Youth and High School: A lax camp that WILL improve your skills

I received this post card today from Coach Peter Worstell. I have known literally hundreds of boys who have attended Be The Best and dozens of coaches who trained up California boys in the fastest game on two feet. Moreover, as a parent, I've spent more days watching Be The Best sessions than sane men would understand. Watching boys come off the field at the end of the day – every one of them with a huge smile on his face – is an experience for the ages.

I'm crazy about the game of Lacrosse, and Be The Best is singularly well suited to deliver Great instruction from Great coaches to boys who want to be Great players.

Choosing the right camp for your Son is important. Peter Worstell is one of just a few Camp Directors who will deliver valuable information and training to your boys.

College: Yale bests Brown, 11-8. Tim Jacob and JW McGovern meet once again

JW McGovern and Tim Jacob

Two former NorCal All-Americans met on the Lacrosse field tonight in New Haven – Frosh JW McGovern repping Yale's Bulldogs and Soph Tim Jacob repping the Brown Bears. Both Yale and Brown are solid Ivy League teams, in a year when the Ivy League – top to bottom – is, arguably, the best Lacrosse conference in the country.

Both guys saw good playing time tonight, with Tim having LOTS of PT. JW had good PT, too, lots on EMO and some in 6 v 6 situations. The game was tied at least twice, lastly at eights. Brown was pumped, and Yale fans – and maybe the team – were nervous. Brown turned very aggressive, which was working fine, 'til Bruno got a bit too aggressive for the refs. Yale subsequently put in the last three goals, pulling away to win, 11-8. I REALLY enjoy watching Brown, and Tim is, clearly, an integral part of who the Bears are! JW? Well, he continues to contribute and his minutes are increasing.

Just as a recollection, these two NorCal hotshots played against each other in NCJLA (Redhawks v Lamorinda), with each other on NorCal Youth Travel teams, against each other for three years in HS –  Tim for Bellarmine College Prep and JW at St. Ignatius College Prep, with each other again for the Alcatraz Outlaws. Currently, against each other in college. One can hope they both end up back in SF and play WITH each other once again! Got my fingers crossed.

High School: Day 3 results at the Langkammerer

SI         10
Brophy   2

St. Margaret's Episcopal 18
Bellarmine                      12

Sacred Heart Prep   10
Marin Catholic        13

Lincoln              5
Redwood         10

High School: Langkammerer Day 2 results

Bellarmine 11
Redwood    4

Brophy (AZ) 8
SHP              7 (OT)

St. Ignatius       18
Lincoln (OR)     4

St. Margaret's    11
Marin Catholic   5

High School: Langkammerer Day 1 Results

Day 1 at the Jerry Langkammerer Invitational was full of surprises – at least to me. Here they are:

Bellarmine     10
Brophy (AZ)  7
Brophy has been tough in prior Langkammerer contests. Slight surprise to me that the Bells won by 3.

St. Margaret's Episcopal 15
Sacred Heart Prep 13
A mild surprise surprise of the Langkammerer to me. I knew St, Margaret's was tough, but so is SHP. Outstanding performance by the Central Coast Section power! Coach Glen Miles, a legendary NCAA DI 3x AA at the Naval Academy, winner of the Laughlin Midfielder of the Year, and member of the 1990 USA World team, is moving, already good St. Margaret's, to new heights!

Marin Catholic 13
Lincoln (OR) 3
This was the only match yesterday that didn't surprise me. Lincoln is having a bit of a down year, and MC, under Will McGettigan, is now a powerhouse.

St. Ignatius 11
Redwood 10  (OT)
Biggest surprise of the Langkammerer. I knew the LaxPower ratings differential between these two was minuscule, but I did not expect the Giants to take the Wildcats to OT. In fact, the Wildcats were losing, 10-9 – when, with three seconds remaining, Peter Aliman scored to tie it up. NCAA DI Holy Cross commit Jack McGovern, arguably SI's top Close D, didn't play yesterday after needing five stitches to close a cut on the bridge of his nose.  SI needs him on the field.

I have a newfound respect for the Giants. Dave Grose, whose career includes 3 ACC Championships, 2 DI Final Fours, and a founding coach of the Alcatraz Outlaws, has turned the Giants into a powerhouse!

College: DII Queens clobbers Lenoir Rhyne, 17-6 – Casey Hock amasses 7 points!

Casey Hock

He continues to amaze! Casey Hock, former Monte Vista AA, goes off for 7 points on 4 and 3. Read the article here:
http://www.lrbears.com/article.asp?articleID=2191

College: Yale defeats Providence – 9 California laxers suited up

I was in New Haven tonight, taking in the Yale vs. Providence game. Yale prevailed, 13 – 6, in a contest between two good teams. The Bulldogs are now 5-3, while the Friars are 7-4.

Beyond enjoying the game, I was struck by the number of Californians suited up for this game – 9! As a symbol of the growth in numbers and quality of California laxers, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is more expressive of the rising tide of Californians on NCAA DI teams than seeing nine guys from "Cali" suited up and ready to play!

Providence has 6 California players. They are:
• Jack Cruzan, Del Mar, Cathedral Catholic
• Griffin Goudreau, Campbell, Bellarmine
• Jake Newman, Mill Valley, Marin Catholic
• Zach Rogers, Rolling Hills Estates, Palos Verdes
• Giancarlo Sangiacomo, San Francisco, St. Ignatius Prep
• Jack Yeatman, San Diego, Rancho Bernardo

Yale has 3 players from the Golden State. They are:
• Michael Keasey, Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar
• JW McGovern, San Francisco, St. Ignatius Prep
• Alex Moffit,  Rancho Santa Fe, Cathedral Catholic

Here are some breakdowns;
• Five players from parochial schools, four from public schools
• Four Norcal guys, three San Diego guys, and two from the greater LA area.
• Two schools had a pair of players in the game – St. Ignatius and Cathedral Catholic

What fun it was to see Giancarlo Sangiacomo and JW McGovern hanging out after the game, shootin' the breeze. As former teammates at SI, they battled for their college teams during the game, but afterwards, their long-lived friendship transcended the name of the college on their chest. Poignant moment for me!

I assert that nine is the largest number of Californians in history to suit up for an NCAA DI lacrosse game. If you can name two DI teams with more than 9 California players – who were on the same field at the same time – you'll win a prize from me. Post an anonymous message, with your name. I'll eliminate your name before publishing your message if you wish. The Prize? A case of new balls! Only NCAA DI teams for this contest, please. No DII or DIII teams and no club teams.

See the Inside Lacrosse game write-up at:

http://games.insidelacrosse.com/game/recap/10506/2013-04-02/providence-friars--yale-bulldogs

Providence College – NorCal Players

Giancarlo Sangiacomo

Jake Newman

       Griffin Goudreau


Yale University - NorCal Players

JW McGovern

College: John Glesener is at it again

John Glesener

I've come to realize that only folks who've been following NorCal lacrosse for a long time have heard of John Glesener. That's a pity. John played for the Scorpions Youth program and spent his Freshman year at De La Salle. He then moved to New York and attended West Genesee High School - the most storied lacrosse program in the United States.

I watched him play Box Lacrosse at the Bladium in Alameda and on the field for the Scorpions and at De La Salle. He is, arguably, the top lacrosse lacrosse player in NorCal history. Certainly among the top five, which – in addition to John – would include Parker Brown, Roy Lang, and Rob Emery and Michael Tagliaferri.

I've written about John's big games in the past. Yesterday, he went off again. Five goals and an assist against Colgate! His season stats, through nine games, are 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points. Both John and Rob Emery are on the Teewaaraton Watch list and, for the moment, John is having the better year. The Black Knights are 8-3 and John is a big reason for that success.

If you are a fan of NorCal lacrosse, keep an eye on John Glesener! He is a freak of nature – and a nice guy to boot.

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