The MIAA A Conference soccer regular season ended a little after 9:00 p.m., Thursday night, when Calvert Hall and Mount St. Joseph completed a 2-2 double-overtime tie at Calvert Hall, finally settling the league’s playoff picture, which remained cloudy right through the final game.
Earlier in the day, Gilman (15-2-3, 10-2-2) locked down the top seed with a 3-1 win over Archbishop Spalding, on the road in Severna Park, while the one point it earned with its tie, elevated defending champion St. Joe (12-3-2, 9-3-2) into the second seed. Gilman and St. Joe will now enjoy first round byes in the league playoffs, which get underway on Tuesday, and a home game for the semifinals.
McDonogh (16-5-1. 9-4-1), which lost 2-1 at Loyola (8-8, 7-7), on Thursday, is the third seed and Calvert Hall (9-4-2, 8-4-2) will settle for fourth. In the end the only tie occurred between Loyola (8-8, 7-7) and Archbishop Curley (9-9-1, 7-7), in the fifth position. Loyola won the tie-break and will travel to Calvert Hall on Tuesday for a quarterfinal game. Curley will play at McDonogh in Tuesday’s other quarterfinal. St. Joe awaits the Curley/McDonogh winner and Gilman will host the Calvert Hall/Loyola survivor.
Freshman Sam Wancowicz, who got the winning goal against McDnogh on Tuesday, scored twice for the Greyhounds in their clincher. Cotter Brown also had a goal and Ryan Tucker, who had two key assists in the win over the Eagles, had two more against the Cavaliers on Thursday.
At Calvert Hall, Adam Gracia and Joey Isaja netted goals for the Gaels, while Matt Vesely and Mike Dunbar countered for the Cardinals.
“It’s great to have that bye,” said St. Joe coach Mike St. Martin. “We have a lot of guys banged up, and it will give us a chance to get them back for next Thursday.”
Hall coach Andy Moore said the parity makes the A conference great.
“There are some incredible players in this league and every team brings the ability to beat you on any given day,” said Moore.
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