St. Thomas Aquinas’ boys’ lacrosse team’s state title hopes dashed again by Lake Mary
In a rematch of last year’s state championship game between St. Thomas Aquinas and Lake Mary, physicality and an early deficit plagued the Raiders.
Thursday night, it was much of the same story against a program that had their number a season ago, but there was one difference: this year’s St. Thomas squad was far more physically mature than the one from last season, not afraid of superior opponents.
Thanks to a key save by Mason Masterson in the closing seconds, Lake Mary’s repeat hopes stayed alive with a 11-10 win over the Raiders.
“We got the look at the end, it hit his toe,” St. Thomas coach Terry Crowley said. “This much more, and it’s overtime.”
Lake Mary (23-1) got out of the gates hot, scoring six unanswered goals from the 6:18 mark in the first to the 6:50 mark in the second to jump out to a 6-1 lead. Things looked dire for St. Thomas (12-9), but the will and the fight from James Finch, Jack Rego, and Jack Lancelot got Aquinas within 6-5 right before halftime.
“We said we needed to fight back, not watch the scoreboard, and focus on one goal at a time, and keep fighting,” Crowley said. “That’s exactly what they did.”
Down 11-7 late, Aquinas kept fighting back. Finch, who played on a high ankle sprain, made it 11-8 at the 2:39 mark in the fourth, before James Dobson found the back of the net with 1:08 to play. Thanks to winning 13 of 22 faceoffs, the Raiders found themselves back on the offensive end, with Kyan East scoring 20 seconds later to get within one goal.
But that’s as close as St. Thomas would get the rest of the night. Lake Mary caught Aquinas in a 10 man ride, leaving Masterson an open net from 45 yards out at the 1:29 mark in the third quarter. It ended a Rams scoring drought of nearly four minutes, giving them a 10-6 lead entering the final 12 minutes.
“The 10 man ride, the open goal, we rolled the dice,” Crowley said. “It didn’t work. The goalie scored a goal. That happens sometimes, but we thought we needed to take a chance, and we did… If we don’t run that 10 man ride, we’re winning.”
Finch led St. Thomas with a hat trick, while Rego added a pair of goals. Jack Lancelot, Benjamin Kupstas, Rego, Dobson, East, and Matthew Walker all scored once. Walker opened the scoring at the 11:03 mark in the first quarter.
Nothing changes for St. Thomas, which is set to return a handful of returning starters in hopes of getting back to Naples next season to snap what would be a three-year state title drought.
“We’ve got to learn, let this burn a little bit, and come back next year and play another tough schedule,” Crowley said. “It’s not gonna change much, and hopefully we can get back here.”
▪ Girls’ Class 2A state semifinal - Tampa Plant 16, Stoneman Douglas 5: Chloe Resnik scored three goals and Taylor McGovern had two goals and two assists to lead the Eagles (15-4), who were making their first appearance at the state final four.
This story was originally published May 9, 2024, 10:41 PM.
