College: Duke defeats Georgetown 19-7 Cohan, Krebs see action

Chad Cohan

Ben Krebs

I had the pleasure of being in the stands for the Duke v Georgetown game earlier this weekend. Duke won, 19-7 and two NorCal guys saw the field. Chad Cohan, former SI standout and HS All-American played with his customary smoothness and fluidity, while Ben Krebs, the legendary Foothill goalie, continues to get PT in almost every game. Ben had a 50% save day, even though one of his two goals against came when Duke was two men down. Funnily enough, this was the second time this year that Ben allowed a two-man-down goal. I was at that game, too. Seems almost unfair to count those 6v4 goals against his solid save percentage.

As usual for Duke, Coach Danowski gets things sorted out in the early season and then the Blue Devils get better and better. I have no doubt they'll make the tournament this year.

Way to go, Ben and Chad!

College: Lacrosse weekend: watching NorCal laxers in North Carolina

Ben Krebs after his stint in cage

Just back from my 3rd NCAA DI game of the weekend! Friday night, #4 UNC defeated the Air Force Academy, 16-8. NorCal standout Mike Tagliaferri – the San Ramon Valley legend – did not play, as he is still suffering a slow-healing injury.

Saturday, #6 Duke met #8 Denver and Denver prevailed. Both Dax and Chad Cohan – former SI standouts – are on injured reserve and didn't dress. Ben Krebs, Foothill's fiery and passionate goalie and scholar-athlete, dressed but saw no action.

Today, Duke took on Jacksonville and won big. Ben Krebs played the fourth quarter, until he was pulled, allowing the last goalie on the depth chart have a shot in cage.  During Ben's time in cage he faced 5 SOG and saved 4 – for a heady 80% save percentage.^ Nicely done, Ben!

So, that's my report from the East on this very first week of the season. It was a blast!
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^ The goal Ben allowed came when Duke was 2 men down.

Adrenaline AA game results and Gear Pix

A Dad who attended was nice enough to take this picture of both North and South squads together. The NorCal boys all played on the North squad in the dark Jerseys. The South team prevailed, 17-11. Click on images to get a larger view.

I hear Will McKee had a terrific game – 2G and 3A. JW McGovern dressed, but did not play due to the broken hand he suffered in the Foothill – Orange County game. I'll try and get a report on Chad Cohan's highlights, later today.

The Adrenaline All-American game is famous for its flamboyant gear that is given to participants. Arguably, the best gear in the country! Here are some helmet shots:

NorCal Chapter of US Lacrosse releases Boys' All-Americans

The following press release is from the NorCal Chapter of US Lacrosse:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 24, 2012

Northern California Chapter of US Lacrosse Names Boy’s High School All Americans

SAN FRANCISCO – After a rigorous evaluation process, fifteen Bay Area high school lacrosse players have been named as US Lacrosse High School All-Americans. Players, who are nominated by their coaches and supported by their respective leagues, were voted on by a committee of Northern California lacrosse coaches and league representatives that included one representative from each League in Northern California and the NCJLA.
The following local players were named to the team (players listed in alphabetical order):

ALL AMERICANS

Chad Cohan, Senior, Attack, St. Ignatius College Prep
Richard Cornew, Senior, Defense, Menlo-Atherton High School 
Michael Hernandez, Senior, Midfield, Piedmont High School
Sam Holton, Senior, Defense, Archbishop Mitty High School
JW McGovern, Senior, Attack, St. Ignatius College Prep•
Will McKee, Senior, Midfield, St. Ignatius College Prep
Wiley Osborne, Junior, Attack, Menlo School
Cameron Parsons, Senior, Defense, Monte Vista High School
Joe Reid, Sophomore, Midfield, Casa Grande High School
Jerome Rigor, Junior, Attack, Foothill High School
Alex Rutan, Senior, Midfield, Las Lomas High School
Mikie Schlosser, Junior, Attack, Davis High School
Patrick Shevelson, Senior, Goaltender, Foothill High School
Michael Tagliaferri, Senior, Midfield, San Ramon Valley High School• 
Jordan Weiss, Senior, Midfield, San Ramon Valley High School


"We are extremely proud of our 2012 All Americans," said Carlos Trujillo, Nor-Cal Chairman for US Lacrosse Secondary School Division. “All of our candidates this year are outstanding young men on and off the lacrosse field and represent the best of Bay Area lacrosse. Their talents on the field further display the continued growth of the sport of lacrosse in our region. These young men earned the respect of their teammates, opponents and coaches. Many of these players have Division I college commitments from schools like North Carolina, Princeton, Penn State, Yale and Duke and we wish them well in their college careers. We are equally proud of our Academic All American's who represent both outstanding lacrosse and the best and brightest in their respective classrooms."
Also receiving awards were the following players and coaches:

ACADEMIC ALL AMERICANS

Peter Doyle, Senior, Midfield, St. Ignatius

Justice Fleischmann, Senior, Midfield, Acalanes 

Gus Gradinger, Senior, Goaltender, Monte Vista 

Chase Hildeburn, Senior, Midfield, Miramonte HS 

Jamie Muresanu, Senior, Midfield, Marin Academy 

Brian Rath, Senior, Goaltender, Campolindo HS 

Sommer Stein, Senior, Defense, Marin Academy

COACH OF THE YEAR 

Chris Packard, St. Ignatius

ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR 

Patrick Chung, Monte Vista

MAN OF THE YEAR

Carlos Trujillo, Archbishop Mitty

US Lacrosse will make their official announcement in Mid-June. 
__________________________
• Both JW and Michael are two-time US Lacrosse All-Americans

NCAA DI & DIII: Happy NorCal Seniors

Several NorCal Seniors are happy tonight, as the colleges they'll be attending in the Fall have been selected to play in the 2012 NCAA DI Championships. They are:
• Chad Cohan SI (Duke commit)  Plays Syracuse in Durham, NC May 12th at noon
• JW McGovern SI (Yale commit) Plays Notre Dame in South Bend, IN May 13th at 5:15 PM
• Will McKee SI (Lehigh commit) Plays Maryland in Bethlehem, PA May 13th at 7:30PM
• Mike Tagliaferri SRV (UNC commit) Plays Denver in Chapel Hill, NC May 12th at &:30 PM

I'll be taking in both the Duke v Syracuse game and the UNC v Maryland games. Who knows, maybe I'll see some of the guys at the games!

In DIII, both Patrick Shevelson FH and Phil Aliman SI (Kenyon commits) will be interested in Kenyon's game against Dickinson on May 9th.

Complete Roster for 2012 Adrenaline All-American game

Here is the initial list of invitees to the Adrenaline All-American game:

This roster may change depending on who can attend this game.

NorCal players named to Adrenaline All-American game

Will McKee

Fifty graduating Seniors from the Western United States have been named to the Adrenaline All-American game on June 2nd, 2012 at  Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA. Divided into two squads of twenty-five, the North team includes six players from NorCal. They are:

Chad Cohan A St. Ignatius Duke

Michael Hernandez M Piedmont Michigan

JW McGovern A St. Ignatius Yale

Will McKee M/FO St. Ignatius Lehigh

Michael Tagliaferri M San Ramon North Carolina

Patrick Worstell M San Ramon Syracuse

The complete list of invited players was sent out this afternoon. Each player will receive Maverik gloves, a Cascade Helment with a custom All-American Head Wrap and Adrenaline Movment will be outfitting each All-American with custom uniforms and apparel packages. GameTime Footage, the offical game film and highlight provider of Adrenaline, will be providing each player with a free copy of the game and the Adrenaline All-American MVP will be awarded a free highlight reel of his performance.


I know that graduation day for the SI players occurs on June 2nd, so that's a conflict for the three of them. I do not know how they will resolve it. In any event, these six are all wonderful players and Adrenaline is, in my opinion, on the money in naming them to their Western All-American team!. Congrats to all these players!  

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.

SI pounds Rancho Bernardo, 17-6

One of the top teams in Southern California came calling at J. B. Murphy field at St. Ignatius Monday. Rancho Bernardo, sporting a gaudy 96.2 LaxPower rating and a record of 9-1, had lost only to the top team in San Diego, Torrey Pines. In seven of its nine wins, Rancho Bernardo had put up double digit goals. The Broncos are a very good team.

For their part, the St. Ignatius Wildcats entered the contest with an unblemished 9-0 record and notable victories over San Ramon Valley – the top team in the North Coast Section – and Dallas Jesuit – the top team in the State of Texas. I've been looking forward to this game between the Equines and the Felines since the SI schedule was announced!

Both teams have beautiful ball movement and off-ball player movement, with the Broncos primarily running a 1-3-2 and a  2-2-2 bow-tie offense, with lots of picking and re-picking in front of the crease to free up a finisher on the doorstep. The Wildcats have several offensive sets, but the ones I enjoy watching the most involve initiating via a pick and roll below GLE or a pick and roll up top. Very Canadian, eh?

In a flurry of early scoring, the Broncos drew first blood, SI responded with two quick tallies, then the Broncos tied it up at deuces. That would be the last time the game was tied, as all parts of SI's vaunted game were on display, from FO and wing play, to great speed in transition, to wonderful D middie athleticism, to effective EMO play, to a big-time goalie, and a defense that – while not huge – is agile, mobile, and hostile! The Broncos determined early on that they couldn't run with the 'cats and went to a slowdown game in their settled O. Slowed down so much that they were called for stalling in the second quarter when they were down by, I believe, three goals.

Things didn't improve much for the Broncos and, on this day at least, they were no match for the 'cats. I have only a casual grasp on the stats but, by my count, middies Peter Doyle (2G) and Spencer Evans (1G) had the only scores other than SI's starting Attack, which collectively tallied 14G with numerous assists. Assists by middies included beautiful feeds from Matt Emery, Chad Bell, and David Fleming.

Score by quarter:
Team    Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4 Total
RB         2     2     1     1    6
SI          6      1    4      6   17

SI Offensive production:
Player                Pos  G   A  P
Joe Lang             A    6    2   8
Chad Cohan       A    3    3   6
JW McGovern    A    5   0   5
Peter Doyle        M    2   2   4
Matt Emery        M    0   2   2
Chad Bell            M   0   2   2
Spencer Evans  M    1   0   1
David Fleming   M    0   1   1

Totals:                 17 12  29  71% of goals assisted

Great win by the SI boys, but it doesn't get any easier. Archbishop Mitty Wednesday, De La Salle on Thursday, the SI Alumni game on Saturday and the Langkammerer next week, where the 'cats will take on Monte Vista from the North Coast Section, San Clemente from the Southern Section, and Brophy Prep from Arizona.

I encourage all lax fans with flexible schedules to take in some of the matches at the Jerry Langkammerer Invitational on April 12, 13, and 14. High level HS lacrosse for your viewing pleasure!

Question: I'm hearing noises that yet another SI laxer has committed to a DI school. If you can confirm this, add an anonymous comment.

Lax Magazine releases West Boys' Regional Update

Lax Magazine, the official publication of US Lacrosse, released a West Boys' Regional Report yesterday. Their Top 10 Western teams include three from NorCal – SI, SRV, and MV. Coaches Chris Packard of SI and Peter Worstell of SRV are quoted in the article. Players mentioned include: Chad Cohan, Joe Lang, JW McGovern, Michael Tagliaferri, and Patrick Worstell.

You can read the whole thing at:

http://www.laxmagazine.com/high_school/boys/2011-12/news/032812_west_region_report

Saint Ignatius defeats Dallas Jesuit, 7-6

JW McGovern (SI) up against Mike McCarney (DJ)

photos courtesy of Dave Hilbe

I've been looking forward to this game since the schedule was released! Dallas Jesuit is the top team in Texas this year, according to almost all the rating services. SI is, arguably, the top team in California. Intersectional battles don't get any better than this. Both teams have a number of commited DI players and StickStar Lacrosse, a website focusing on Texas High School lacrosse lists Dallas Jesuit as having the #1 Faceoff guy and the #1 close D in the State of Texas.

The SI boys got up at 3:30 AM yesterday, got to SFO at 4:30 AM and took a 4 and a 1/2 hour flight to Houston today. Then, after spending another two hours collecting their bags and bussing to their hotel, they headed off to Strake Jesuit for a game against Dallas Jesuit, the top-rated team in Texas. The game started at 7PM. They defeated a very, very good Dallas Jesuit team, 7-6.

Saint Ignatius was, decisively, the better team in the first half. They led, 5-1 after two quarters. Dallas Jesuit owned the second half, 5-2. Final score: Saint Ignatius 7, Dallas Jesuit 6.  I believe some of that second half was due to SI's travel weariness, but most of the 2H results came about because a very good Dallas Jesuit team fought back from adversity and almost pulled out the victory. Congrats to both teams on a well-played, exciting game!

SI Offense:
JW McGovern 4G 0A 4P
Joe Lang 1G 2A 3P
Chad Cohan 1G 0A 1P
Peter Doyle 0G 1A 1P
Matt Emery 1G 0A 1P

FO: Rare off night at the X for Will McKee. He went up against the top face-off guy in Texas. On any given night, odd things can happen! Will's a tremendous asset for SI lacrosse.

SI Defense:
Jack McGovern with numerous CTs. An outstanding on-ball defender
Cyrus Scott exceptional night in the cage
Cullen Vincellette excellent night at D mid by this high-speed player

More of Dave Hilbes's photos may be seen at:

http://www.pbase.com/dhilbe/12sisfvsdj

2012 SI v SRV game highlight reel

Here is a brief highlight vid of the Saint Ignatius v San Ramon Valley game of March 9th, 2012

http://www.laxratz.com/2012/03/st-ignatius-prep-v-san-ramon-valley-9th-march-2012/

Saint Ignatius defeats San Ramon Valley, 12-7

JW McGovern (SI) covered by Kane Franklin (SRV)

photo courtesy of Michael Ennis

In the most anticipated NorCal lacrosse game in years – maybe ever – the Saint Ignatius Wildcats boarded their yellow CYO bus at 4PM and headed off to the East Bay and Wolves' Stadium in San Ramon. Two hours later, they de-bussed, to find the largest regular season crowd in my recollection of NorCal lacrosse. The crowd was not surprising given the back story below:
• In the prior 7 seven years of this rivalry, SI had won 4 and SRV had won 3. No other team has played SI this well
• SRV had won the last two games – 10-8 in 2010 and 11-10 in 2OT during the 2011 season
• That rara avis, the Junior year US Lacrosse All-American shows up on both these squads and no others in NorCal (Michael Tagliaferri and Patrick Worstell at SRV & JW McGovern at SI)
• These two squads lead NorCal in number of NCAA DI recruits with SI having 7 and SRV having 3.
• The only West Coast member of the USA U19 team plays for SRV
• Lacrosse Magazine's top Western Player To Watch plies his trade at SI
• 7 players in this game were members of the 2008 U15 team that dominated at Vail – 4 from SI (Chad Cohan, Peter Doyle, Matt Emery, & JW McGovern) and 3 from SRV(Mike Tagliaferri, Jordan Weiss, and Patrick Worstell). That team was coached by Peter Worstell, SRV's Head Coach. The boys have known each other for years, as have the parents of those boys.
•The winner had 10 goals in 2010, and 11 goals in 2011. Would the winner have 12 goals in 2012?

It would! SI 12 and SRV 7

The game was everything it was expected to be! All seven members of that Vail U15  team scored in this game. 15 of the 19 goals came from players on that Vail team, and six of the eight assists in the game came from those self-same players! But, the key statistic of the game, for me, was that the SI defense held a powerful SRV offense to just 13 shots on cage for the entire game. Astonishing!

Here's the write-up from San Fran Preps
http://www.sanfranpreps.com/2012/03/10/prep-wrapup-st-ignatius-boys-lacrosse-wins-rivalry-game-against-srv/

Boys Lacrosse: St. Ignatius 12, San Ramon Valley 7

The Wildcats (2-0), ranked by West Side Lax as the best high school team west of the Mississippi, took down rival San Ramon Valley (1-1) on the road on Friday night, behind two goals and three assists from senior attackman JW McGovern and three goals from junior midfielder Matt Emery. Senior attackman Chad Cohan also had three goals and two assists, and SI snapped a two-game winning streak by the Wolves in the series between the two teams.

Thanks to the coaches and players of both teams for producing such high level lacrosse in this tremendous rivalry!