Leopards off to 2-0 start, hoping for state-title finish in boys lacrosse

When it comes to boys lacrosse at Smithsburg High School, expectations couldn’t be higher for a program that has made five straight appearances in the Class 1A state semifinals.

Although the Leopards won their home opener, 6-3, over Tuscarora on Tuesday night to improve to 2-0 on the season, Smithsburg coach Cullan Ganley wasn’t entirely pleased.

His team led 2-0 at halftime and 4-3 early in the fourth quarter before pulling away down the stretch.

“We didn’t play very well at all tonight,” Ganley said. “After watching some film, I thought we should have come out here and controlled that game from start to finish. We didn’t control it in the first quarter at all. We had some lucky bounces go our way, and we ended up in the lead. If you watched that game, there was no reason we should have been leading at halftime.

“Offensively, we stood around and didn’t shoot the ball very well. Defensively, there were too many times we couldn’t clear the ball, just not doing things we’re coached to do.”

But the Leopards still managed to do what they usually do — win.

“When you don’t play well and you still win, you’ve got to be happy,” Ganley said. “If you don’t play well and you lose, it’s a whole different thing. I always say that an ugly win is better than a loss.”

Ayden Weakfall, a junior, scored four goals to lead the Leopards.

“I forced a lot and definitely could have made better decisions on my shots, as well as my passing,” Weakfall said. “But overall, I played pretty aggressive and tried to score, tried to feed to my team.”

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Reasons for optimism

This Leopards team is loaded with returning stars from last year’s squad that went 14-3.

• Josh Kalons, a senior, and Weakfall led Smithsburg in goals last spring, each scoring 33.

• Blake Linn, a junior, tallied a Washington County-high 35 assists last year to go with 20 goals.

• Ashton Redman, a senior defender, led the county with 28 caused turnovers and won 32 ground balls.

• Joey Ryan, another senior defender, had 60 ground balls and nine caused turnovers.

• Zak von Garrel, a senior goalie, stopped a county-best 71.8% of the shots on goal he faced, finishing with 204 saves and a 4.71 goals-against average.

The Leopards, who advanced to the state finals in 2018 and 2021, are still hunting for their first title.

Last year, Smithsburg fell to Fallston, the eventual state champion, in the semifinals.

“On paper, we probably are a little better than last year,” Ganley said. “We definitely have some guys who have a lot of games under their belt. The expectation is to be playing on the last day of the season, to make that trip to the state championship and finally come away with it. But we definitely have a lot of work to do until then. You can’t just figure because you’ve been there that you’re going to get there again. You’ve got to put in the work to get there.

“We have some great senior leadership and guys that are hungry to finish out their careers with that exclamation mark on their careers.”

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Former Goretti star joins the Leopards

Although the Leopards lost a few standout players to graduation, such as Clark Smith, Adam Batey and Josh Hegbe, they welcomed a key newcomer to their program this year.

Isaac Rhoderick, who won 82.9% of his faceoff attempts (252 of 304) and had 40 goals, 31 assists and 121 ground balls for St. Maria Goretti last season, transferred to Smithsburg in January to finish his senior year.

Goretti, which isn’t fielding a lacrosse team this spring, is closing its doors for good at the end of this school year.

“I heard the school was shutting down and a lot of people were leaving, a lot of lacrosse players,” Rhoderick said. “We graduated nine last year, so our program really wasn’t looking like anything even if we were having a season, so I just decided to come here.”

So far, so good.

“It’s great,” Rhoderick said. “The team is so welcoming. Everybody, we feel like a family already. I knew some of the guys from club. It’s great. This atmosphere is amazing.

“It definitely feels like new lacrosse, way more intense,” he added. “People want it more, and I think we’re going to get it.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Smithsburg has state-title goals in boys lacrosse