D6 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, MAY 27 , 2022
BY KYLE MELNICKbaltimore — After Broadneck
girls’ lacrosse midfielder Alexis
Dupcak deferred credit to her
teammates for her dominance in
the draw circle Thursday, Coach
Katy Kelley interrupted her dur-
ing a postgame news conference.
“And she’s very talented on the
draw,” Kelley said with a smile.
Dupcak controlled the open-
ing 10 draws in the Maryland 4A
championship game as the Bru-
ins took an early lead and contin-
ued pressing in a 17-4 win over
Bethesda-Chevy Chase at Loyola
University.
The Anne Arundel County
powerhouse won its second con-
secutive title and the fifth in
program history.
“These are few and far be-
tween, and two in a row are
really few and far between,” Kel-
ley said. “I just feel privileged
and blessed to have girls that
play really good lacrosse and loveeach other and are unselfish
players, work hard, fight, giggle,
have fun.”
Last season, Broadneck (17-3)
finished 13-0 after beating Arun-
del by a goal in the champion-
ship game to secure the pro-
gram’s first title since 2013. This
year, the Bruins’ regular season
wasn’t as strong; they fell to
Severna Park and 2A champion
Century.
Broadneck’s postseason was
more dominant.
Behind an experienced group,
it outscored its five postseason
opponents by an average of
11.4 goals. Against B-CC (13-5),
the second Montgomery County
girls’ team to reach the champi-
onship game, the Bruins raced to
a 9-1 lead with 6:21 remaining in
the first half. Students began
chanting, “I believe that we will
win!”
With 3:57 left in the half, the
Bruins had an 11-1 advantage to
start a mercy-rule running clock.
Broadneck assisted on 14 of its
goals, led by attacker Sam Lavor-
ini, whose five assists set a 4A
championship game record. An-
napolis’s Sarah Oliphant (1999)and C.M. Wright’s Kadie Stamper
(2004) had held the record of
four.
In blowout wins this season,
Kelley challenged her players to
pass before every shot.
“Everyone’s cutting and open
and looking in the middle,” said
Lavorini, who has committed to
play at Penn State. “They always
know how to get shots off and
catch hard passes. Sometimes I
give them a little too tight.
Assists are just as important as
goals.”
When she wasn’t dominating
the draw circle, Dupcak, a Mary-
land commit, scored three goals
to match her total from last
year’s championship game. Elev-
en Bruins scored at least one
goal.
Broadneck continued cel-
ebrating in the final minutes
when senior attacker Sophia Fac-
ciponti and defender Molly Yeo-
mans scored in their first appear-
ances since they returned from
ACL tears.
“This one was more special
[than last year’s],” Dupcak
said, “because everyone got to go
in.”MARYLAND 4A GIRLS’ LACROSSE FINALDraw controls help Bruins stay on topBROADNECK 17,
B-CC 4TOMMY GILLIGAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Julia Sokolowski, left, and Broadneck outscored their five postseason foes by an average of 11.4 goals.BY KYLE MELNICKbaltimore — Churchill’s Eliot
Dubick stood behind the goal and
searched for a cutting teammate
late in the Maryland 4A boys’ la-
crosse championship game
Thursday. When midfielder Sam
Bunten appeared in the corner of
his eye, Dubick got fancy — he
unleashed a behind-the-back pass
to set up Bunten for a goal.
As the crowd erupted, Dubick
turned and spread his arms, rel-
ishing the final moments of his
historic performance. After years
of Churchill falling short in the
state championship game, Dubick
wouldn’t be denied during the
Bulldogs’ 15-7 win over Broadneck
at Loyola University, giving Mont-
gomery County its first state title
— for boys or girls.
Dubick, a senior who signed
with Maryland, finished with four
goals and six assists to tie the state
record for points in the 4A title
game (set by Sean Heffernan of
Dulaney in 1990).
“The coaches, all the players
before, this is for them,” Dubick
said. “They worked their butts off
their whole careers, and they
couldn’t get it done.”
Churchill Coach Jeff Fritz has
witnessed lacrosse’s rise in Mont-
gomery County. He played on the
county’s first boys’ team at Seneca
Valley in 1988. He started coach-
ing at Churchill in 1994 and
helped the county’s squads obtain
varsity status in 1997 and create
junior varsity programs in 2008.
Fritz began aspiring to win a
state title in 2002, when Churchill
made its first state semifinal ap-
pearance. In the Bulldogs’ first
trip to the championship game in
2015, they fell to Howard, 14-6.
Dubick watched his brother,
Louis, play in that game from the
Stevenson University bleachers,
then returned home and cried.
After the Bulldogs lost to Severna
Park by a goal in the 2017 and 2018
championship games, parents in
the bleachers turned to Dubick.
“It’s your turn,” they told him.
Fritz already believed this year’s
seniors could be the program’s
best back when they were juststandout sophomores.
“Everyone’s been saying: ‘Hey,
we got you. This is your year. Let’s
go get it done,’ ” Fritz said. “The
pressure is there.”
Dubick alleviated those nerves,
leading Churchill (19-1) to a 9-3
halftime lead against Broadneck
(16-4), an Anne Arundel County
power. After Dubick scored the
final goal with 4:57 remaining, he
sprinted to the bleachers to pound
his chest as midfielder Reed
Drummond stood in place with
shrugged shoulders.
“I’ve played with Eliot for prob-
ably over 10 years, so I’m pretty
used to it,” attackman Gavin Gu-
mucio said. “It’s a pretty special
thing to watch.”
When the final buzzer sounded,
Dubick threw the ball into the air,
removed his helmet, lay on the turf
near the sideline and covered his
eyes with his hands as he burst
into tears. Louis, who played at
Maryland, ran onto the field to
hug his brother.
“Remember that moment?” as-
sistant coach Mike Winter yelled
as the Bulldogs posed for a photo.
Seconds later, he declared:
“This is it.”MARYLAND 4A BOYS’ LACROSSE FINAL
‘This is it’: Bulldogs break through
CHURCHILL 15,
BROADNECK 7TOMMY GILLIGAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTJustin Huebl helped Churchill secure its first state title after the school fell short in previous finals.
BY MICHAEL ERRIGOAs its players left Washington-
Liberty’s field after a Virginia
Class 6 Region D semifinal Thurs-
day, the Langley boys’ soccer team
stopped at the scoreboard to ad-
mire its beauty and snap a few
pictures. There, up on the blue-
and-white signage, the Saxons had
earned something both simple
and resounding: a 3-0 win over the
host Generals.
The Saxons turned in a com-
plete performance, and with it
they earned a few things. Langley
secured a spot in the state playoffs,
guaranteed its escape from one of
the area’s toughest regions and
handed the Generals their first
and only loss of the spring.
“From Day One, I thought we
were good, and we played like that
during the season [at times],” Lan-
gley Coach Bo Amato said. “That
was it tonight — they did great.”
These programs were two of the
best in Northern Virginia this sea-
son. Yet they faced off Thursday at
what felt like an early moment in a
postseason that is just getting
started. In the same week that
some local teams were wrapping
up district play, these heavy-
weights had to battle for survival.
This cruel twist is largely
thanks to the competitive nature
of the region. Six of the eight teams
in the Virginia 6D bracket have
played for or won a state champi-
onship in the past five seasons.
Only the two region finalists ad-
vance to the state semifinals,
meaning the Saxons and rival
McLean — which upset top-seed-
ed Yorktown, 2-1, on Thursday —
will play for the region title next
week with their futures secured.
“We’ve felt like an underdog in
this region,” Langley senior for-
ward Ona Sinani said. “I think
tonight [Washington-Liberty]
was a bit overconfident. They
weren’t ready for our energy and
momentum. We caught them off
guard.”
Senior forward Gabe Silva
opened the scoring just a few min-
utes in, playing a slick two-mangame with junior defender Ryan
Roncskevitz that gave the senior a
good look at the goal from the top
of the box. With his left foot, he
ripped the ball into the bottom
corner of the net, sending his
bench into jubilation.
Langley (14-2-1) doubled its
lead in the 14th minute when Silva
played a dangerous cross into the
box that was nicked by the goal-
keeper for Washington-Liberty
(16-1-1). His deflection went right
to the feet of Saxons junior Aidan
Connolly, who tapped it in.
“It shows what we can do when
we’re focused,” Silva said. “And a
lead like that is easy to let slip, so I
was happy we stuck to it.”
Sophomore midfielder Carlos
Calderon added a third on the
counterattack shortly after half-
time. The Saxons spent the rest of
the night focused on defense, and
their fans applauded every cleared
ball as they counted down the
minutes until the team officially
extended its season.
“It’s horrible when you have to
see seniors cry,” Amato said. “I’m
just glad I don’t have to do that
yet.”VIRGINIA CLASS 6 REGION D BOYS’ SOCCER SEMIFINAL
Saxons surmount formidable hurdle
LANGLEY 3,
WASH.-LIBERTY 0BY TRAMEL RAGGSWith his final event complete
and a D.C. State Athletic Associa-
tion title comfortably in hand for
his school, Joshua Thompson of
St. John’s strutted around the
track rocking multicolored
shades as he went looking for
answers.
“When is Instagram going to
stop hating and give ya boy that
blue check?” Thompson said with
a laugh. “I’ve been in the paper
three straight years, and I’ve won
individual and team titles. What
more do I got to do to get a
verified check, bro?”
It remains to be seen whether
the Stanford football signee did
enough to get Instagram’s atten-
tion Thursday at Dunbar High,
but he did more than enough to
ensure he would be remembered
on the D.C. track scene for years.
On Wednesday, during the first
day of the meet, Thompson cap-
tured the first of three individual
titles when he won the long jump
(22 feet 6 inches) by three inches.
The senior’s dominance contin-
ued Thursday: He took the300 hurdles in a meet-record
39.85 seconds as well as the
110 hurdles in 15.12. He was
second in the triple jump.
Thompson’s 38 individual
points outpaced 11 of the 17 teams
that competed and propelled the
Cadets to a meet-high 212. Gon-
zaga was second with 70.5;
Sidwell Friends had 62.
“Coming in, I felt like I’d al-
ready proved myself as far as
legacy and stuff,” Thompson said.
“So there was no real pressure
today. I was able to be free and do
my thing.”
Elon signee Carlos Moore had
himself quite a meet as well. He
took gold in the discus (130-4),
then broke the shot put meet
record Thursday by nearly four
feet by throwing 50-2.
“It felt really good to just get
out here and compete with my
teammates one last time,” said
Moore, who was named the
meet’s field MVP. “I had sort of
plateaued distance-wise in the
middle of the season, so it was
really cool to break through and
set a record in my last meet.”
The St. John’s girls led the waywith 217 points, giving the Cadets
a sweep. After winning the D.C.
Interscholastic Athletic Associa-
tion title a week ago, Jackson-
Reed (formerly known as Wilson)
was second with 88 points; Dun-
bar was third with 87.5.
The Cadets girls dominated
the relays, setting meet records in
the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400. Ju-
nior Meredith Gotzman set a
meet record in the 3,200
(10:55.72) and also won the 1,600
(5:03.93).
“Honestly, what can I say that
hasn’t already been said about
these girls?” St. John’s Coach
Desmond Dunham said. “To
dominate the WCAC meet last
weekend, then come here four
days later and put up huge num-
bers again is incredible. From top
to bottom, this is a special group
of girls.”
Jahari Miller of Jackson-Reed
and Thompson were co-track
MVPs; Miller won the 100 and
400 meters. On the girls’ side,
Gotzman and Takiya Henson of
St. John’s were co-track MVPs,
and Jackson-Reed’s Kymia
Bridgett was the field MVP.DCSAA TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPSThompson dominates for the Cadetsoutcome.
The Division I men’s lacrosse
champion has gone undefeated
just three times in the past three
decades. Virginia in 2006 most
recently did so, and after losing
to the Terps in the quarterfinal,
Cavaliers Coach Lars Tiffany said
his group had just faced the
sport’s best team since then.
Those are the teams — the histor-
ic greats of the game — that these
Terps are chasing.
“This is a team that’s on [an]
all-time trajectory,” Shroff said.
“We’re not comparing Maryland,
respectfully, to the rest of the
field, to Princeton and Rutgers
and Cornell.... They’re looking
to make history. If they’re domi-
nant over these next two games
and if they win these next two
games, Maryland’s ultimate lega-
cy here is that of an all-time
team.”schools to sweep the pair of
lacrosse titles are Princeton
(1994), North Carolina (2016)
and Maryland (2017). Seven
times the Terps reached both
championship games.
The North Carolina women
(20-0) entered the tournament as
the title favorite, but an 8-5 win
in the quarterfinal against No. 8
seed Stony Brook made the Tar
Heels seem more vulnerable.
On the men’s side, Maryland
enters “as not just the prohibitive
favorite but as heavy of a favorite
as we’ve seen in a long time
coming to championship week-
end,” said Anish Shroff, a men’s
lacrosse analyst for ESPN.
If the Terps lose, it would be a
shocking upset, and the ESPN
crew preparing to call the men’s
games has been searching for
comparisons outside lacrosse to
convey the improbability of thatginia, their only defeat in the
past two years. Now the pro-
grams are back on this stage
together. It’s the 13th time the
Maryland men and women
reached the Final Four in the
same year.
“For me, it’s all I’ve ever
known,” Reese said of the pro-
grams’ combined success. She
married a former Maryland
men’s lacrosse defender and has
spent decades with the Terps as a
player (1995-98), assistant (1999-
2003) and head coach (2007-
present). Her son, Riley, signed to
play for Maryland beginning
next season, and she said, “The
only color in my house is red.”
The Princeton men and wom-
en have advanced to the Final
Four in the same season eight
times but not since 2004. Vir-
ginia has done so six times, with
the most recent in 2005. The onlyends the season.
Since the women’s lacrosse
NCAA championship began in
1982, the Terps have reached the
Final Four 28 times, with 14
titles, eight runner-up finishes,
just five losses in the semifinals
and a to-be-determined result
this weekend. During that
stretch, the Maryland men have
advanced to the Final Four 19
times, with only one title but
eight runner-up finishes.
“They’re who we’re chasing,”
midfielder Roman Puglise said of
the Maryland women. “They
have the championships. We
don’t have as much. They’ve had
more success than we’ve had, so
they’re who we chase. It’s cool
that both of us are in there.”
When the women’s team
missed out on the Final Four last
season, the men lost in the
national title game against Vir-lulls.... Every team in sport will
throw in a clunker. And I’m still
waiting for Maryland to throw in
a clunker. And that goes back
more than two years.”
The second-seeded women
slipped early in the year against
James Madison, but the Terps
(19-1) have rolled through the
NCAA tournament, setting up a
semifinal against No. 3 Boston
College. A win Friday would
position the Terps to play unde-
feated North Carolina, the top
seed, or No. 4 Northwestern,
which Maryland already has
beaten this season. This would be
the program’s 15th NCAA title.
Reese’s team has advanced to
12 of the past 13 Final Fours,
winning five championships dur-
ing that stretch.
Last year’s early tournament
exit broke the streak, but Mary-
land is back to where it normallywith teams in both the men’s and
women’s Final Fours this week-
end, and the Terps could sweep
the titles for the second time,
following their pair of national
championships in 2017. The men,
chasing history as one of the best
teams ever, are the top seed in
the tournament and undisputed
favorites to win the title Monday.
The undefeated Terps, who have
been winning games by an aver-
age of 9.3 goals, will have to first
beat No. 5 seed Princeton, a team
Maryland defeated, 1 5-10, in Feb-
ruary.
“What stands out about this
Maryland team to me is their
baseline has been so high, and
they’ve kept it there from Febru-
ary to now,” said Quint Kessen-
ich, a men’s lacrosse analyst for
ESPN. “There have really been no
MARYLAND FROM D1
Frequent visitors to lacrosse Final Fours, Terps seek m en’s and women’s sweep