St. Anthony's tops Chaminade, wins 4th straight Catholic boys lacrosse title
St. Anthony's Jackson Greene (11) gets around Chaminade's George Ulrich (2) shoots and scores in the third quarter during the CHSAA boys lacrosse game between St. Anthony's and Chaminade on Wednesday, May 9, 2023. Credit: Bob Sorensen
The St. Anthony’s boys lacrosse team was powerful like an ocean on Wednesday afternoon against rival Chaminade. Yes, the Friars’ considerable talent is vast and deep. But it was their consistent and punishing waves that ground the rock-solid Flyers down.
St. Anthony’s used a five-goal surge to grab a big early lead and both times that Chaminade mounted a comeback to cut the margin to three answered with a three-goal swell in what ended up a 17-11 victory at its Cy Donnelly Field.
The Friars (13-1), who spent time as the nation’s No. 1-ranked high school team until a weekend loss at fourth-ranked Haverford (Pa.), captured a fourth straight state Catholic championship by sweeping the two-game season series from Chaminade (10-4).
“It’s the nation’s best rivalry in high school lacrosse and this is my third time being part of winning the championship,” said North Carolina-bound senior Owen Duffy. “Each time we’ve won this championship, it been as good a feeling as you can get.”
The Friars’ got exceptional performances all over the field to accomplish the feat against the Flyers.
Chaminade was able to keep Duffy from having a huge game – he had a goal and two assists – but St. Anthony’s arsenal is expansive and Jackson Greene delivered four goals in a multi-pronged attack. Jack Speidell, Patrick Carragher, Aidan Zuhoski and Luke Breslin each added two goals for the Friars.
Cole Aasheim led a defense that limited Chaminade’s Richmond-bound Gavin Creo to no goals and four assists and goalie Joseph Rice made 14 saves, including a half dozen on strong Flyer bids for the goal. The Flyers got off seven shots without a goal in one first-half possession.
“I made saves but it was a great defensive effort and Cole had a great game,” said Rice, who will play at Stony Brook. “I don’t know that you can find a more-athletic defensive unit than the one we have.”
St. Anthony’s junior Michael Moon was also an essential part of the triumph. His skills at the dot kept Chaminade from putting together the strings of possessions needed to sustain a run at the lead.
“Moon had a tremendous game, but it takes a lot of tremendous games to beat a Chaminade,” St. Anthony’s coach Keith Wieczorek said. “That program (and) those players are really good and they do things the right way.”
Creo ended up setting up a bunch of goals, but the real finishers for Chaminade were Amherst commit Brendan Reilly and Navy commit Patrick Flaherty, who each tallied three times.
St. Anthony’s scored five goals in a span of 5:08 between the first and second quarters for a 6-3 lead. Breslin had a goal and two assists and Carragher, Zuhoski, Greene and Speidell added goals in the run. The Friars got three unanswered goals in 2:28 between the second and third quarters for a 9-4 margin with Duffy, Carragher, Colin Johnston scoring
When the Flyers got within 9-6 on a Flaherty goal with 8:08 in the third, Moon won a faceoff and went for a goal at 8:02 to spark a three-goal burst. And when Chaminade got within 14-11 on Gary Correa’s goal off a long pass from Creo with 11:27 to play, St. Anthony’s got three straight in a span of 2:51 to put it away. Greene, Zuhoski and Jack Ponzio had those final three goals for the Friars.
“We might have held Duffy down, but they have a bunch of other guys who stepped up,” Chaminade coach Jack Moran said. “If there’s someone better than them, we didn’t see it this season.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
