NorCal commits: A double doubleheader!

DIII Kenyon and DI Dartmouth both have happy coaches, as four NorCal players have recently committed to these schools - two to each school. Coach Andy Tower has to be thrilled to pick up commitments from two NorCal Junior Attacks who rank among the very best players at their position in California. Jack McCormick, De La Salle's lefty feeding/finishing master, will join Wiley Osbourne, Menlo School's righty Attack who is, in many ways, the mirror image of Jack. These are VERY good gets by Coach Tower, and these two players replenish the steady NorCal pipeline to the Ivy League. Congrats to these two fine scholar athletes!

Kenyon coach Doug Misarti worked hard to land two of NorCal's hardest working players - whose names I'm reluctant to reveal until the Early Decision admissions process completes on December 15th. Still, it seems likely that Kenyon will land a sensational NorCal Goalie and a Midfielder who - in my opinion - gives the most effort of any middie I've ever watched in NorCal. These two 2012 commits continue Coach Misarti's success in recruiting top NorCal players, as former SI standout, Nick Alimam, plays for the Lords. 

Congrats to all of these fine players! I've watched them all for a number of years and they are fine representatives of NorCal Lacrosse. With all the commitments we've had over the last several years, I've recently come to believe NorCal is a "HOTBED." Not an emerging hotbed, not an up-and-comer, but an Honest-to-God, dyed-in-the-wool HOTBED. More about my contention in a future post.

Pursuing an athletic scholarship – How costly?

Here's a provocative article for parents of lacrosse players who seek to continue playing the sport in college. It features Kieran Eissler, a very talented player from Nevada who recently committed to Johns Hopkins. Money quote from Kieran's father: "This summer alone, and I'm embarrassed to say it, we probably spent around $12,000." Read the whole article here.


Kieran is a very talented player (the boy played against him at the Adrenaline Challenge and with him on this year's Under Armour West team), but it costs about the same to pursue that dream whether you're as good as Kieran or not. The author's point is that parent's need a reality check before they decide to spend  savings in pursuit of an athletic scholarship. I commend this article to all parents of High School athletes.

Casey Hock - His first game at Queens

It's VERY early in the NCAA Fall Ball season, but we've got a NorCal siting in North Carolina! Casey Hock, NorCal AA and holder of the all-time Monte Vista single season points record, played in his first college game today, as the current Queens University NCAA DII laxers jousted with the Queens alums. The current Royals held the lead through almost the entire game, but a late surge by the alums brought the game to an 8-8 tie – and that's where it ended. Casey, donning #53 – yes, it's a large squad – looked pretty good today, but so did a number of the 10-11 Queens attackmen. This looks to be another good season for the Royals, who won their conference last year.

I got to speak with Casey briefly after the game. In response to my questions, he said that he's very happy with his selection of Queens as his college, that after a two-week adjustment period he's got that hang of college academic requirements, and that he felt the level of play by his teammates had him at the right school for lacrosse. Graciously, he invited me to attend a regular season Royals game. As I told him, I'll be there for an early season game. Delightful to catch up with one of NorCal's all-time finest!