Uncommon for now....

A feed from one California guy to another California guy for the finish. Bang,bang...assist and goal. That's an uncommon occurrence in NCAA DI lacrosse. But not for long at the pace our guys are getting recruited.

More and more, California guys aren't lone rangers when they go back East. Next year, for example, it will be Jack McCormack of DLS and Wiley Osborne of Menlo School heading off to Dartmouth. Middie Mike Hernandez of Piedmont and Attack Brendan Gaughan of La Costa Canyon are Frosh who are both attending Michigan. At Penn State, Two Freshmen from the same school have enrolled at Happy Valley. Close D Jordan LaTendresse and M Jordan Weiss, both from San Ramon Valley, will be playing for Coach Tambroni!  At Notre Dame, former SI Attack, Bobby Gray, joins former Corona Del Mar standout Attack, Ryan Mix. This year's Yale Freshman class has another pair of SI/CDM guys – JW McGovern, an Attack from St. Ignatius and Mike Keasey, a Middie from Corona Del Mar.

Here, Yale takes on UMass in a Fall Ball game. Both Yale and UMass made the NCAA tournament last season and new guys are always competing for playing time. In this video from LAX.com, #10 Keasey brings the ball up the field and spots #4 McGovern sneaking around the crease from X. Feed and finish in the blink of an eye! From 3:16 to 3:24 in the vid.




By the way, the same thing is happening at top NCAA DIII programs. We've got former Foothill Goalie Patrick Shevelson and former SI Middie Phil Aliman who headed off to Kenyon this Fall where they'll join Phil's older brother Nick. Similarly, Close D Matt Corbin of De La Salle joins D Somer Stein of Marin Academy and A Jack Bodine of St. Ignatius at Haverford. It's absolutely explosive growth, folks, and you're watching it happen!

Lacrosse Magazine ranks Western HS Lax teams

Lacrosse Magazine, the official publication of US Lacrosse, recently published their annual review of top teams around the country. In their Western rankings, the magazine named La Costa Canyon the top boys team in the region and named Michael Keasey of  Corona Del Mar the Player of the Year for the Western region.

Michael Keasey

In their listing of the top 10 teams in the Western United States, Lacrosse Magazine included two NorCal teams. Here is their commentary:

3. St. Ignatius Prep (Calif.) 21-1
The Wildcats took the West Catholic Athletic League championship with a 16-2 win over Bellarmine (Calif.). They've won the first three WCAL titles by a combined score of 526-119. JW McGovern (Yale), who coach Chris Packard called "the most complete attackman I've ever seen on the West Coast," led the way.

JW McGovern

8. San Ramon Valley (Calif.) 20-3
The Wolves won the East Bay Athletic League and North Coast Section Division I titles, ending on an 11-game win streak. Senior All-American midfielder and US U19 star Michael Tagliaferri (North Carolina) had 48 goals and 25 assists.

Mike Tagliaferri

Coincidentally, Mike Tagliaferri & JW McGovern are both two-time US Lacrosse All-Americans, while Michael Keasey and JW will both be attending Yale in the fall.

The complete article appears in the August 2012 print edition of Lacrosse Magazine.