The South Carroll Cavaliers have been the surprise team of the Carroll County boys’ lacrosse season.

With a freshman goalkeeper and several sophomores in the starting lineup, many believed the Cavaliers would be a year away from competing for the county crown.

But the upstart Cavaliers took two big steps toward securing the championship last week, rolling to wins over Liberty and Westminster.

The wins helped South Carroll remain unbeaten in the county at 4-0 and improved their overall mark to 10-1.

The Cavaliers will clinch the county crown and a top playoff seed with a win over either North Carroll or Francis Scott Key.

“I figured that we’d be a .500 team this year,” said senior Tom Cullop, who had three goals and one assist against Liberty and added two goals in the win over Westminster. “This is a big surprise to me. I knew that we had the potential.”

Liberty goalkeeper Matt Sherwin played an outstanding game, with many of his 13 saves coming on South Carroll shots from point-blank range.

But a relentless offense that features four of the county’s top five scorers makes South Carroll difficult to beat. Cullop and Cody Merson provide senior leadership and much of the offensive production, but the Cavaliers have benefited from the contributions of sophomores Ben McCarty and Joe Wright.

“I knew there were several good teams in the county coming into the season, and I liked that we were below the radar,” said Bill McDermott, in his sixth year as the Cavalier head coach.

“We had Tom (Cullop) and Dalton Yohn coming back and some depth in the midfield, which enabled us to run and pressure the ball,” he said. “McCarty is always around the ball and makes good decisions.”

The South Carroll offense went right to work in the win at Liberty. Goals by Cullop, Wright, McCarty and Chris Frederick gave the Cavaliers a 4-0 lead.

After Liberty’s Matt Rosecrans closed the first quarter with an unassisted goal, Wright took a pass from Cullop and gave South Carroll a 5-1 edge with 10:50 left in the first half. But Liberty tied the game with four unanswered goals, including three by senior Kyle Miller, to forge a 5-5 deadlock at the 4:02 mark.
 
South Carroll scored five of the next six goals to take a 9-6 advantage, but scores by Rosecrans and senior Steve Wildberger brought the Lions within 9-8 with 6:31 left in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers answered with three goals to take a 12-8 lead.
 
Then Cullop’s third goal of the game effectively decided the outcome. Midway through the fourth quarter, the senior made a pair of great moves to beat two Lion defenders for the Cavaliers’ 13th goal. Merson netted South Carroll’s final goal with 2:13 remaining, as the Cavaliers bounced back from their only defeat of the season, a one-goal loss to Marriotts Ridge of Howard County.
   
Liberty, which takes a 4-4 overall record and 1-2 county mark into the final two weeks of the regular season, got four goals each from Rosecrans and Miller.

But the rest of the Lion offense was quiet, especially after McDermott changed goalkeepers in the third quarter.
 
Dominick Gulotta, a senior reserve, posted seven second-half saves in relief of Cavalier starter Taylor Schmitz.
   
“Taylor’s a freshman who’s been getting better every game, but it just wasn’t his night,” McDermott said. “Dominick gave us a spark off the bench. It was a big lift for our team.”
Lion head coach Mike Flemming was pleased with Liberty’s ability to rebound from its early deficit.

“I’m very proud of our effort and our composure,” said Flemming. “We got a tremendous performance from our goalie, especially considering how many times we were playing man-down defense in this game.”
 
While South Carroll must navigate a regional field that includes Century, Glenelg and Marriotts Ridge, the Cavaliers are a serious contender for their first state semifinal appearance in three years.

South Carroll has never made a state title game appearance, but has reached the semifinals three times, in 1991, 1998, and 2006.

“We have a lot of young players,” said Cullop, also a starter for the Cavalier basketball team that reached the state semifinals. “I have a lot of leadership qualities that I inherited from playing football and basketball. We just want to carry that over, get our confidence up, and get everyone in the right places and working together.”

South Carroll 14, Liberty 10
        1    2    3    4    F
South Carroll        4    3    5    2         14
Liberty         1    4    3    2         10
Halftime: South Carroll, 7-5
Goals: South Carroll — Joe Wright 3, Tom Cullop 3, Ben McCarty 3, Taylor Kingston 2, Chris Frederick, Luke Finch, Cody Merson. Liberty - Matt Rosecrans 4, Kyle Miller 4, Steve Wildberger 2.
Assists: South Carroll - Tom Cullop 2, Ben McCarty, Cody Merson. Liberty - Matt Rosecrans, Kyle Miller, Sean Smith.
Saves: South Carroll - Taylor Schmitz 3, Dominick Gulotta 7. Liberty - Matt Sherwin 13.
Shots: South Carroll - 35; Liberty - 30.
Faceoffs: South Carroll - 14; Liberty - 11.

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