Landmark event for California lacrosse

The St. Ignatius College Prep Boy's Lacrosse team will take the field in 2013 with at least eleven NCAA recruits on the roster. I believe this is a high water mark for any team in California Boy's lacrosse history, Only teams like Garden City on Long Island or the best MIAA A Division teams in Baltimore produce numbers like this. Quite an accomplishment for SI.  Northern California's approach to Boy's lacrosse was to create a solid Youth Lacrosse program – the NCJLA – and have the talent "bubble up" to High School programs. This differs from most other non-hotbeds, which put most of their effort into High School programs – taking good athletes and teaching them the basics of lacrosse. I have long contended that the Northern California approach to building a strong Boy's Youth lacrosse infrastructure would prove superior to any other approach. Mission accomplished.

That same Youth lacrosse excellence will allow more High School teams to reach this "every starter an NCAA recruit" landmark. Don't have any idea which team comes next, but I'd be surprised if that team didn't have initials like BCP, DLS, MC, MV or SRV,.

Here's the rundown for SI 2013:

Attack
David Fleming Fairfield 2013 DI
Joe Lang Harvard 2014 DI
Moore Harris Washington & Lee 2013 DIII

Midfield
Chad Bell Boston University 2013 DI
Matt Emery Virginia 2013 DI
Spencer Evans Harvard 2013 DI
Brendan McDermott Trinity College 2013 DIII

Defense
Riley Burke Colby College 2013 DIII
Charlie Ford (LSM) Georgetown 2013 DI
Jack McGovern Holy Cross 2013 DI

Goalie
Cyrus Scott* Colgate 2014 DI
______________________
*I had earlier heard from a goalie on the recruiting trail at the Ivies that Cyrus committed to UPenn, but have subsequently confirmed with the Scotts that Cyrus committed very recently to Colgate. Congratulations to this fine lacrosse player with strong academics!

11/12/2012 UPDATE: A/M Moore Harris Washington & Lee 2013 DIII, has recently committed.

2012 Under Armour West team 2-2: not in playoffs

West on offense

The 2012 Under Armour UnderClassmen (UAUC) games are underway in Baltimore. Seven NorCal guys are on this team. Through Pool play, they ended with a 2-2 record. They did not make the playoffs, since the other contenders have defeated the West team in head-to-head play. Nonetheless, they have acquitted themselves well and they represented the Western States nicely. Seven of the 24 members of the West UAUC team are from NorCal. Here they are:

Matt Emery SI M*
Spencer Evans SI M
Charlie Ford SI LSM
Jack McGovern SI D
Wiley Osborne Menlo A
Mikie Schlosser Davis M
Cyrus Scott SI GK

Game results for the West team so far:
6/29
West 7 New Jersey 6

6/30
Baltimore 16 West 8
Washington D.C. 14 West 6

7/1
West 12 v Midwest !0
______________________
• A two time member of UAUC teams. Matt is only the second California player to have been selected to two Under Armour UnderClassmen teams.

NorCal lacrosse & the Ivy League Tournament

Alex Capretta

In an earlier post, I've written about the NorCal pipeline to the Ivy League. Without spending much time on that, the summary is that every Ivy League school has at least one NorCal guy playing or committed to it.  And they're contributors, sometimes HUGE contributors. This weeks final regular season games, setting the field and the seedings for the Ivy League Tournament, proved that point.

• The Princeton v Cornell regular season ender would determine the #1 and #2 seeds in the Ivy tournament, Recall that the winner of the Ivy tournament – not the regular season champ – gets the automatic bid to the big dance. In that game, Princeton prevailed 14-8, with Alex Capretta, former SI HS AA, had five goals for the Tigers. But, Roy Lang, former SI HS AA and 1st team NCAA AA, scored  one for the Big Red and was named to the Tewaaraton candidates list. Connor Hunt, former DLS HS AA, also plays for the Big Red.

• The Harvard v Yale regular season ender would determine whether Yale would be the #3 seed or the #4 seed in the tourney – and whether Harvard would be in the tourney – or not. Yale prevailed, 10-8, and secured the third seed. Harvard was out! Yale recruit JW McGovern, SI HS AA '12, was rooting for the Bulldogs, while Spencer Evans, SI '13, was rooting for the Crimson.

• Both Dartmouth and Brown had a chance to be the #4 seed if Harvard lost. Brown prevailed, defeating Dartmouth 10-8, securing the fourth seed in the Ivy tourney. In this game, Parker Brown, former UHS HS AA, had 2 goal and 1 assist, while Thomas Mattimore, former SI HS AA, had 1 goal and 1 assist. Two Dartmouth recruits, Jack McCormick, DLS '13, and Wiley Osborne, Menlo '13, were rooting for the Big Green! Brown Attackman, Tim Jacob, former Bellarmine HS AA, saw action in this game.

UPenn was not in the hunt for the tourney this year, but Nick Richards, former DLS AA, saw plenty of action this year.

Quite a testament to the athletic – and academic – prowess of all these guys!

Day 2 of the Langkammerer

I have only two of the 4 games results and will fill in the others as I get them. First, Corona Del Mar prevailed in a nice match with Marin Catholic, 10-4. The Sea Kings are a strong team, with strength where you like it. That is, strength along the imaginary line drawn between the two cages. That includes: Goalie, Crease sliding Pole, LSM, FO guy, dodging middie up top and an X Attackman. If you have strength along this axis, you'll be tough to beat. The Sea Kings have it! In addition, their skilled O passes as well and as fast as any team I've seen this year. Well, any High School team I've seen this year! For its part, Marin Catholic gave them a heckuva game. I love Marin Catholic! They're gritty, they're well coached and they get the principles of the game. They clear out the crease, they cut to the crease, they feed the crease. As a result, they get open shots on the doorstep. They just didn't get enough of them against Corona Del Mar. My congratulations to Coach McGettigan for getting his boys to this skill level so quickly. Hope he stays at MC for many years!

The second game I watched was a conundrum to me. This game was SI 9 San Clemente 6. SI is a better team than San Clemente – a substantially better team. Yet, San Clemente had a plan and the will to execute it. They would zone SI to death. Well, NEARLY to death. SI's vaunted Attack line was next to impotent against the zone. That impotence was contagious and spread to the defense, which allowed a couple of open shots (and goals) from within INCHES of the crease. Very unlike the parsimonious SI D! This year, SI has been an Attack-led team. The Attack line was mostly fallow today. Middie Spencer Evans had the hat trick, Middie Matt Emery had at least one, Middie Phil Alimam ripped one, Middie David Fleming had another... followers of SI will know that these fine fellows roam the middle of the field! You know, regular guys – salt of the Earth. Unlike those Flo Bros on the Attack line who dazzle with their BTBs and between the legs goals.

Hey! A victory is a victory. One should be happy with victories over good teams – and that's just what San Clemente is, a very good team! Glad to have them at the Langkammerer! They represent the Southern Section well and they have a gritty, blue-collar mentality that always gets me rooting for teams! Way to represent, San Clemente!

Brophy Prep defeated Monte Vista 6-5 in a BIG win for the Arizonans. I don't have details. but I'll try and get them.
As I get more info, I'll report on the remaining game, which was:
Menlo School v Bellarmine

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.