College & Post-College: Lake Tahoe Lacrosse Tournament – Part 5

Incline Village Hidden Cove Beach

An out of sequence result: Ryquin, out of Sacramento, lost to the Olympic Club in their quarterfinal round.
Coach Steve McLaughlin of Ryquin had this to say:

"Ryquin lost a competitive game to OClub 10-7.  OC capitalized on a slow start for Ryquin and took an early lead into halftime.  Ryquin cleaned up some of the sloppy play and battled back in the second half, but could not close the gap. 

Ryquin took on Bigfoot on Sunday.  Ryquin came out early and found the cage several times on some pretty ball movement.  They held a three or four goal lead for most of the game, never really being tested by a worn down Bigfoot team.  The game ended with Ryquin winning 8-4, finishing the weekend with a 3-1 record."

Thanks, Coach!

__________________________

That made the semifinalists:

Adrenaline Tropics v West Sunset

Dub C v O club

The first semi-final had Adrenaline defeating West Sunset by 11-7, according to my source. It was back and forth for a while, but Adrenaline pulled away late. Adrenaline had a bigger squad and thus more team stamina. Not surprising that a deeper squad would prevail when you play at Incline Village's 6,350 foot altitude.

I don't yet have the result for the other semi-final and the Championship game. I'd be grateful for the info, and a little color about the games. If you have it, please email me at:

Billax1 at Outlook dot com

Thanks!

College and Post-College: Lake Tahoe Lacrosse Tournament - Part 4

Incline Village Lacrosse Field

O Club v Tribe – O Club prevailed, 11-3

I don't yet know who prevailed in the quarterfinal game between Ryquin of Sacramento and the Olympic Club, the winner of which match will be the fourth semi-finalist in the Lake Tahoe Lacrosse Tournament, but we do know that the Adrenaline Tropics, West Sunset, and Dub C have been invited to the dance.


Here's a short backstory, relating to the 2013 semifinal teams. Last year (2012), Dub C (former WCLL MCLA players) took out West Sunset (almost all former SI grads) in the Quarterfinals, 9-7. The AdrenalineTropics (San Diego's hand picked entry from Adrenaline Lacrosse) then defeated Dub C, 8-6, in the Championship game.

In 2011, the Tropics defeated West Sunset in the Championship game.

So, "See ya next year," is not a throwaway line at LTLT! Tomorrow's semi-final between the Adrenaline Tropics and West Sunset should be a good one!

The Tropics, sponsored by lacrosse conglomerate, Adrenaline, Inc., state on their website that they have won six tournaments in the last three years, while amassing an overall record of 62-3. In fact, the Tropics have both an A team and a B team! The A team's roster is shown below:

That squad is a handful for any team in the tourney.

If the O Club defeated Ryquin, thus making the semi-finals, it would mean that all four semi-finalists have been in the Lake Tahoe Lacrosse Tournament semis on multiple occasions in the past few years. Further, each of those teams has reached the finals in one or more years.  

As a minor sidelight to tomorrow's semi-final between West Sunset and the Tropics, there will be three Yalies playing in this game. Yale had a good season in 2013, finishing 5th to 8th in NCAA DI, depending on whose rankings you believe. Yale's 2014 Captain, Jimmy Craft, is working in SF this Summer. At a casual dinner with his teammate, JW McGovern, an SI grad playing for West Sunset, who'll be a Soph Attack at Yale this year, the topic of the Tahoe tournament came up and a roster spot on West Sunset for Mr. Craft was found! The Adrenaline Tropics found their own Yalie, Michael Keasey, who'll be a returning Soph Midfielder from Corona Del Mar. He was named West Coast High School Player of the Year in 2012 by some organization whose name I can't recall at the moment.  

That last paragraph was a prelude to saying, "Let's hope that USC or Stanford or some other California University will find a way to start a DI team, so that more of our homegrown talent can stay closer to home!"

THE spot for that post-game Ice Bath