BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Glenelg’s seniors were part of the most successful lacrosse team in school history last year, winning the Gladiators’ first state championship.

But when the team’s 14 seniors graduate next week, they’ll do so as most accomplished class in team history after the Gladiators claimed their second straight Class 2A/1A state title with a 7-4 victory over Southern of Anne Arundel County to cap a perfect season on Tuesday night at UMBC.

“Maryland is obviously one of the best states in the country for lacrosse so you are going to have good teams in every single division,” Glenelg senior attacker Chris Gotschall said. “We knew every team could play with us and we had to play to our best level every game and if we did that we felt like we were the best team and could come out on top.”

Glenelg won the 3A/2A title, 6-3, over Fallston last year before moving down in classification this season.

The teams started tentatively, as Southern (10-7) struggled to get quality shots on goal and Glenelg (18-0) continually turned the ball over on poor passes. Southern finally opened the scoring with 14 seconds left in the first quarter when senior midfielder Daniel Dowd buried a pass from junior attacker Jimmy Gibbons.

Glenelg controlled the ball and appeared to gain the momentum back when senior Ryan Dougherty put a rising shot from the near side of the crease past Bulldogs junior goalie Ike Riggs with just 42 seconds left before intermission. Southern, however, regained the lead and the momentum after it won the faceoff and Dowd scored from six yards out eight seconds later to give his team a 2-1 lead at halftime.

“We knew we were capable of doing it and we knew we knew we could hang with them,” Riggs said. “But they ran us and killed us on transition.”

The Gladiators, however, received a pair of goals just 14 seconds apart from Gotschall to start the third quarter, giving them a 3-2 lead with 8:35 left in the period.

Glenelg extended its lead to 4-2 on a goal from senior attacker Tyler Burford in the opening minute of the final quarter. But barely 90 seconds later during an extra-man opportunity, Gotschall completed his hat trick by bouncing a shot passed Riggs to give the Howard County champions all they needed with 9:31 remaining. 

Southern scored two of the next three goals and pulled to within 6-4 with 7:06 remaining on Dowd’s third goal. Glenelg senior attacker Josh Braun capped the scoring with 1:16 left when he scored from right in front of the crease.

“I get really pumped for this game and our defense does too,” Glenelg senior goalie Jon Selfridge, who finished with 16 saves, said. “If they don’t get past our defense, they don’t score.”

dcarey@baltimorexaminer.com