College: Two documentaries showing the life of college laxers

Here are two terrific videos, both produced by Drew Innis, documenting the lives of college lacrosse players. If you've ever wondered what life would be like playing NCAA lacrosse while attending  a top-tier academic institution,  these videos will give you an inside look at the incredible hours players put in to be successful - both on the field and in the classroom. In season, it's just shy of 40 hours a week for lacrosse and about 50 hours a week in the classroom and studying. Ninety hours a week – each week, every week.  Even in the off-season, lacrosse consumes 30 hours a week in lifting, running, captain's practices, fall ball, etc.

In the Ivies and in the NESCAC, laxers lead lives with no slack, no kicking back, no free time. In combination, these two videos provide a look at the best and the brightest - those who compete agains the best lacrosse players in the country while on the field – AND compete against the best scholars in the country in the classroom. The decision to attend college in one of these conferences is not for the faint of heart!

Harvard


Tufts

College: Yale gets 7-6 OT road win vs #11/13 Penn, McGovern with 1G 2A in defensive struggle

Yale's JW McGovern

Yale travelled to Franklin Field in Philly today, taking on the #11/13 Penn Quakers. Goals were hard to  come by today and, in a defensive struggle, Yale prevailed in OT, 7-6. Three of Yale's seven goals came on Man Up, while Penn had 2 of its 6 goals on EMO. Only eight goals combined were scored all even!

NorCal's JW McGovern, former SI 2x AA, had 1G 2A today, all coming on man-up situations. He paired up with Brandon Mangan, Yale's Junior Tewaaraton Candidate, on all three points, feeding 2 and receiving 1 from the Bulldog Junior.

Here's the game write-up from Philadelphia:

No. 13 Penn Rallies But Falls to Yale in Overtime

PHILADELPHIA - University of Pennsylvania fought back from a two-goal deficit two different times on Saturday, but it was washed away in a second as Yale scored in overtime to defeat the 13th-ranked Quakers, 7-6, at Franklin Field.

With the loss, Penn fell to 5-3 overall, 1-2 in Ivy League play. Yale, which had been a hard-luck team with Ivy losses to frontrunners Cornell and Princeton, improved to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in Ivy play.

Penn won the faceoff to start overtime, Danny Feeney again besting Yale's Dylan Levings. However, the Quakers' possession went by the boards as Drew Belinsky's quick-stick shot was stopped by Yale goalkeeper Eric Natale. The Bulldogs brought the ball down, and Brandon Mangan completed a superb game by coming around to the left post from behind and finding an open Kirby Zdrill in front. Zdrill quick-sticked the shot past Brian Feeney to end it.

It was a day where offense was hard to come by, especially of the 6-on-6 variety.

It did not appear that would be the case early. Penn jumped out to a 2-0 lead just three minutes into the game, first Zack Losco scoring unassisted and then Will Davy rebounding and finishing a shot less than a minute later.

As it turned out, that was pretty much Penn's offense in the quarter. Yale outshot the Quakers 13-5 in the period, 23-7 in the half, and if the Bulldogs had put the ball on target more this game could have been a lot different. Instead, the first goal did not come until just 4:33 remained in the half, Mangan finally scoring in a man-up situation off a John-William McGovern feed. The penalty was a non-releasable, and Yale took advantage to score again, Mangan and McGovern reversing roles the second time.

Colin Flaherty gave Yale its first lead with 3:08 left in the half on an unassisted goal. In the third quarter, nearly 10 minutes went by before anyone scored, again Mangan from McGovern on the extra man to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 advantage.

Penn ended a scoreless drought of 38 minutes and 40 seconds when Losco finished a Tim Schwalje feed in a man-up situation, then Schwalje evened the score off a feed from Nick Doktor with 2:27 left in the third quarter.

Yale responded. Mangan finished a Zdrill feed with 1:36 left in the third, then opened the fourth-quarter scoring with an unassisted tally, his fourth of the game. That made the score 6-4.

Penn made it 6-5 when Belinsky rocketed a feed from Schwalje past Natale, and then the Quakers drew level again on a crazy sequence that saw Yale called for two one-minute penalties (one non-releasable), get the ball back, but then be offsides on offense after breaking Penn's pressure defense. Given a second chance, Penn made no mistake -- Schwalje found Isaac Bock, and he finished to tie it. That set the stage for overtime.

Yale outshot Penn 40-27 for the game, and the face-off battle was fairly even as Yale won it 9-8. Feeney ended the game with nine saves in the Penn cage, while Natale had 10 stops for Yale.

Nice day, JW!

High School: 4 more days 'til the Langkammerer

In front of St. Ignatius

Gettin' ready for the Langkammerer! As you can see, SI takes seriously its responsibility for putting on a first-class event.

High School: 2013 Jerry Langkammerer Invitational

Jerry Langkammerer Invitational Trophy

The 7th annual Jerry Langkammerer Invitational will take place at St. Ignatius' J. B. Murphy Field on April 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2013. Eight terrific teams, from three states, and from both NorCal and SoCal will participate. The Langkammerer is, without question, the best in-season Lacrosse tournament in the Western United States.

Here is the list of participating teams:
School                                               State    Rank in State    LaxPower Power ranking
Bellarmine College Prep                     CA            30                  93.76
Brophy College Prep                          AZ              1                  97.32
Marin Catholic                                    CA              2                  99.14
Lincoln HS                                         OR             20                 91.96
Redwood HS                                      CA              7                  98.69
Sacred Heart Prep                               CA             46                 92.39
St. Ignatius College Prep                    CA              1                   99.18
St. Margaret's Epsicopal School         CA             56                  91.98


My schedule will not allow me to attend the Langkammerer this year. It will be the first one I've ever missed. Feeling very depressed about that!

Here's the schedule for the Langkammerer:
       

	Thursday Apr 4			Friday Apr 5			Saturday Apr 6
12:00 turf	Brophy vs  Bellarmine		12:00 turf	SI vs Lincoln		11:00 tuf	Lincoln vs Redwood
12:15 grass	Marin Catholic vs Lincoln		12:15 grass	SHP vs Brophy		11:15 grass	Bellarmine vs St. Margs
2:00 Turf	St. Margarets vs SHP		2:00	St. Margs vs Marin Catholic		1:00 turf	SI vs Brophy
			turf
330 Turf	SI vs Redwood		330 turf	Redwood vs Bellarmine		1:15 grass	SHP vs Marin Catholic

The usual caveats apply: Times and fields can change. Check in with coaches daily for any changes to the schedule.

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: Yale & JW McGovern on ESPNU

JW McGovern

I was watching the Princeton v Yale game on ESPNU Friday afternoon and grabbed a couple of screen shots of JW McGovern during the game. JW is the former SI standout and 2x HS All-American from St. Ignatius. Seeing that Princeton's Alex Capretta – another former SI standout – graduated last year, JW was the only NorCal guy in the contest. He's seeing some playing time for Yale's strong team – the Ivy League may be the strongest conference in the nation this year – and he's representative of the NorCal invasion of the Ivies.

Here are the screen shots:

JW #4 makes the key pass on a goal by #9

JW sets a pick on a dodge by #18

The announcer called him John-William McGovern, which seems a heckuva lot harder to say than J Dub, but it's always nice to hear your name on National TV! Only disappointing part of the game was that Princeton prevailed 10-9.

College: Kenyon's Patrick Shevelson on a roll

Patrick Shevelson

Patrick Shevelson, the former Foothill great and US Lacrosse All-American Goalie, has started the last three games in the cage for Kenyon, after the Lords opened the season 1-4, despite the regular contributions of NorCal's Alimam brothers. The Lords have won all three games Patrick has started and he sports a terrific .674 save percentage, with a similarly terrific 4.67 GAA. The Lords last game, against Wittenberg, was a 7-6 OT victory for Kenyon. Kenyon is now 4-4 on the season.

Always one of my favorite goalies to watch, I'm happy to see Patrick – and the Lords – succeeding!

You can read Kenyon's game write-up at:
Kenyon defeats Wittenberg in OT

College: Casey Hock named Carolinas Conference Player of the Week

Casey Hock

Casey Hock, former Scorp, former Mustang, former HS AA, recovered from an "off" shooting night against Colorado Mesa. He was named the Carolinas Conference Player of the Week for a nine point performance in two games. Read the article at:

http://queensathletics.com/news/2013/3/19/MLAX_0319133523.aspx

Congrats, Casey!

College: Jack Bodine 3G 3A

Jack Bodine

Jack Bodine, former SI standout and HS All-American, went off for 6 Points in a 14-7 Haverford victory over Skidmore. His double Hat trick was the primary reason for Haverford's victory. Jack has started all 5 five games this season for the NCAA DIII 'Fords and ranks second on his team in points. Congrats, Jack!

High School: Early season ranking anomalies

Look quickly, NorCal lax fans. It won't last long, but here are LaxPower's early-season rankings. The East Coast's season has barely started and LaxPower requires 5 games to have been played in order to be ranked, but so what?  This is a nice – albeit transitory – gift for NorCal Lacrosse.

As of 3/17 – St. Patrick's Day – here are LaxPower's National Rankings:

College: John Glesener garners 2nd hat trick in a row

John Glesener

John Glesener, former hotshot Scorpion and Frosh at De La Salle – now a standout for the Army Black Knights – had a hat trick against Rutgers last week and duplicated that feat yesterday vs. Lehigh. After seven games, he leads the Black Knights in assists (14) and points (28) and is second in goals (14). Terrific performance this season by John. No wonder he's on the Tewaaraton Award Watch list! Methinks he's an All-American this year.

High School: LaxPower's top NorCal teams

We're still early in the season, but some interesting anomalies are showing up in LaxPower's NorCal rankings. Here are LaxPower's top 4 NorCal Lacrosse teams. Quick! How many of them are EBAL teams?

1 St. Ignatius 99.13
2 Redwood 98.79
3 Marin Catholic 97.65
4 Jesuit-Sacramento 95.93

Not until #5 does an EBAL team appear, and even then another non-EBAL team is #6!

5 De La Salle 95.70
6 Bellarmine 95.00

At this early point in the HS season, I'm willing to bet on history and say the EBAL will rise in rankings throughout the season, but... BUT, there are some interesting things happening:

• Of the top 6 lacrosse teams, 5 are Catholic schools
• Two teams are from the WCAL, two teams are from the MCAL, with one each from EBAL and Sac Joaquin.  Are times-a-changin' or is it just early season shakeout time?

College: NorCal guys at Williams

David Lee

The post just prior to this was about Amherst, where Johnno Gibbons is doing a great job at the FaceOff X. This one's about Amherst, William's archival.

Williams has three NorCal players on the roster: David Lee, the former Menlo School standout, Tucker Dayton of San Francisco who went to Deerfield Academy, and Austin Shea, the former great from University School. They're all terrific athletes but, in Parallel Universes, David Lee takes Faces for Williams – just like Johnno takes them for Amherst.

In their opener, David Lee went 9-16 on faces and picked up 5 GBs. A terrific performance like David's anticipates the matchup with Amherst on April 20th. These two teams are the fiercest of rivals and are, arguably, the two finest Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States! There, it appears, David Lee will go head-to-head with Johnno Gibbons. I may have to be at that game.

College: Johnno Gibbons at Amherst

Johnno Gibbons

Johnno Gibbons, former SI standout, is the starting FO guy at Amherst. He's winning about 50% of his faces (17-35) and leads the team in GBs with 12. Way to go, Johnno!

College: Colorado Mesa defeats Queens, 8-7

Austin Pridham

Colorado Mesa travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina to take on Queens University in a battle of solid NCAA DII powers in front of 500 screaming fans. Austin Pridham, the former Bellarmine standout, scored the winner with 28 seconds left in the contest! He had a hat trick for the game.

On the defensive side of the field, Colorado Mesa's Eric McCosker, former De La Salle standout, had 2 GBs and 2 CTOs to blunt the Royals offense.

For the Queens University Royals, Casey Hock, former Monte Vista All-American, had a goal in a losing cause. Casey continues to lead the Royals in Goals and Points.

Here's a news story about the game:

http://www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=32590


These pictures will bring back memories for a lot of NorCal Lacrosse fans:

Austin Pridham, Mitch Flaherty, Casey Hock, and Shane O'Neil (Eric McCosker was in the shower while this picture was taken)

Mitch and Casey

In the lower picture, it's worth noting that Mitch and Casey first played TOGETHER on The NCJLA U-13 NorCal travel team that went to Vail in 2005. That's a lot of history! These guys all played AGAINST each other in NCJLA games even before that. Amazing!

Thanks to Lori Hock for taking these photos. She's the best!

College: Kenyon's Aliman brothers show well in loss to Franklin & Marshall

Nick and Phil Aliman both attended St. Ignatius and were serious contributors to their squads. Now, both attend NCAA DIII Kenyon, where they roam the midfield. In last week's game against Franklin & Marshall, both brothers were offensive contributors. Nick had an Assist and Phil had two goals. Way to go, guys!

Here's a write-up from the F&M game that gives a tip of the hat to Phil:
http://athletics.kenyon.edu/news/2013/3/5/MLAX_0305130032.aspx

College: NorCal guys give MCLA DI Stanford lots of Firepower

Stanford University's MCLA DI team is currently ranked #4 in the country. They've won two games by forfeit. but of the 6 games they've actually played, they're averaging 12 points per game. Three NorCal guys are offensive stalwarts for the Cardinal. They are:

Jack Farr, former SI standout, who is averaging 2.33 GPG and 2A per game, for 4.33 Points per game

Peter Doyle, former Si standout, is averaging 3 GPG and 0.66 APG, for 3.66 Points per game

Hunter Irvin, former Berkeley standout, is averaging 1 GPG and 0.5 APG, for 1.5 Points per game

These three, in the games they've played, are scoring more than half of Stanford's average goals per game.

Way to go, guys!

College: Rob Emery lightin' it up for the Cavaliers

Five games into the season, Rob Emery – unsurprisingly called the California Cannon – has been a terrific weapon for UVA this year. The Face Off Yearbook/Inside Lacrosse preseason All-American has 9 G 2A and 11P in his first five games of the season. Here's the breakdown:

Opponent           G   A   P
Drexel                1    0    1
VMI                   2    1    3
Stony Brook      0   0    0
Mt. Sat. Mary's  2   0   2
Syracuse            2   0   2

Totals:               9   2   11

The two-time HS All-American SI alum is doing NorCal proud!