. Incredibly, the Bulldogs were not done yet. They immediately won the faceoff and Jimmy Cahill eventually sent the pass to Ramsey Bates, who put yet another one into the goal with just two seconds left. This final goal gave the Bulldogs a commanding six-goal lead going into the final quarter, and all momentum severely on their side.
Despite the momentous final minute of play for the Bulldogs in the third, Gonzaga was not about to let the game slip away and they came out fighting, looking to surmount what seemed insurmountable. A Kevin Shea goal early in the quarter led the charge back into contention with the pass coming from his fellow senior Andrew Sterritt. Senior attackman Nick Leon scored less than a minute later to give his team some rekindled hope. Taylor Hanley struck with his second goal of the game just over four minutes into the quarter, as he picked up a groundball under pressure right in front of the goal and put it over the goalie to finish the play. It only took 21 more seconds for the Eagles to truly spur on a real chance of pulling off the comeback as Hanley grabbed yet another one as he finished off a great series of passes with a shot from right in front of goal.
The Bulldogs called a timeout once they could get possession in order to try to quell the fire that Gonzaga had started, and figure out a way to end the frustrating passage for them. They were finally able to do it two minutes later as Ramsey Bates completed his hat trick to effectively end Gonzaga’s powerful run, and then he assisted senior middie Pat Dougherty for another goal less than 30 seconds later to really put his team back in the driver’s seat. As the minutes trickled off the clock, it did not seem as though Gonzaga would be able to find a way back in, as the four-goal lead was too much with the little time they had. The game was sealed for St. Albans when Charlie Townshend scored what can only be described as a highlight reel play, when Bates dumped the ball off to him in front of goal, and he flicked his stick behind his head and into the goal to send the home crowd into a frenzy and confirm his team’s victory once and for all.
Standouts for the Bulldogs included senior captain Ramsey Bates (3 goals, 2 assists), senior captain Roger Ferguson (1g, 2a), and junior Pat Dougherty (1g, 2a). Seniors Taylor Hanley (3g) and Kevin Shea (2g) were the cream of the crop for the Gonzaga Eagles. It was senior middie Charlie Townshend, however, who was awarded with the St. Albans’ MVP title following the game with his 3 goals, 1 assist, and some dazzling moves to back it up. He was proud of the way his team played on the day saying, “I think we just played our hearts out. Everything we worked for just came down to today. We didn’t really finish during the regular season, but we were able to finish today.” He pointed out the team’s intention to prove that they are the best team in D.C. and how proud they all are to have done that.
St. Albans Head Coach Malcolm Lester was the main organizer of the D.C. lacrosse classic, working alongside Gonzaga Head Coach Casey O’Neill to put the day together. He was extremely impressed with the success of the day and was looking forward to keeping the event going into the future as he said, “20 years from now we’ll be talking about the 20th annual D.C. Lacrosse Classic.” He noted that his team did come out with what seemed to be some extra firepower on the day saying, “Obviously you want to win every game, but I think this game is more important than most, simply because it is the classic.”
As a senior playing in his last ever game in a St. Albans' jersey, Townshend felt satisfied at his team’s accomplishment saying, “I’m really happy that we were able to finish this way. It makes me feel good, it makes the whole team feel good.”
Game Notes
In the other games of this inaugural D.C. Lacrosse Classic:
Eleanor Roosevelt 15 – Maret 11
GDS 20 – Carroll 4
St. John's 10 – Sidwell 9
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
St. Albans Goal (10:47): Greg McKillop, 1-0
Gonzaga Goal (6:01): Josh Furnary, 1-1
St. Albans Goal (4:57): Ramsey Bates, 2-1 (Assist: Roger Ferguson)
Gonzaga Goal (1:18): Taylor Hanley, 2-2 (Assist: Sean Whitcomb)
Second Quarter
St. Albans Goal (11:44): William Hubbard, 3-2 (Assist: Pat Dougherty)
St. Albans Goal (10:27): Wilson Kistler, 4-2 (Assist: Charlie Townshend)
St. Albans Goal (6:32): Wilson Kistler, 5-2
Third Quarter
Gonzaga Goal (10:12): Kevin Shea, 3-5
St. Albans Goal (7:40): Charlie Townshend, 6-3 (Assist: Pat Dougherty)
St. Albans Goal (0:48): Charlie Townshend, 7-3 (Assist: Booey Ghani)
St. Albans Goal (0:08): Roger Ferguson, 8-3
St. Albans Goal (0:02): Ramsey Bates, 9-3 (Assist: Jimmy Cahill)
Fourth Quarter
Gonzaga Goal (11:13): Kevin Shea, 4-9 (Assist: Andrew Sterritt)
Gonzaga Goal (10:25): Nick Leon, 5-9
Gonzaga Goal (7:56): Taylor Hanley, 6-9
Gonzaga Goal (7:35): Taylor Hanley, 7-9 (Assist: Nick Leon)
St. Albans Goal (5:37): Ramsey Bates, 10-7 (Assist: Roger Ferguson)
St. Albans Goal (5:10): Pat Dougherty, 11-7 (Assist: Ramsey Bates)
St. Albans Goal (1:08): Charlie Townshend, 12-7 (Assist: Ramsey Bates)
