Chaminade Boys Lacrosse Beats St. Anthony's, 6-5

You didn’t honestly believe that this was going to be how it ended, did you?

That the Powers that Be of lacrosse would let this practical joke of a score stand? That they weren’t just toying with us and our emotions? The sheer violation of the 11th Commandment that the final score between and be anything but a single goal a cardinal sin, nay sacrilege; a cause for excommunication.

It has to come down to a single play, a single player – why? Because that is the way it has always been with these two teams, the way it has always worked. Because there are no surprises between them, no secrets, no tricks. Familiarity breeds contempt, but also evenness.

“I can almost name their entire starting lineup I’ve played at least one summer game with, that’s kinda how it goes,” Chaminade goalie Danny Fowler said Thursday afternoon on Ott Field. “We know each other so well you know every game’s going to be a good one.”

It hadn’t been a good one for junior Ryan Lukacovic so far. It hadn’t even been a good season for Flyer attacker, readily admitting that he hasn’t been playing his best.

“I missed a couple easy ones that I could’ve put away and the defense kept us in it,” he said.

Chaminade (4-0, 2-0) had already put up a five-spot in response to a St. Anthony’s goal to start the game, the proceeds spread out amongst the lines with Lukacovic getting an assist in the process.

But these scores never stay too lopsided for long.

“We’re always about this game is peaks and valleys,” Chaminade coach Jack Moran said. “They’re going to get two or three in a row, no one’s shutting anybody out and when we get a couple you can’t get too high because no one’s going to quit.”

The Friars rattled off four straight in the fourth, three of them off the stick of Brian Sherlock to tie it at five with 5:55 left in regulation.

“In the big scheme of things down the road, we’ve been there, we’ve been behind, we’ve been ahead where late in the game it’s a tie game and we’ve been in these situations before,” Moran said.

Lukacovic is one who has been in these situations before, feeling the sting of watching the .

“I was on the team last year unlike a lot of juniors so I have a little bit of experience,” he said. “You have that in your core after losing the championship.”

Over on the sidelines he was catching his breath when senior middie Gregory Rhodes came over to him.

“He said to me ‘relax, take a breather and we need you to take one in the net’,” Lukacovic said.

The Virginia-bound junior pushed his way around the beck of the Friar net, getting one through the legs of St. Anthony’s (2-1) goalie Eric Caliendo for the game-winner.

“It’s a great feeling coming out and winning the first one but we’ve done that the past 2 years and lost the championship so we’ve got to win the next one if we can… know where we can attack them and then get the championship this year. You want to get back at them so it’s nice to get that one now but we still have a while until the championship which is the one we need to get.”