Playing each other for the second time in five days, Archbishop Curley and Loyola Blakefield met on Tuesday at Curley and the host Friars avenged Friday’s 1-0 setback with a 2-0 victory on their home pitch. The result leaves the two squads tied for the fifth playoff seed in the MIAA A Conference, each with one game to play.
After a scoreless first half, Curley’s PJ Kozier was working a give-and-go with Steve Anderson when he was pulled down in the box and the Friars were awarded a penalty kick. Anderson took the shot and nailed it to give the Friars a 1-0 lead with 20 minutes to play. With seven minutes left, Christian Kershaw volleyed a pass to Kozier who netted it to ice the win for Curley.
At the moment, Curley owns the tie-break over the Dons by virtue of its earlier win over second-place McDonogh. McDonogh, which lost, 2-1 in double overtime, at Gilman on Tuesday, visits the Dons on Thursday. If Loyola loses to McDonogh, Curley will be the fifth seed regardless of what it does in its final game, Thursday at John Carroll. However, if Loyola wins and Mount St. Joseph, which swept Curley, moves into first or second place, Loyola would gain the tie-break, by virtue of an earlier victory over the Gaels.
Although all six playoff teams are set in the A Conference, not one of the seeds has been locked down yet.
Gilman, which now has a one-point lead over McDonogh at the top of the Conference, can clinch the top seed on Thursday in its final regular season game, at Archbishop Spalding. St. Joe, which defeated Spalding, 2-1, Tuesday night, closes its season at Calvert Hall on Thursday night, under the lights. Calvert Hall defeated John Carroll, 3-1, on Thursday, meaning that contest could have ramifications all the way from first to fourth place.
