McDonogh boys soccer coach Brandon Quaranta had plenty to be pleased with in his team’s victory against No. 1 Archbishop Curley on Wednesday, but one thing clearly stood out.

The visiting Friars cut the lead to one early in the second half, but the No. 2 Eagles held firm — and then some.

When junior Sean Nolan scored from 16 yards with 17:56 to play, McDonogh was on its way to a 3-1 win that changes the landscape in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference standings. After failing to protect a one-goal lead in a 2-1 loss at Curley in September, the Eagles showed how much they have grown.

“What I was most proud about was when they got the goal [to make it] 2-1, against a quality team like that you can start going ‘Uh oh, here we go’ and you almost wait for the second one,” Quaranta said. “If we would have done that, they probably would have scored a second and maybe a third and we would have lost the game. Instead, we played our best soccer at that point. We jumped on the front foot and scored a third and then went for more.”

With two games left for both teams in league play, McDonogh (16-2) and Curley (16-2-1) share first place in the A Conference with 12-2 marks for 36 points. If the Eagles win their remaining two games — Friday at No. 6 Mount Saint Joseph and Wednesday at Archbishop Spalding — they would finish in first place and earn the top seed for the playoffs by having the first tie breaker. Mount Saint Joseph (12-4-1, 11-3-1 for 34 points) can still earn the top seed with a win Friday against McDonogh.

Celebrating their senior class Wednesday, the Eagles played faster and smarter and showed they wanted to win more than the Friars.

Senior Casey Settleman, parked in close on the left side, opened the scoring off a cross from Aidan Welsh with 19:13 left in the first half.

In the final minute of the half, sophomore Mason Christian shrugged off a defender before hitting a heavy shot from 20 yards for a 2-0 lead.

Brandon Knapp scored with 29 minutes to play to give the Friars a chance, but the Eagles weren’t having it.

“I think all season we’ve been struggling to put an 80-minute game together, but today it really came together,” McDonogh senior defender Jayson Cyrus said. “The key was instead of sitting back like last time when we were ahead, we just kept pressing them and didn’t let them play out, didn’t give them space and time and I think that was the key to winning the game.”

Curley coach Barry Stitz said there was only one team playing like first place was on the line, and it wasn’t his.

“I think today what was most disappointing, there was never a point where we were giving that desperation push,” he said. “Usually in games like this, there’s a span of 10 or 15 minutes where two good teams are playing and the one that is losing pushes. We didn’t push today. I think they were more likely to score their fourth goal than we were the second goal. That’s what’s disappointing.

“We got a great team, we got a lot of experience and they’re in a position where they can win a championship this year. But they also have to understand it’s not going to be easy and we have to do better than we did today.”

glenn.graham@baltsun.com

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