NATIONAL CHAMPIONS CROWNED IN FLORIDA
(January 04, 2010)
Cool temperatures once again balanced with the hot action on the fields Sunday at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions. Fifty-three teams from the United States and Canada began their quests on Friday to become titleholders in the tourney’s three age categories – Under 15, High School Rising Stars and High School Elite. Ten of Wesley Chapel District Park’s fields have played host to the three-day tournament, which wrapped up today by crowning three national champions.
DAY THREE RESULTS
UNDER-15 DIVISION – The inaugural year for this division at the tournament, the U15 bracket began with 14 teams on Friday. As Sunday’s action began, it had been narrowed to four title contenders, and by noon, a national champion had been crowned.
Entering the day, two Maryland teams had hopes of taking home the championship trophy – including the top-seeded T2 Storm. They eliminated Burning River (OH) from title contention on Saturday and disposed of Blue Devils (FL) 7-6 in early action on Sunday to advance to the final.
In the bottom half of the bracket, the second U-15 seed, Lake Norman (NC), had taken out the Ft. Meyers Fury on Saturday to earn their Sunday matchup with the red-hot squad, and the second Maryland team in the final four – FCA. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes club had torn apart the Tar Heels team from North Carolina on Saturday and had their sites set on a title of their own - shutting out Lake Norman 8-0 on Sunday morning to earn their spot in the national title game.
In the title showdown, FCA came out with a sense of urgency against their top-seeded opponent, T2 Storm. FCA’s Dylan Maltz got the scoring started with two goals early on as T2 Storm fell behind early to the underdogs. Luke Benson followed with back-to-back goals midway through the first half to put the FCA team up 5-1. Luke Eshleman put up a goal for the Storm in the first half, but that was it for the T2 club as FCA took a 6-1 lead into halftime.
T2 Storm got back in the game with two goals to open the second half of play. Zach Franco netted the first nearly four minutes into play to make it 6-2. One minute later, a goal by William Hirschmann at the 20:35 mark cut the FCA lead to 6-3. Unfortunately for the Storm, that’s as close as they would get for the remainder of the game.
A trio of FCA goals – highlighted by Maltz and Benson netters (the third of the game for each) - pushed the lead out to 9-3 for the Maryland club.
Benjamin Chisolm scored the fourth (and final) goal for the Storm with 8:07 left, but FCA answered with another trio of goals over the last five minutes of play to bring the final score to 12-4. FCA was led in scoring by Maltz’s four goals and Benson’s hat trick.
RISING STARS DIVISION
In the quest for the Rising Stars national title, the top seeds have dominated the three pools the entire tournament. Copperheads Black (GA), the top seed in pool one, advanced past Florida Elite on Saturday to claim their spot in the championship round where they faced Leading Edge from New Jersey. That semi-final game early Sunday resulted in a 5-4 Copperheads win, propelling them into the title game.
The bottom half of the Rising Stars bracket matched Mesa Fresh 2012 (PA) (the top seed in pool 3) against Burning River – the Ohio club coached by Woody Calleri. Burning River, the top seed in pool two, beat the Palm Beach Storm (FL) 11-3 to advance to Sunday morning’s matchup with Philly-based Mesa Fresh. In a hard-fought, close matchup, Burning River outlasted Mesa 9-7 as they took the next step to a championship.
In a tight, hard-fought championship tilt throughout, Burning River jumped out to an early lead as Leo Horine drew rope on Copperhead goalie Michael Nugent to make it 1-0 for the Ohio boys. Jay DeBole netted two straight goals in a 68-second span for Copperhead as they took the lead, 2-1, midway through the first half.
Despite amazing goaltending throughout, the teams would trade goals over the last four minutes of the half, with Copperhead netting theirs five seconds before halftime to take the lead 3-2.
Stick-master DeBole opened the second half with his third of four goals with a nifty, unassisted score with just over 20 minutes remaining to make it 4-2 Snakes. Scotty Smith tacked on the fifth goal for Copperhead Black near the 12-minute mark and things looked bleak for Burning River. But Edward Barksdale had other plans. The lanky scorer slipped the ball in the net with 9:40 to go on a sweet, unassisted effort to cut the lead to 5-3. James Dahlheimer contributed a tally with 90 seconds later for Burning River on a nifty assist from Gray Leeseberg to make it a one-goal game at 5-4, and fans were in for an exciting end to a great game.
The star of this contest was DeBole. His unassisted netter with 1:53 left put the icing on the cake for coach Mike Mutzel’s Copperheads as they had the insurance goal they needed at 6-4. The crew from Atlanta would become national champions less than two minutes later.
“Our defense and goalie were phenomenal today,” said a proud coach Mutzel. “What a great feeling it is to be with all of these kids here today.” Having been in the title match last year as well, only to fall 16-2 to the champion Krunch team, this year was much sweeter for the Georgians. “Today you saw the results of coaches, players and parents really working together - it was a great tournament,” said a beaming Mutzel.
ELITE DIVISION
Record crowds gathered around the perimeter of Field 1, with great anticipation for yet another US-Canada elite division national championship game. This year, it was Edge Senior Elite (ONT) taking on Team Warrior (NC). Fans flocked to the stadium field, anxious to see the magic of the Thompson brothers. Early on, midfielder Lyle Thompson did not disappoint.
“He’s unbelievable,” said Edge’s A/M Matt Worlidge after the game, who’s played against the midfielder three times in his life.
Lyle scored two goals in the first half, and assisted on both of his brother’s [Miles’] first half tallies.
Edge started the scoring 1:53 into the first half on a goal by James Malloy. Lyle answered back 51 seconds later to tie the score at one. Just 1:02 later, Miles gave Warrior its first lead, 2-1. Edge’s Rick Webster tied the score at two on the first of his three goals in the game 6:27 into the first half on a short-handed goal.
The teams then traded goals in the final 17:20 of the first half, as the score was tied, 5-5, at the half.
”I was expecting them to jump out quick and that we’d be playing from behind,” said Worlidge, “but after we got out to the lead, we gained confidence and that really helped us in the first half.
Warrior came out determined in second, scoring three straight and four of the first five to jump out to a 9-6 lead 8:39 in. Conner Lyons shined, recording all three of his goals during the Warrior run.
But Edge remained resilient, despite a pro-Warrior crowd. Worlidge had two goals on passes he received from Stefan Diachenko, keeping his team in contention.
Lyle Thompson’s face-off win, fast-break and score with 9:24 remaining in regulation put Warrior up by two, 10-8. It would be the last goal Warrior would score.
After a Mitchell DeSnoo goal and killing off a penalty, an infraction on Warrior put Edge on the man-up, and the Canadians responded. Jake Harding’s goal, assisted by Webster, tied the game at 10 with 1:50 left.
Warrior had possession for much for the final two minutes, but was unable to put one past Edge goalie Zane Yassien.
The game became the first championship game to ever go to overtime, and even surpassed last year’s fantastic finish between New Westminster (BC) and Maryland Lacrosse Club.
Edge won the draw to start overtime, and Worlidge wasted little time. The senior dodged from the near goal line extended, freed his hands, and beat goalie Edmund Cathers to win the national championship for Edge.
”Everything for us culminates here at this tournament,” said Edge head coach Rick Webster. “This is the tournament of the year for us. It’s very special.”
In a game that included four lead changes and six ties, Edge ensured that the University Cup trophy will remain north of the border, at least for another year.
”I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s our style of play,” said Webster, when asked why he thinks Canadian teams have had success annually at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions. “American teams just don’t see our style that often.”
DeSnoo finished with two goals and two assists, while Yassien recorded five saves in net. Cathers stopped nine shots for Warrior, but it wasn’t quite enough.
”Hats off to the players and coaches of Team Warrior and Edge Senior Elite,” said Brian Tatum, NDP Lacrosse’s Director of Operations. “They left the crowd in awe, and played the greatest championship game this tournament has ever seen.”
Stay tuned to the online home of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions, LaxTOC.com, for more post-event coverage.
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