Calvert Hall is closed today for the funeral of Brother Rocco Andrew DiNoto, FSC, a long-serving and very popular educator at the school and member of the Calvert Hall Christian Brothers Community. Brother Andrew was in a retirement home for a time, so many of the younger Calvert Hall kids don't remember him, but at the game yesterday against St. Mary's, quite a few of the older Calvert Hall folks had plenty to say. The word "cool" came up in every conversation. People really liked him. More than one person called him the "face of Calvert Hall." Brother Andrew passed on April 5 and leaves a legacy that is obvious to this Calvert Hall outsider.

These two teams are a contrast in styles. St. Mary’s is long and tall and their players move faster than they look but they move the ball much slower than a team like Calvert Hall. The style is deliberate and thoughtful. Calvert Hall is rather small but frenetically paced. They look erratic, only because every kid’s using fakes on passes and they make quick change of direction moves to get away from larger defenders. I was reminded many times of Kevin Huntley, the great Calvert Hall attacker, now at Hopkins.

I had seen St. Mary's a couple times in Texas and they are obviously a good team. They are very big on offense and defense and play many seniors. The faceoff middies are huge and they are stay-on middies. Senior John Paul Dalton and sophomore Mark McNeill are so tall and long that they have deceptive speed and shots. Dalton is the brother of Will at Maryland. St. Mary’s senior attackman Matt Lamon will be in the running for area Player of the Year, but this was not his best game. Dalton led St. Mary's with three goals, and fellow senior Matt Bell added two goals and two assists

Calvert Hall's junior fogo (face off and get off) middie Ryan Gutowski dominated in the second half as you will see in the video. But the hottest part of the video is junior attackman Patrick Fanshaw putting on a behind-the-back show. I was impressed with Calvert Hall’s unsettled quickness too. They move the ball fast and keep the action unsettled until they find the crease with quick passes, and they often do. The attack seems to keep the defense on edge by presenting a constant threat in the settled offense, mixing that quick ball movement with solid one-on-one skills across the board. Junior Jason McFadden had three nice goals and fed on two. I also liked the midfield play of senior Sean Maguire and sophomore Tony Rossi.

Watch the entire highlight video on E-Lacrosse.

Note: Several of the Calvert Hall players' classes were incorrect in a previous version of this post. Thanks to the Calvert Hall parent for e-mailing in the corrections.