Chris Kakel's goal on a follow-up shot with 23 seconds remaining in last night's MIAA A Conference semifinal lifted No. 2 St. Paul's to a 13-11 victory over No. 3 Boys' Latin at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field.
Buggs Combs added another goal -- his fourth of the game -- with 14 seconds left to ice it for the Crusaders, who will meet No. 1 St. Mary's, an 8-4 winner over Loyola, in next Friday's 8 p.m. championship game at Johns Hopkins.
"We thought that if we had the ball in our stick at the end of the game that we could stick it and we could win," said Duke-bound Kakel.
"We have a great group of seniors who have been through a lot this year. We've got football championships, soccer championships and basketball championships, so we've been in this position before and we know what it takes."
The Lakers (15-4), who beat St. Paul's, 9-8, in overtime last Saturday, took the lead 51 seconds into the game on an unassisted goal by Tom Glatzel (three goals, one assist) and led 3-1 after Patchak (one, two) scored on an assist from Shure and then fed Steve O'Neil for an extra-man goal.
Combs pulled the Crusaders back to within one 24 seconds later as he leaped high for a follow-up shot.
The Crusaders' next goal, which tied the game at 3 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter, came from the unlikeliest of players as St. Paul's goalie Rich Yost (11 saves) cleared the ball and raced right to the net, where he beat Lakers keeper Brian Berger (eight saves) on a one-on-one.
"The thing that disappoints me is, how many really good goals did they score?" said Lakers coach Bob Shriver.
"They must have scored 10 garbage goals -- and I know their hustle, but it's just so unfortunate because I thought we played well defensively."
The Lakers, however, got the final say in the first quarter as James Watso-Galbraith squeezed one past Yost on an assist from Patchak with one second left in the period.
The Crusaders (11-2) tied the game three more times in the second quarter.
Gill knotted the game at 4 on an extra-man goal in the first minute of the period and Chris Kakel made it a 6-6 game at the half when he scored an unassisted goal with 31 seconds left.
St. Paul's took its first lead of the game on Halford's extra-man goal early in the third quarter, but Boys' Latin reeled off the next three to take a 9-7 lead.
"My guys have a ton of heart and they earned it out there today," said St. Paul's coach Rick Brocato.
"That's a great team we played. They're well-coached and very talented, but the heart is what did it today."
Said Combs: "St. Mary's is a great team; we just want to be there at the end. If we can stick around, maybe we can pull it out."
Pub Date: 5/11/96
