Fallston and C. Milton Wright have claimed multiple Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference titles over the years across various sports. But none of those compared to the feeling Monday night’s championship wins brought.
For the first time in nearly two decades, the UCBAC reintroduced conference championship games this spring as a part of larger structural changes. Previously, the team that finished with the best regular season record won the title. Now, they play for it.
That’s what Fallston girls and C. Milton Wright boys lacrosse did Monday night at Bel Air. The Cougars defeated the host Bobcats, 10-9, and the Mustangs upset two-time defending state champion Fallston, 7-6, a pair of one-score games that marked precisely what everyone involved envisioned was possible with the new format.
“Last time, it was kinda just a name,” Fallston senior Natalie Wirth said. “Actually competing for it meant a lot more.”
The Fallston girls and C. Milton Wright boys squads arrived to Monday’s title games by finishing in first place in their respective divisions, then winning semifinal contests last week. The regular season winners of the three new divisions along with the best second place finisher reached the UCBAC postseason. Some changes drew criticism from coaches, but a conference championship game had resounding support.
It culminated in Monday’s victors quickly ditching their jerseys for T-shirts that read “UCBAC CHAMPS” after the final whistle and lifting a trophy at midfield.
“If we didn’t have this, we wouldn’t have gotten that shot to prove that we were the Harford County champs,” Mustangs coach Andrew Lebrun said.
Cougars coach Maddie Ricucci also believes playing in conference semifinal and title games will better prepare her group for the state tournament, which for Fallston begins Friday. Teams previously had the week leading up to their opening round matchups off, a cooldown after the regular season with no game action to ramp back up with.
“As a coach, how do you keep everybody in it for a whole week?” she said. “You can only do so much intersquad.”
Monday gave her team as much of a warm up as she could have hoped for. Fallston blitzed Bel Air early by scoring the game’s first six goals, including two each from Wirth and Camryn Dauphinais, to build a sizable lead 10 minutes in. The Bobcats finally broke through with two scores in the final minute of the opening quarter, then Riley Manzo scored her 200th career goal early in the second to cut her team’s deficit to three before the Cougars tallied the next two goals and took a five-score lead into halftime.
The third quarter was all Bel Air. The Bobcats scored three times, twice by Manzo, to erase what was once a monstrous Fallston advantage and enter the final period down just two. Two Bel Air goals in a one-minute span late made it a one-score game, but Fallston halted the run and held on for the narrow win.
In the boys game, C. Milton Wright outscored the Cougars 3-1 in the first quarter, then Fallston did the same in the second to send the contest to a 4-4 tie at halftime. Gavin Morris and Tyler Morris scored both of the Mustangs’ third-quarter goals to put them up one entering the final period, where Fallston’s Brendan Rey evened it early with his second goal of the second half.
It took eight minutes to break the tie before Aiden Polhner scored the game-winner with two minutes to play. Elation built on the C. Milton Wright sideline in the final seconds before erupting when the final whistle sounded. Like the Fallston girls did two hours prior, the C. Milton Wright boys capped the night with being handed a trophy while donning championship T-shirts. Senior midfielder Dylan Sander’s playlist, which opened with “Dancing in the Moonlight,” blared from the postgame locker room celebration.
“It felt like there was something more to play for,” Sander said. “Every game matters at this point. Being able to come out here and have something to play for, it really gets you ready for the playoffs.”
This moment wouldn’t have happened a year ago. This game didn’t exist, these players couldn’t experience these feelings and these teams didn’t have hardware to remember unforgettable seasons.
They do now.
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
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