By James A. McCray III
DigitalSports Content Manager
There may be no proof that DeMatha Stags boys’ lacrosse player Thomas Chroniger likes to sweep the kitchen day in and day out, but after his eventual game-winning goal Friday afternoon at St. Mary’s Ryken, Chroniger may go home only to find a broom in his hand.
As the DeMatha boys’ lacrosse team stood on the sidelines and watched its opponents tie the game at 4, Chroniger pressed towards the goal with possession.
The ball was eventually stripped and lay on the ground for a second before Chroniger simply swept the ball in, as if his stick was a broom, for the eventual winning goal as DeMatha went on to a 7-5 victory.
Chroniger’s goal was the first of three unanswered for the Stags after the 4-4 tie.
“I was coming in out of the box,” Chroniger explained. ” … I tried to dodge back inside, but I got it stripped, and then I got it on the ground and [just] slapped it in.”
DeMatha (3-2) and head coach Scott Morrison, the defending Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champions, stayed true to form after letting a two-goal lead slip away only to gain a three-goal advantage before allowing a late-game goal from the Knights.
“We didn’t know if we had it yet this season,” Morrison said of his DeMatha team. “We didn’t know who we were yet offensively; we’ve had no identity yet so far this year. … We did show a lot of character, you know, up by two, tied, and then win by two. This is something to build on for future games.”
DeMatha had seven different scorers on Friday, as Hilly Summers opened the game’s scoring with a goal less than three minutes into the game.
“We just came out fired up,” Summers said, “ready to win; [we had to] go hard.”
In combination with Summers’ and Chroniger’s goals, a Ryan Belka goal broke a 1-1 midway through the second quarter and a T.J. Harris goal to beat the half-time buzzer gave the Stags a 4-2 lead heading into break.
Ryken (2-1) was led with two goals from Connor Cook, and although down two at the half, Daniel Batong and William Fejes scored on back-to-back goals to tie the game at 4.
“St. Mary’s Ryken did a great job pressuring us, and we didn’t handle the pressure very well at all,” Morrison said. “We pretty much played the last two quarters on defense and hats off to our goal tending.”
DeMatha’s Ryan Brant tallied 12 saves in the victory.
DeMatha 7, St. Mary’s Ryken 5
DeMatha — 1 3 2 1; (Summers, Belka, Harbeson, Harris, Chroniger, Clise, Gibbons)
Ryken — 0 2 2 1; (C. Cook 2, Batong, Fejes, Goodley)
Saves: D (Brant 12); R (M. Cook 7)
E-Mail: James A. McCray III
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