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: Colorado Mesa travels to North Carolina to face Queens

In an upcoming NCAA DII Intersectional battle between two teams with NorCal players, the 20th ranked Colorado Mesa Mavericks will travel to Charlotte, NC taking on 11th ranked Queens University Royals. March 9th.

Colorado Mesa has five NorCal guys on the roster:
Mitch Flaherty Amador Valley
Eric McCosker De La Salle
Shane O'Neil Foothill
Austin Pridham Bellarmine
Guiliano Sanchez De La Salle

Queens has one NorCal guy:
Casey Hock Monte Vista

Casey has started all three games for Queens and has tallied four goals so far, playing a rugged schedule having faced #9 Post and #1 Mercyhurst.

For the Mavericks, Austin Pridham was third in goal and assists last season, Eric McCosker was third on the team in caused turnovers, and Shane O'Neil was third in ground balls in 2012. All big-time contributors!

Should be a great game!

Clusters of NorCal laxers in NCAA lacrosse

In an earlier post, I posited that NCAA guys from California were finding other California guys on their rosters. But what about NorCal guys having other NorCal guys as teammates? Looking at rosters for the 2013 season, there are some rosters with multiple NorCal laxers, but not a huge number. Next year the number will grow, but what about this season? In NCAA DI, I believe Duke leads the pack, with 3 NorCal guys on the Blue Devil's roster. In NCAA DIII, my cursory search reveals Kenyon College getting the top spot, also with three NorCal guys. The action in NCAA DII is amazing, with Dominican having 10 NorCal laxers on the squad and Colorado Mesa having 6 Bay Area guys. If you're aware of NCAA Mens lacrosse teams in each Division that have more NorCal guys than what I've found, please leave a comment and a link to the 2013 roster of that school.

Also, I have a quiz for readers. The NorCal guys on the rosters of Duke and Kenyon have several AMAZING similarities! Can you name at least three things the NorCal guys at Duke have in common with the NorCal guys at Kenyon? Leave your name on your post if you'd like a little publicity as a Wizard of NorCal lacrosse! If you just like being first with the correct answer, but want to remain anonymous, that's fine, too.
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Update on 12/22/2012

OK, it's been a week since I posted my quiz, and no one has answered correctly. So, I'll respond to my own quiz!

The AMAZING similarities between the 3 NorCal guys on the Duke roster and the 3 NorCal guys on the Kenyon roster are:
• Each team has a pair of NorCal brothers
• All 4 of those brothers went to St. Ignatius
• Each team has a NorCal goalie on the roster
• Both of those goalies attended Foothill High School
• Each team has one player who was named a US Lacrosse High School All-American

Now, can you name all the players?

Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association releases All-Conference teams

The western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (WILA) recently released their Men's All-Conference teams. A number of NorCal guys were honored. You can see the entire ALl-Conference list at:

http://www.westsidelax.com/news_article/show/148615?referrer_id=427506

Several NorCal players I've enjoyed watching over the years were honored. Here they are:

1st Team

Kevin Arabejo D NDNU of Danville (HS in Ann Arbor, Michigan)

2nd Team

Reed Upson A Dominican Davis HS

Dalton Copeland M Dominican Novato HS

Brian Raaka LSM Dominican Miramonte HS

Honorable Mention

Austin Pridham A Colorado Mesa Bellarmine

Giuliano Sanchez D Colorado Mesa De La Salle

Congrats to all these guys for succeeding at the next level!