Last-Second Goal Earns Lasting Fame
June 8, 2019
By Jeff Bleiler
Special for Second Half
HOWELL – Justin Glod recalls vividly the feeling of watching another team celebrate a Division 1 lacrosse championship last year.
He wasn’t about to endure that pain again with his senior season winding down.
With his Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice team trailing by one against reigning champion Detroit Catholic Central and the clock ticking precariously close to zero, Glod scored the game-tying goal with 1:55 left in regulation. He followed it with the championship-winner with one second to play Saturday at Parker Field in Howell to complete the Warriors’ fourth perfect season in school history and add their 14th Finals championship trophy in 15 seasons.
When Glod’s game-winner crossed the goal line to put his team ahead 14-13, he was chased down and mobbed by teammates.
“I turned back to the crowd, put my hands up. It was the best feeling in the world,” Glod said. “I saw my teammates run after me. It was incredible. I lost a state championship last year, so I went from the lowest of the lows to the highest of the highs.”
Brother Rice finished a perfect 23-0 with three victories over Catholic Central, the last one a back-and-forth affair that could have gone either way. Catholic Central’s season ended at 20-4 a year after wresting the championship away from Brother Rice in an 11-10 final. It was the fifth runner-up finish for Catholic Central over the last six seasons.
“We had to hold for the last shot, and we knew if we had the ability to shoot and score, it’s gonna happen,” Brother Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. “We ran through a play, missed a shot with eight seconds to go, and at that time you got to put it in the guys’ hands, the ones you can trust. Joey’s been there before, he’s a senior, he’s a leader. It’s awesome.”
Catholic Central took a 13-12 lead with 2:29 to play on Joey Kamish’s sixth goal of the game, on an assist from fellow senior Ryan Birney.
It marked just the third Catholic Central goal of the second half after the Shamrocks netted 10 in the first half.
Glod then tied the game with a shot from a sharp angle, and the Warriors got the all-important possession on the ensuing faceoff, milking the clock until there were 15 seconds left. A missed shot with eight seconds to play set up Glod’s heroics.
“Obviously we’d prefer to have the ball there at the end, but they got it,” Catholic Central coach Dave Wilson said. “They timed it well, they played it well. I think the ball just went in. So it was close, it was close all the way through. If you give Brother Rice extra opportunities, they’re going to capitalize.”
Catholic Central quickly captured its opponent’s attention by opening the scoring on a goal by Birney with 7:53 to play in the first quarter. After Pat O’Hara’s goal tied the game for Brother Rice a minute later, Kamish scored back-to-back goals 22 seconds apart to put the Shamrocks in front 3-1.
O’Hara’s second goal of the first quarter pulled Brother Rice within one with just over three minutes to play in the opening frame before Ryan Sullivan reestablished a two-goal Shamrocks lead with 1:31 to play. Kamish’s third of the quarter with six seconds left saddled Brother Rice with a four-goal deficit to start the second.
True to form, the Warriors were swift to answer, scoring five straight goals over the first 6:43 of the second quarter. O’Hara, DJ Dixon, Dylan Braddock and Michael Cosgrove all found the back of the net, with Braddock scoring twice. His second put the Warriors ahead 7-6, and the Shamrocks appeared to be reeling.
But the last four minutes of the second quarter were starkly different than the first eight minutes for the Shamrocks, who had only a handful of possessions in the early going of the quarter with most ending in missed shots, turnovers or balls in goalie Dom Dadabbo’s mesh.
Birney found pay dirt with four minutes to play to knot the game and again three minutes later to put Catholic Central in front again. Connor Beals’ goal with 1:04 to play in the half came just seven seconds after Birney’s, and Kamish put an exclamation point on the first half with a goal with six seconds to play to give the Shamrocks a 10-7 halftime lead.
Glod scored less than two minutes into the third quarter, and Dixon capitalized on a Shamrocks penalty with eight minutes to play to pull Brother Rice within 10-9. Kamish scored his third late-quarter goal, this time with 29 seconds to play in the third to make it 11-9 Catholic Central entering the final quarter.
Dixon and Braddock scored early in the fourth to square the game, before Birney scored and Jacob Hanewicz answered to keep it tied. Kamish then put Catholic Central ahead 13-12 with his final goal.
“Those last 3 minutes, I was kind of in shock,” Glod said. “It’s been an incredible ride. Ever since the day after the last state championship game, we got at it. We had this in mind the whole year. We knew we were going to get back here and knew we had to do everything we could to win this game, and it happened.”
Wilson had a simple message for his heart-broken team postgame.
“I told them I loved them,” he said.
Click for the full scoring summary.
PHOTOS: (Top) Brother Rice raises the Division 1 championship trophy Saturday. (Middle) Brother Rice and Detroit Catholic Central players chase down a loose ball.
Quick 2nd-Half Strike Sparks Detroit Catholic Central to Comeback Win
By
Drew Ellis
Special for MHSAA.com
June 8, 2024
ANN ARBOR – The Detroit Catholic Central offense knew what it was capable of – but just needed to show it.
After being shut out in the first period of Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 boys lacrosse championship game at University of Michigan, and trailing 6-3 at the break, the Shamrocks needed a spark.
That spark came in the form of a Lachlan Moffatt goal just 13 seconds into the second half, which started an 11-2 run for DCC on the way to a 14-8 victory.
“Hartland was playing really well. We just weren’t capitalizing, which is really kind of strange for us. I think when we got that first goal of the third quarter, that really changed the complexion of the whole thing,” Detroit Catholic Central coach Dave Wilson said.
Even after the Moffatt goal, the Shamrocks (21-3) still didn’t take the lead until late in the third quarter. Senior midfielder Matthew Aleva would fire off a laser that found the back of the net with 4:14 to play in the period, tying the game at 7-7.
Minutes later, Aleva would take a pass from Moffatt and find the net again to give the Shamrocks their first lead – one they wouldn’t relinquish.
“They were big and I knew we needed to swing the energy on to our side,” Aleva said of his two goals. “We had to rally back and come out in the second half with a Game-7 mentality. We found that energy and we made sure to play the way we know we could.”
The Shamrocks won all 14 faceoffs in the second half, which allowed them to control possession most of the final two periods and take a 32-8 shot advantage over Hartland (19-4).
“Faceoffs had a lot to do with it. At the end of the day, (Catholic Central) had a couple of strong draw guys who are really talented players,” Hartland coach Nick Levanti said. “You have to come out with other ways to win, whether it is winning possessions, winning ground balls, tying it up, clearing better. Ultimately, I felt (Catholic Central) came out hungrier to do those little things.”
It was Hartland that looked hungrier during the first half. The Eagles took a 3-0 lead after a quarter of play, thanks in large part to the play of freshman goalie Nate Anderer. He made six saves in the first period and finished with 19 for the game.
“He’s always locked in, and he’s a great player,” Levanti said of Anderer. “That’s a performance you can expect him to give. He has that type of capability in any game.”
With Catholic Central not finding the net at its accustomed frequency, it relied less on its passing to score and worked individual battles. Seven of the 11 second-half goals were unassisted.
“Every game takes on its own personality. We weren’t moving off-ball well, so guys had to really take it on their own and stick the ball in the net, and they did,” Wilson said.
Luke Zajdel led Catholic Central in scoring with five goals, four of which came in the second half. Moffatt finished with three goals and two assists, while Francisco Williams and Aleva each had two goals.
Hartland was led by Dylan Ayotte, who had two goals. Easton Culver had one goal and two assists for the Eagles.
Saturday marked the first time the Division 1 Final didn’t feature Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice. The Warriors had appeared in every D1 Final since the sport received MHSAA sponsorship in 2005.
The only two Finals Brother Rice had lost came against Catholic Central (2018) and Hartland (2022), respectively.
Catholic Central became the first program aside from Rice to win multiple MHSAA Division 1 titles.
“It’s sheer dedication to try and get to this game every year,” Wilson said. “It requires a ton of commitment and skill and unselfishness and learning how to be coachable. These guys did it. We felt that early on, that these guys had the potential to do that.”
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Catholic Central celebrates its Division 1 championship Saturday. (Middle) A Hartland player brings the ball upfield while DCC's Brody Wojcik defends. (Below) The Shamrocks' Matthew Aleva (30) makes a move as Hartland's Braden Streight defends.