The McDonogh Eagles traveled south to Florida to renew a tradition of MIAA schools playing Florida’s best after a one-year hiatus.  It is a welcome addition on to the local lacrosse scene and McDonogh won the previous night’s matchup against Lake Highland Prep, making last night’s game an interesting barometer of the season.  McDonogh came into the game as the 4th ranked high school team in the latest IL.Preps National Top 25 and featured ELEVEN Division One recruits, while SA is hoping to sneak into the Top 25 by the end of the year. The game was a grind it out affair for the first three quarters as the teams traded leads and mini-runs, and entering the fourth quarter the Eagles led 7-6.  Unfortunately for the Scots they picked the wrong time to make some defensive communication mistakes and McDonogh took advantage to stretch out to a lead that SA could not overcome.  The game was played close to the vest for the first three quarters as each time patiently worked the ball around until a small opening allowed a shot at goal.  Two minute possessions were the norm, not the exception.  Statistically the game was pretty close but in the end McDonogh’s deeper defense was able to control SA’s offense and on their own end McDonogh’s Jack Parr and Jackson Morrill proved too much to handle for 48 minutes, as they finished off a number of patient offensive thrusts, scoring 12 of the 13 goals between them.     Faceoffs and turnovers were pretty much even and shots were on the low side as each defense kept the other team mostly outside.  McDonogh was eventually able to get the SA zone moving a little more and in the fourth that was more evident, while SA had to rely a little more on individual effort than they were used to all season.  There were a couple of fortunate breaks that helped McDonogh in the game too, as on the first goal of the fourth an SA defender lost his stick, leading to an odd man advantage in front.  A second quarter goal was the result of SA goalie Nick Ferraro lunging for an interception and getting a piece, only to have the ball fall right into Parr’s stick for the open net goal.  Against that, SA’s Nick Diamond was able to pull off a hidden ball trick in the fourth, but by then it was a matter of time.  In the fourth McDonogh put up a run of sixes . . . six faceoff wins, six shots, six shots on goal, six goals . . . doesn’t get more efficient than that. It’s always a little difficult to measure these matchups going in . . . the Florida teams are nearing the end of their regular seasons and the MIAA teams are just opening up theirs so the Florida team has an advantage in that.  But that advantage usually isn’t that big a deal and there’s always a mystique of playing an MIAA team down here and wins have been rare in the past, although many of the games of the past 8 years or so have been very close and competitive.  Certainly no MIAA team comes down here thinking they are going to have an easy time or treat it like spring training.  The coaches know each other well from previous games and the summer circuit so there’s not a large amount of surprises going in. For local fans there was the highlight of seeing a truly great program that played a different style than what they normally see from many of SA’s top rivalries and it also gave SA a reality check that will likely make the upcoming playoffs in front of them a little different feel . . . that they are not unbeatable.  Not a bad lesson to be reminded of when they look towards what truly is the goal of the season.     The two teams started cautiously in the first, with each team scoring once to make it 1-1.  Parr opened the scoring at 8:00, taking Evan Sarro’s up top feed near the right crease and his shot went between Ferraro’s legs.  That was was answered with 1:21 left as Peter Dykas faked a pass to the left from up top, reversed direction and whipped a right alley right-hand shot low to end the quarter. SA took their first lead at 10:46 of the second on EMO, as Nick Iznaga and Davis Diamond teamed up, with Diamond’s behind the net pass to the right wing allowing Iznaga to step down and his bullet found the top left corner for 2-1.  McDonogh responded with at 9:47 as Parr dodged to the front from right GLE, and Ferraro was able to get a piece, but not enough.  Then at 8:59 Iznaga gave SA the lead back as he backed in his defender on the right wing, finishing with his left hand in the top left corner.  McDonogh got back momentum and the lead with three goals in a minute late in the second for a 5-3 halftime lead. With 2:49 left Morrill curled out from behind the left side and his right hand went between the legs.  Just 15 seconds later Parr scored off the fortunate deflection I mentioned above for 4-3 and with 1:51 left Morrill split two defenders on left GLE, finishing from the low left wing to end the half.     The teams traded lengthy possessions in the third and there was also a quick series of turnovers but eventually the fireworks kicked in.  SA rallied with two goals in 46 seconds to tie the game at 5.  Davis Diamond went on a solo effort, and eventually spun left from the right alley, nailing the top left corner with the shot at 5:02 and at 4:16 brother Nick tool a right wing pass from Brian Fox in the middle on EMO and Nick went between McDonogh goalie Sean Lanier’s legs for the equalizer. We stayed there until the last minute  of the third. It was worth the wait. With 37 seconds left Parr took a feed from #27 (sorry, no name) up top and his right wing left hander hit the low left corner.  15 seconds later Morrill was able to drift in from the left side and his step down beat Ferraro up high for 7-5.  And off the ensuing faceoff SA’s Tito Thompson scooped up the groundball and beat two trailing defenders down the middle, hitting the low left corner to make it 7-6 with 11 seconds left. Whew.     15 seconds into the fourth McDonogh stole back momentum with the other play mentioned above, as the SA defender lost his stick on the right wing and Parr was fed from that wing.  He turned left and found Morrill on the low left wing and Morrill made no mistake for 8-6.  McDonogh then stepped on the gas offensively, with faster tempo.  At 9:45 Parr made it 9-6 with an tremendous shot fake, drawing the defender out and his face dodge brought him a clear path down the right wing, finishing with the left hand low.  Then at 7:21 it went to a four-goal lead as Morrill finished a wheel pass left as Jason Sarro found him on the low left before the SA defense could rotate to him.  The aforementioned hidden ball play cut the lead on three on EMO with 5:53 left but only 18 seconds later the potential comeback was completely squashed as Morrill took advantage of a communication breakdown, coming out from left behind to get an open look for 11-7.  The lead was stretched at 4:15 as Evan Sarro took a top right wing feed from Jack Simmons on the right and hit the top left corner.  The two teams swapped goals afterwords to make the final 13-8.  Mark Heatzig finished in the middle from a Dykas feed and Parr scoring into the empty net after Ferraro tried to intercept a pass meant for him. Efficient to the end. For the large crowd, including a nice contingent from the northeast, another reminder of how much fun watching a game can be. And for SA, a wake up call to remind that the hard work is not over . . . nor will it ever be. SA is back in action on Friday, traveling to Vero on Friday.  Vero will be in a bad mood after their beat down at home from STA last night.  McDonogh is off until next Tuesday when they will take on another highly-ranked national program in Culver Academy.  SA will get another chance at MIAA royalty next Tuesday as Boys’ Latin comes to town. Local fans might want to make their plans for that one soon.     Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  12 each Shots:  McDonogh  27-23 Shots on Goal:  McDonogh  17-13 Turnovers:  12 each Penalties:  McDonogh 4-1   Individual Statistics   McDonogh Jack Parr  6G/1A Jackson Morrill  6G Evan Sarro  1G/1A Jason Sarro, Jack Simmons and #27  1A each Sean Lanier with 5 saves   SA Nick Iznaga and Nick Diamond  2G each Peter Dykas and Davis Diamond  1G/1A each Tito Thompson and Mark Heatzig  1G each Brian Fox  1A Nick Ferraro with 4 saves   Thanks to Coach Tony Seaman and Coach Andy Hilgartner for talking to me before and after the game.