Day 1 of the Langkammerer

Here's an incomplete – and sketchy – report on Day 1 of the Langkammerer.

Brophy Prep (AZ)  6 Bellarmine (CCS CA) 3 Either Bellarmine's getting better or Brophy had an off game. This spread is smaller than I expected.

Marin Catholic 14 Serra 6 This IS about what I expected. Marin Catholic is a very nice team that seeks to find the open man on the crease. They are successful in this and that's why they're good on offense. They are energetic and relentless on defense and that creates offensive opportunities. This is a team I have grown to like. I like Serra, too. They are just earlier on the development curve than Marin Catholic.

St, Ignatius (CCS) 13 Monte Vista (NCS) 4. This is about what I had expected. Well, it was 1 goal less differential than I expected, and if the refs had not mistakenly excluded a goal by SI I would have been right on the money. SI's Will McKee continues his amazing performance at the foX, The D unit is superbly coordinated and the midfield produced a few nice goals, including a big rip from 10 yards by Phil Alimam. The SI Attack line is the best I have ever seen, in CA – possibly beyond. They are all interchangeable in skills, feeding, and finishing. What that means is when an opponent puts their top pole on, say, JW MCGovern, Poles 2 & 3 face Attackmen who are functionally equivalent. Here's my premise: There is almost always a hierarchy of talent among any Close D unit and in an Attack unit that is good (and equal in skill) the Attackman covered by the weakest Pole will have a BIG day! If you have not seen this Attack line – Chad Cohan, Joe Lang, JW McGovern –  you are missing something special. You owe it to yourself to see these three this season. In an earlier post, I suggested this might be – in quotes – "an interesting game." The outcome was about as expected. The Mustangs are a well-coached team, with a number of fine players, but – this year – they were not a strong match for the Wildcats.

Corona Del Mar 15 – Menlo School 5. It was 3-0 CDM when I left things didn't get any better for Menlo. CDM is big, fast, smart, and unselfish. Their offensive QB, Mike Keasey, is smart, fast, and versatile. The Sea Kings are a very good team! The kind of team whose smarts, ball movement, and physicality makes them a WOW team to watch. Menlo is a smart team, with nice stick skills. The kind of team you want to do well. Against many teams the attributes of smart and skilled can carry the day. Today they ran into a team that is also smart and skilled, but has additional attributes of size and speed. Menlo rarely underperforms expectation, and they did not underperform today. The computers said they lose by about 10 goals and that's the way it turned out. I'm a fan of Menlo lacrosse and will watch them again this season!

More tomorrow on a VERY entertaining Langkammerer.